Sociologyspeaking topic
Why do the children of wealthy families study art, philosophy, and classical music, things that 'do not pay'? What invisible class boundary does seemingly useless knowledge draw?
— cultural capital / Bourdieu's Distinction
practice with this topic
Set the timer (5-30 min), take 20 seconds of prep if you like, start talking. Jot your thoughts onto the sticky-note board.
similar topics
- Auguste Comte's positivism and his effort to establish sociology as a science: why did it matter so much?
- People will easily do things in a uniform and a role that they would never do alone. How does hiding behind a role silence the conscience so effectively?
- Mathiesen's concept of the synopticon: in the panopticon the few watch the many, in the synopticon the many watch the few. Could millions watching the same celebrities also be a form of control?
- Benedict Anderson's concept of imagined communities: how a nation is built out of a shared act of imagination.
- Social capital: you are as powerful as the people you know. Are networks of connections a form of wealth, or a mechanism that hides inequality?