Easy way? What do you mean by that? Sociology doesn’t even have a basic axiom, it’s such an elusive thing.
Either be attentive and critical to the social constructs that surround you (if possible, it’s really hard to just observe, because many things we thing are natural, like inhereting your father’s name, not your mother’s), or start reading Max Weber, Karl Marx & Emile Dürkheim’s writings to get started.
Well, I prefer my Mom than my father, and I’ve been going by my Mom’s maiden name Johnson (as in “Dilly Johnson”) for a while now. Seriously!
Sorry if came through as judgy in my first comment. What territory of sociology interests you? Why do you want to learn more on the topic?
In the school where I was taught, one of the major directions was statistics. Harm reduction and drug policy also go under the umbrella. I really enjoyed the idea of mental maps, but that might’ve been the cultural anthropology class (which kinda bleeds over into the subject).
I said “socialist theory” (including Marxist theory), NOT sociology
Me and my reading comorehension. Good luck!
Do you have any methods on studying socialist theory?
Sorry, not really. I could only point you towards my wayward comment mentioning Weber and Dürkheim.
Sociology really wouldn’t be a bad place to start, you can see how the words are derived from the same base. I don’t know any modern thinkers, I flunked out pretty early from that uni.
If you try the inward out method (by observing social transactions, peer pressures), you would still be well off to pick up some literature, so you can get some framing for it.
I recommend https://soulism.net for anarcho-antirealist theory
Why?
I made it and I think it’s very good. And people have told Me I’m much easier to understand than the other prominent soulists
I think that soulism and other related concepts is like the concept of nihilism but with extra steps and such; nihilism affirms the belief that life has no meaning; soulism takes that just one step further by saying that if life has a meaning it would be an “unjust hierarchy” and that the soul is more of a noncoercive unit.
A true anarchist knows that life is NOT really hierarchic, and that life has a meaning: love, beauty and freedom. The point is that life is a beautiful thing, and that we should all learn to appreciate all that made life is beautiful, such as sunsets and sunrises, the scenery, snow falling, the grass we touch everyday and all other stuff.
And this is coming from a left-libertarian who finds anarchy to be pretty interesting. There should be a form of anarchism that’s like “screw the state, let’s just chill and appreciate life and such because life is beautiful”.
The meaning of life is to survive and have children. That’s the definition of a lifeform, a survival and reproduction machine. But meaning has very little to do with what you should do. I think what people should do is make the world a happier and less miserable place.
Is soulism NOT nihilism in any way, shape and form?
Soulism is more like absurdism, but instead of applied to meaning, it’s applied to everything. Reality is not objective, and that gives us the freedom to interpret our condition in a manner so radical it would make Sartre blush. We can change our beliefs to change our perception to change the world we live in. That’s magic.
[off topic]
Why waste time with theory? Find a good politician you feel you can support and go work for them.
Two groups in the US doing good work. If you’re in another country you can hopefully find similar.
What about socialism proper?
What about it?
It makes no sense to study cooking if you don’t have any food.
Get people elected, get laws passed.
I just remembered this amazing book:
Why Not Socialism by Gerald A. Cohen.Super nice and easy read, fantastic introduction. It has been years and years since I read it but I highly recommend it as an introduction.
