We don’t have a state religion in the U.S. But if we did, it would probably be the Protestant Work Ethic. Or so Max Weber would argue. Most Americans think they should work hard to succeed, even if they don’t. And yet there’s an alternative attitude from within the same Christian traditions. We can find it in the Bible, in the Garden of Eden story.
Category: Culture (Page 16 of 23)
These are posts on culture from the blog Base and Superstructure. Mostly the focus is on American culture. But there might be a few posts on broader, international issues.
Here’s an experience most of us had during the #MeToo movement: a cherished cultural figure – a favorite musician, filmmaker, author, actor, et al. – did bad things. The victims of those actions came forward. These events provoked in us as many reactions as it did experiences – from revulsion to condemnation to indifference to defensiveness or even apologism. Some of the cultural figures I love were a part of this, including Isaac Asimov.
As Alec Nevala-Lee documents, Asimov had a reputation as a harasser, and the science fiction community knew all about it. Asimov exemplified for Nevala-Lee a certain type of harasser: the awkward, nerdy boy who, through his intellectual efforts and outputs, gained social power with which to lord over women who wouldn’t otherwise attend to him.
Here are some thoughts on Asimov: what his work meant to me, how I see that work now, and how harassment locks people – especially women – out of spaces.
I’m sure you know the stereotype of the rich asshole: wealthy guy, probably a business person, cares little for other people’s needs. The world revolves around him, his ideas and his needs. He’s an anti-social guy. And sometimes he even rides it all the way to the White House.
That’s the pop culture image, but let’s talk about the social science for a bit. Social psychologists study the phenomenon. So, are rich people anti-social? Does it mean working class people are pro-social? If so, why? What does social psychology say about these things?
There’s not much to do in Iowa City other than read – or make cloth masks – given the fact of coronavirus and COVID-19. As I said earlier, one of those recent books is The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov. I dropped a hint in the earlier post that The Naked Sun is relevant to our current situation. How? By revealing the slow social disintegration of the planet Solaria.
Let’s think a bit more about that.
If you take a trip to your local Target or Walmart, you’ll find distressingly empty rows next to curiously overstocked ones. In the former, it’s toilet paper or hand sanitizer. And in the latter, it’s cosmetics or decorative pillows. I don’t need to remind you about the arbitrariness or silliness of the Toilet Paper Wars of March 2020. Their impact remains. Nor should I need to remind you how people hoard corporate, mass produced goods when they think their family is in danger. But I do hope to show that cloth masks are an important exception.
People behave strangely during times of crisis. Maybe the last few weeks left you scratching your head. Why did people hoard toilet paper before genuinely essential goods like food? Why buy a year’s supply of toilet paper when no clear-thinking person believes you need it?
What’s going on here?
