Society Blogs

Discover the best independent blogs about society on BlogRolly.

• The UK’s problems aren’t caused by immigration — A strange YouGov poll has immigration topping UK concerns. I invoke Humboldt's appetite for data as I compare YouGov pol
• The silver bullet fallacy
• Santa Claus is still a woman — Surprising fact: after 20 years of writing about the economics of Christmas I only just noticed women still buy and wrap
• How British Queues Got Out of Hand
• Supreme Prejudice — This stings: the UK Supreme Court trans ruling strips protections under the Equality Act 2010. In this post I unpack how
• The Hate is still Out There — A disturbing case in Navan where a gay teenager was beaten and the Gardaí released suspects without charge pushed me to
• Not all men, science edition — Surprising fact, geology still tops the gender imbalance charts. At Wexford Science Café I watched Amy Hassett interview
• Not doing well — Not doing well is my honest reply these days. I explain how multilateralism and evidence-based policy are collapsing whi
• The war to end all wars? — What if World War Three isn't fought by armies but against the Westphalian state itself? I argue today's crisis reads as
• Rivals: Experiential education on nuclear weapon proliferation — Want a hands-on way to teach nuclear weapon proliferation? This post introduces Rivals, my interactive roleplaying simul
• Nuclear risks briefing — Not many people know that a few bombs threaten everyone. In this nuclear risks briefing I demystify nuclear weapon risks
• America is demolishing its brain — Terrifying trend: the Trump administration's anti-science agenda is hollowing out NASA missions, climate research and pu
• Riots should be suppressed swiftly and harshly — Strong order keeps society intact. I argue the Trump administration has a natural law right to intervene and suppress th
• Diabolical modernity — Satan tempted Christ to avoid the cross, and that temptation shapes modern life. Drawing on Archbishop Fulton Sheen, I o
• How not to limit free speech — Not a free speech absolutist, but convinced many restrictions do more harm than good. I set out the natural law account
• Pre-agriculture gender relations seem bad — What if the hunter-gatherer paradise story is overstated? I sift ethnographic evidence and the Hayden, Deal, Cannon and
• Was life better in hunter-gatherer times? — Was life better in hunter-gatherer times? I compare pre-agriculture quality of life with today, examining hunter-gathere
• Minimal-trust investigations — Want to know the one habit that reshaped how I think? Minimal-trust investigations. I recount a detailed GiveWell case s
• Rowing, Steering, Anchoring, Equity, Mutiny — What if the world were a ship? I use that ship analogy for improving the world to unpack five approaches people take: ro
• Spreading messages to help with the most important century — What if small conversations could change our future? In this post I walk you through practical ways to spread AI safety
• Are the Kids Alright? On Cottagecore, Quiet Luxury, Clean Girl and Other Internet Aesthetics — Who gets to call aesthetics an identity? In this post I reached out to Gen Z and Millennial students and faculty to prob
• How to Enjoy a Tiki Bar Without Guilt
• What FX’s The Bear Says About the Art of Hospitality — What if hospitality is a craft, not just service? On Aesthetics for Birds I unpack what FX's The Bear reveals about the
• Why Women Should Rethink Their Love of Gay Male Manga
• You Cannot Summarize It — Hard to ignore the daily collapse of our democracy, so I've started keeping a running observation instead of summarizing
• Claude McKay’s Harlem Shadows, “If We Must Die,” and Congressional Confusion — Surprising research finding. I revisited Claude McKay's Harlem Shadows for Black History Month and unpacked the history
• The Brief, Brilliant Career of Rita Senger — Who was Rita Senger, the illustrator behind a 1915 Vogue cover and the August 1919 Vanity Fair? My post traces her swift
• Langston Hughes, Teenaged Poet — Did you know Langston Hughes first appeared in The Brownies' Book in 1920, with poems, a Toluca travel piece and a gradu
• Magazine Ads of 1921: Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, and Meh — Which 1921 magazine ads actually make me want to buy something? I sift through the June 1921 Ladies' Home Journal ads an
• I Read a Random 1920 Book — A random pick from the 1920 Book Review Digest landed me Elements of Retail Salesmanship, a funny and surprising window
• Jane Austen’s Life 100 Years Ago — Ever wondered how Jane Austen appeared to readers in 1920? I found Oscar Firkins' 1920 book during a lonely spring in Wa
• The Best and Worst of the New Yorker’s First Issue — Curious about the New Yorker's 1925 debut? Growing up with a subscription and a huge cartoon collection meant I read the
• The Top Posts of 1923 — Wondering which 1923 posts drew the most readers? I count down my top posts of 1923, from my deep dive into Claude McKay
• My Magical Journey to 1922 — Picture June 1922 and the advertising pages of The Ladies' Home Journal. I wandered those vintage 1922 ads, savoring a d
• Did College Shrink Your Breasts? A Quiz — Angry and curious, I dug up a 1918 Educational Review essay and turned Henry Maudsley’s claims into a cheeky quiz to tes
• 10 1918 People I’m Thankful For — Who helped make the better world we live in? In my Thanksgiving piece 10 1918 people I'm thankful for, part of My Life 1
• Not them having a whole zoo—the rise of ironic "not" — Ever noticed the strangely playful "Not X" on Instagram and Reddit? In this post I trace the rise of ironic not, show ho
• On the origins of the terms "pro-life" and "pro-choice" — Which came first, pro-choice or pro-life in print? I started a Wikipedia article on the origins of the terms pro-life an
• The invention of foreigners — What if xenophobia in South Africa is less about scarce jobs and more about how we define belonging? I trace Mahmood Mam
• When solidarity becomes spectacle — Packed pews and thunderous applause at Groote Kerk felt like a revival. As Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur, ur
• Paying for citizenship — Podgorica buzzed with giant billboards and De Niro posters while Montenegro hosted a glittery Global Citizen Forum secre
• Has digital feminism peaked?
• The trouble with ‘showing the real Africa’ — Can viral goodwill mask deep harm? I unpack iShowSpeed's 20-country, 28-day Africa tour and the applause from African yo
• A world reimagined in Black — A Harvard LLM memory in 1998 sets the scene for my review of Howard French's The Second Emancipation. After tense race c
• The rubble of empire — How should Somalis handle the rubble of empire? In this interview I sit with Claire Dillon to untangle Mogadishu Cathedr
• The roots of our storytelling — On a road trip from Accra to Elmina I passed Achimota Forest and thought of Ainehi Edoro's claim that forests in African
• Returnees — Back in 2018, in Beijing, I photographed young returnees who had studied abroad and were rebuilding life at home. My por
• Back to my name — What’s in a name? My move from Gueorgui back to Gosha tells a Russian immigrant story in France, the passport versus chi
• Robbing the Doctor: 17th-Century Medics as Victims of Crime — I combed Old Bailey records to recover vivid stories of early modern medical practice. In 16th and 17th century London p
• Chess as a tool for social transformation in Jamaica — From kings and queens to Queensbury in Kingston (tenuous chess link there)