The Sociology of A Place To Call Home Part 6
by Sandshoe (Honshades)
Sociology is a study of human inter-connectedness, how we connect with this and that and each other and why and where and when.
The information is called data.
We can set up a pin board to begin thinking about the sociology of, say, our position of employment in our workplace. We work in a department store. We can tie string from a big pin that represents ourselves to
another and so on. Messy if we do not conceive of a design. Let’s try surrounding ourselves with pins that represent our work circle of associates. We can make an outer circle representing who each person’s position connects with external to the floor we work on and go on doing that. We can use different coloured string and connect our pin to the pins of the people we work with most often and each of those with the pins of the people they work with most.
We have string art likely big enough already to mount on the facade of a building or we cannot see the inter-connections at a glance.
String lines between pins and the number of pins don’t mean a thing without data that describes the inter-connections.
A sociologist is a cheaper option. A sociologist will make us a design we can fit on a piece of paper. Sociology is a science. Sociology is not an exact science because bias frames what questions we ask.
What is frequently missing in discussion about sociology is a generic statement that explains what it is for, what we are looking for. I think happiness. A banker is going to say the getting of money. An economist might say an economy that functions and so on. I rest my case.
I cannot understand for the life of me why happiness is not named as the only factor of social study that predicates success.
The United Nations World Happiness Report 2017 published by the Sustainable Solutions Network ranks Australia as the ninth happiest in a list of 155 countries.
A decent argument about what happiness looks like … not neglecting what happiness is not … is the go.
to be continued…
Christina Binning Wilson
vivienne29 said:
In 2013 I was at a fundraiser for Cathy McGowan. Many there were Liberals who didn’t like Sophie Mirabella. One of the movers was on my table. There was a quiz to do – on paper. I seemed to know all the answers and told those near me. The mover happily wrote down my answers. At the end first correct entry got a prize. Her’s was the first one pulled out of the shoebox. She got a lovely box of chocolates. She never thanked me or offered me a chocolate (offered no one a chocolate).
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sandshoeblog said:
Aint that the rotten way, Hope she croaked.
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vivienne29 said:
I’m very social (except not amongst Liberals).
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sandshoeblog said:
We could let one in if they bring chocolates and vote them out at the next Pigs piss up, I mean Social Club meeting.
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vivienne29 said:
Never going to happen. They are too tight arsed.
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sandshoeblog said:
Screw them. We’ll buy our own and gobble the lot.
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vivienne29 said:
Daughter No.1 is a Social Scientist.
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sandshoeblog said:
Where did she do her under-grad, Viv? Are you allowed to say?
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vivienne29 said:
Did everything at Charles Sturt University which is near where we live. Did Honours and PhD through them. Worked at CSIRO in Brisbane then returned home and works for CSU. Does research in land management, ecosystems, MDBP etc and a lot of survey work. It involves meeting and interviewing farmers and landowners and often associated with CMAs – throughout Victoria. Based on Wodonga. Daughter No.2 did Hospitality/Business Mgt at LaTrobe in Wodonga and then post grad in HR through CSU. She now manages Beechworth Bakeries. She lives in Wodonga but works out of Beechworth and spends too much time travelling Victoria. Husband also lectured at CSU. It’s why we are here after we left Sydney.
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sandshoeblog said:
Wonderful. Charles Sturt is a significant force as I understand it. I browse their courses from time to time.
Much makes sense further of scraps you have shared. Thank you, Vivienne.
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vivienne29 said:
I’m happy in my home, or outside it. Happier still this arvo as I’ve just cooked some lovely Blue Swimmers. Yum yum.
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sandshoeblog said:
That’s it. I’m revolting.
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vivienne29 said:
No. You’re beautiful.
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sandshoeblog said:
Now I’m like Hung. I’m going to say it, too. You made me cry.
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sandshoe said:
So last night I revolted and boiled water in a saucepan and threw in some spiral macaroni and lots of fillets of fish, peas, and fair lashings of greens… broccolini tops and broccoli. Delish with a dribble of sesame oil, pepper and a scraping of salt. So easy peasy.
It does belatedly occur to me my comment might seem to refer to happiness. I meant I was going to cast off my shackles of laziness and raid the freezer for fish. Entirely obscure. đŸ™‚
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vivienne29 said:
I think I knew it meant you were going to get up to something. My crabs were the best ever for about two years.
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sandshoe said:
I did originally assume you did. Amazing how we learn to interpret the word off the flat and expressionless page. Fascinating.
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sandshoeblog said:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
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Mark said:
đŸ™‚
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sandshoeblog said:
Big M called you a funny bugger. You’ve got your accolade. I am recovering with smelling salts.
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Big M said:
Eye am socially inept.
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sandshoe said:
buy string
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Big M said:
‘shoe, I did a short course on epidemics, some years back. The analysis of person to person interaction (read: infection) is exactly the same, bits a string on pins in a board, taking into account ‘super-infectors’, asymptomatic carriers, and the like. Of course, they now do it with a computer programme, that places the pins and the string. Unless it gets a computer virus, then yer fucked.
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sandshoe said:
One of the lecturers for a Health Geog short course I did at Flinders was from, think Newcastle, who was an epidemics bloke.
I thought of using the analogy of pins and strings result of continuous recall over the years of a young man who worked out everything he needed to analyse by laboriously writing out the math step by step, whether it was two and two or a quadratic equation. I was so taken by his determined application while everybody around him shyacked. I listened to the man.
How long is a piece of string is great, eh. Think it’s my fave brain teaser, Big.
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sandshoe said:
Aint that the trewth if you get a computer virus yer fucked. So much has been fucked by getting a computer virus. I remember well the days when we all got the blleedin’ virus world-wide and ended up in each others laps well confused.
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sandshoe said:
Lap tops now. đŸ˜€
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