04/11/2021
Whilst some factors may inhibit the enhancement of self-esteem, these five tips are a crucial starting point for improving our self-esteem......
5 tips for improving self-esteem
Whilst some factors may inhibit the enhancement of self-esteem, these five tips are a crucial starting point for improving our self-esteem...
27/10/2021
A modern society is one in which the desire for autonomy and independence fuels the shaping of the outer sociocentric realm by individuals forced to pursue individualist social action within and through a labyrinth of social complexities......
To what extent is Dumont’s distinction between sociocentric and egocentric societies relevant to understanding individuality as a form of social action?
The desire for autonomy and independence fuels the shaping of the outer sociocentric realm by individuals forced to pursue individualist social action...
19/10/2021
Taking the seemingly mundane case study of people boarding and alighting trams, actually provides a rich canvas for analysing the way people embody valuable capital......
Tram watching: a sociological case study
Taking the seemingly mundane act of people boarding trams, provides a rich canvas for analysing the embodiment of valuable capital...
12/10/2021
Our identity is not some unchangeable concept that is oblivious to the outside world. Rather, it is in a constant state of flux, where we are adjusting, moulding, and reassessing our identities in the context of historical and cultural effects and implications......
Identities are historically and culturally contingent; the case of Cuban migrants in the 1960s
Identity is not some unchangeable concept oblivious to the outside world. Rather, it is in a constant state of flux affected by historical and cultural elements...
05/10/2021
In an environment where the ease and ubiquity of digital publishing is allowing globalised individuals to enter the publishing realm, it's imperative that publishers both embrace and develop their valued functions and roles......
How the functions and roles of publishers are changing in an era of digital ‘disintermediation’
In an environment of prolific digital publishing, it's imperative established publishers embrace and develop their valued functions and roles...
28/09/2021
In the absence of a dominant overarching structure to guide communal conduct, contemporary society has filled this void by turning to individual advice dispensed primarily through the medium of self-help books......
Overview of the industry of self-help books
In the absence of a dominant overarching structure to guide communal conduct, contemporary society has filled this void by turning to self-help books...
22/09/2021
In this essay, I contend that the increasingly prolific role of ‘credentialing’ by employers in industrialised societies, is placing exacting pressures upon older workers (those aged 40+) who are, both directly and implicitly, required to validate their experience and skills via the mode of formalised educational credentials. In an increasingly globalised and thus competitive workforce, many older workers are engaging in ‘defensive’ educational credentialing, despite misgivings about both its practical value in performing their jobs, and the effects upon the stratification and perceptions of inequality amongst workers within the organisation in which they operate....
Let’s see your papers: the effects of credentialing on older workers
Despite the accumulation of experience and skills, many older workers feel obliged to upgrade their skills through formal educational qualifications...
14/09/2021
In this essay, I consider two particular benefits of work in contemporary society: that of the ability to confer a sense of status upon an employee, and the ability of a worker to gain a sense of purpose from the pursuit of that work. Conversely, I also demonstrate that despite these rewards, this work can also be tempered by concerns surrounding job status anxiety and alienation....
Contradictions of work in contemporary society
Whilst work in contemporary society certainly offers benefits, these can be tempered by issues of anxiety and alienation...
07/09/2021
Before COVID 19 impeded our lives, I decided to observe social interactions within a semi-rural pub in outer-east Melbourne, Australia. The pub itself is situated in what is classified as a low socio-economic area and its patrons consist mainly of middle-aged, ‘working-class’ people. The pub is somewhat of a hub to which ‘locals’ congregate for a meal and social enjoyment. After observing the behaviour and interactions of these people for some time, I concluded that both the pub staff and its patrons contribute to treating the venue as an extension of their homes....
Anthropological observations in an Australian pub
Observations within an Australian pub show that it's really just an extension of home...
24/08/2021
In this essay, I contend that whilst it may seem a great majority of workers operating within the gig economy are exposed to high levels of flexibility, this is in fact an illusion. For whilst the environments within which workers are employed may be new, the nature of corporations operating as bureaucratic organisations necessitates that a substantial degree of control be wielded over workers operating across multiple sites and within various cultures....
Do workers in a gig economy have more flexibility?
Individual flexibility is offered in the gig economy as the enticement for worker involvement, but it is rarely realised...
17/08/2021
In this essay, I contend that rather than viewing individuals as attempting to resist the imposition of corporate power into various aspects of their lives, we can view their behaviour as more of a continual and complex negotiation of the establishment and consolidation of various identities within the corporate framework. To this end, I argue we can broadly observe these frictions to fit within one of three parameters: attempted systemic identity arbitration by groups: individual negotiation of personhood; and determination of identity and maintenance of status through corporate compliance....
The complex negotiation of worker identities within the corporate framework
Constant friction between individuals’ personhood and identity within workplaces, is a necessary component in the development of a corporation’s own identity…
10/08/2021
In this essay, I contend that the perception of ageing by various societies revolves around both fixed, chronological markers of time which invoke a particular meaning, along with contradictory and often fluid meanings given to the relativity of age. As Hazan contends, “age is conceived of in both absolute and relative terms” (1994). This presents various contradictions within modern societies, whereby the perception of ageing can be seen to comprise a biologically determined basis upon which precariously resides a socially constructed layer....
Ageing is a social construct
Whilst chronological age is fixed, the meanings assigned to them are relative to the context in which we view them…