Post by Wally & Kathy on Jul 3, 2006 19:06:44 GMT -5
From www.planetmoron.com 
June 23, 2006
sociology: the next best thing to science.
A study published this week in the journal, “American Sociological Review” found that “social isolation” has grown over the past two decades and that “Many more people talk to no one about matters they consider important to them.”
No doubt, you are surprised to learn this, perhaps even enough to put down your cell phone, interrupt your three simultaneous I/M sessions, exit the two chat rooms you were just in and postpone not only that forum entry you were going to make, but the ongoing dialogue you were having with your MySpace friends about your most recent blog entry.
The study was designed as a follow-up to one conducted two decades earlier called the General Social Survey (GSS) and so “asked the same question in 1985 and 2004.” For instance, surveyors asked participants questions about the people they socialized with such as “whether the partner was male or female, his or her race, his or her education and age,” but apparently nothing about why they chose a butterfly as their avatar, what photo hosting service they liked best, and whether they preferred cable or DSL.
Which reminds us, a study of transportation trends in the United States was recently conducted using the same questions and approach as in 1825. The resulting report, “American Crisis: Citizen Mobility In Freefall,” found that while fully 85% of Americans once routinely traveled by horse, that number had plunged to merely 1% by 2005. “We have no explanation for it,” noted one of the researchers, “frankly we have no idea how anyone gets around, but we plan to do some follow ups, that’s for sure.”
Robert D. Putnam, a professor of public policy at Harvard feels that the GSS report on growing social isolation vindicates his own research in which he found fewer people today have friends over to visit or join clubs. But most troubling of all, he found that more and more people are bowling alone. There are two explanations for this:
It is a sign of the general breakdown in the fabric of our connections with each other leading to the impoverishment of our lives and communities thus suggesting an urgent need to civicly reinvent ourselves.
No one wants to be seen bowling.
Putnam also believes that "If we gave people much more flexibility in their work life,” perhaps through regulatory changes, “they would use that time to spend more time with their aging mom or best friend."
Or surfing for Internet porn.
Lynn Smith-Lovin, a Duke University sociologist who helped prepare the study, believes that our hectic lives make social interaction difficult, observing that, "Maybe sitting around watching 'Desperate Housewives' . . . is what counts for family interaction." And maybe “putting affect control theory together with McPherson’s ecological theory of affiliation” is what counts for family interaction in the Smith-Lovin household.
The authors of the study, startled by the seemingly precipitous decline in close personal interactions, did consider the possibility that “the use of the word ‘discuss’ in the question was interpreted by respondents to exclude other forms of communication that are becoming dominant in our contacts with core confidants,” such as email, chat rooms and the like.
However, this would suggest an equally disturbing social trend: Despite all the obvious hazards, people are engaging in the kinds of communications and social interactions they want to without first consulting the expertise of accredited sociologists.
Maybe they saved that for the next study…
J.
June 23, 2006
sociology: the next best thing to science.
A study published this week in the journal, “American Sociological Review” found that “social isolation” has grown over the past two decades and that “Many more people talk to no one about matters they consider important to them.”
No doubt, you are surprised to learn this, perhaps even enough to put down your cell phone, interrupt your three simultaneous I/M sessions, exit the two chat rooms you were just in and postpone not only that forum entry you were going to make, but the ongoing dialogue you were having with your MySpace friends about your most recent blog entry.
The study was designed as a follow-up to one conducted two decades earlier called the General Social Survey (GSS) and so “asked the same question in 1985 and 2004.” For instance, surveyors asked participants questions about the people they socialized with such as “whether the partner was male or female, his or her race, his or her education and age,” but apparently nothing about why they chose a butterfly as their avatar, what photo hosting service they liked best, and whether they preferred cable or DSL.
Which reminds us, a study of transportation trends in the United States was recently conducted using the same questions and approach as in 1825. The resulting report, “American Crisis: Citizen Mobility In Freefall,” found that while fully 85% of Americans once routinely traveled by horse, that number had plunged to merely 1% by 2005. “We have no explanation for it,” noted one of the researchers, “frankly we have no idea how anyone gets around, but we plan to do some follow ups, that’s for sure.”
Robert D. Putnam, a professor of public policy at Harvard feels that the GSS report on growing social isolation vindicates his own research in which he found fewer people today have friends over to visit or join clubs. But most troubling of all, he found that more and more people are bowling alone. There are two explanations for this:
It is a sign of the general breakdown in the fabric of our connections with each other leading to the impoverishment of our lives and communities thus suggesting an urgent need to civicly reinvent ourselves.
No one wants to be seen bowling.
Putnam also believes that "If we gave people much more flexibility in their work life,” perhaps through regulatory changes, “they would use that time to spend more time with their aging mom or best friend."
Or surfing for Internet porn.
Lynn Smith-Lovin, a Duke University sociologist who helped prepare the study, believes that our hectic lives make social interaction difficult, observing that, "Maybe sitting around watching 'Desperate Housewives' . . . is what counts for family interaction." And maybe “putting affect control theory together with McPherson’s ecological theory of affiliation” is what counts for family interaction in the Smith-Lovin household.
The authors of the study, startled by the seemingly precipitous decline in close personal interactions, did consider the possibility that “the use of the word ‘discuss’ in the question was interpreted by respondents to exclude other forms of communication that are becoming dominant in our contacts with core confidants,” such as email, chat rooms and the like.
However, this would suggest an equally disturbing social trend: Despite all the obvious hazards, people are engaging in the kinds of communications and social interactions they want to without first consulting the expertise of accredited sociologists.
Maybe they saved that for the next study…
J.
I spend all my time reading PT websites......... ;D
guess who