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Talcott Parsons - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

en.wikipedia.org/...Talcott_Parsons parsons sociology theory
shared by Adam Bohannon on 08 Dec 07 - Cached
  • Parsons developed his ideas during a period when systems theory and cybernetics were very much on the front burner of social and behavioral science. In using systems thinking, he postulated that the relevant systems treated in social and behavioral science were "open," meaning that they were embedded in an environment consisting of other systems. For social and behavioral science, the largest system is "the action system," consisting of interrelated behaviors of human beings, embedded in a physical-organic environment.
  • To survive or maintain equilibrium with respect to its environment, any system must to some degree adapt to that environment, attain its goals, integrate its components, and maintain its latent pattern, a cultural template of some sort. These are called the system's functional imperatives.
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On Facebook, Scholars Link Up With Data - New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...17facebook.html anthropology facebook research sociology
shared by Adam Bohannon on 19 Dec 07 - Cached
  • “One of the holy grails of social science is the degree to which taste determines friendship, or to which friendship determines taste,” said Jason Kaufman, an associate professor of sociology at Harvard and a member of the research team. “Do birds of a feather flock together, or do you become more like your friends?”
  • Facebook’s network of 58 million active users and its status as the sixth-most-trafficked Web site in the United States have made it an irresistible subject for many types of academic research.
  • Nicole Ellison, an assistant professor at Michigan State University, and colleagues found that Facebook use could have a positive impact on students’ well-being.
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  • An important finding, Ms. Ellison said, was that students who reported low satisfaction with life and low self-esteem, and who used Facebook intensively, accumulated a form of social capital linked to what sociologists call “weak ties.” A weak tie is a fellow classmate or someone you meet at a party, not a friend or family member. Weak ties are significant, scholars say, because they are likely to provide people with new perspectives and opportunities that they might not get from close friends and family. “With close friends and family we’ve already shared information,” Ms. Ellison said.
  • Ms. Ellison and her colleagues suggest the information gleaned from Facebook may be more accurate than personal information offered elsewhere online, such as chat room profiles, because Facebook is largely based in real-world relationships that originate in confined communities like campuses.
  • Eszter Hargittai, a professor at Northwestern, found in a study that Hispanic students were significantly less likely to use Facebook, and much more likely to use MySpace. White, Asian and Asian-American students, the study found, were much more likely to use Facebook and significantly less likely to use MySpace.
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Cosmology for a Different Computer Universe: Nelson: JoDI - 0 views

jodi.tamu.edu/...Nelson computer cosmology nelson web xanadu
shared by Adam Bohannon on 05 Dec 07 - Cached
  • Yet much of "computer science" is about the ramifications of two conventions: the simulation of hierarchy and the simulation of paper, carefully developed in a variety of directions.
  • The new XML-based Web often combines both simulated paper and hierarchy in each file.
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A New Debate on Female Circumcision - TierneyLab - Science - New York Times Blog - 0 views

tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/...-debate-on-female-circumcision anthropology ethics feminism rites ritual
shared by Adam Bohannon on 18 Dec 07 - Cached
  • Dr. Shweder says that many Westerners trying to impose a “zero tolerance” policy don’t realize that these initiation rites are generally controlled not by men but by women who believe it is a cosmetic procedure with aesthetic benefits. He criticizes Americans and Europeans for outlawing it at the same they endorse their own forms of genital modification, like the circumcision of boys or the cosmetic surgery for women called “vaginal rejuvenation.”
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