By: Ashley Goad on January 31, 2014
In the past three months, I have traveled to Haiti, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Uganda. In each of these countries, the culture, the economy, the land, the people, the goods… they are all distinctly different. Yet in two weeks, as I venture to Russia, I cannot help to think it will be the most socially…
By: Telile Fikru Badecha on January 31, 2014
Reading Karl Polanyi’s brilliant work on The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of our Time is very instructive, and it raised my curiosity to learn more about my country’s economic and political system, and its impact on social life. One of the central pieces from Polanyi’s discussion that struck me the most is…
By: Mitch Arbelaez on January 31, 2014
Interestingly this week, while reading Karl Polanyi’s book The Great Transformation my daughter was assigned a three minute speech debating the pros and cons of tariffs vs. free markets. She had me read her speech wherein she biasedly sided with free markets, with the understanding that the freer the better. Using some critical thinking analysis,…
By: Mark Steele on January 31, 2014
I have often been haunted by the idea how to die well. My career is providing housing and services to older adults. I have many senior friends who have finished their careers, who are retired and who continue to pursue their life passions as best as they can. I see them in many stages of…
By: Stefania Tarasut on January 31, 2014
The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time By: Karl Polanyi The Industrial Revolution not only changed life in the way that business is done, but it changed our relationship with the land. Our relationship with the land is a reflection of our relationship with the poor. Before the industrial revolution it…
By: rhbaker275 on January 31, 2014
During the LGP4 cohort’s synchronous chat, it was noted by Jason Clark, cohort lead mentor, that reading The Great Transformation, The Political and Economic Origins of our Time,[1] would give insight into “how capitalism came to be and how it shapes social life… i.e. economic history.”[2] It was clear in the initial reading, as I perused the introduction, contents, and…
By: Liz Linssen on January 31, 2014
Polanyi’s work, written during the tumultuous times of the Second World War, serve as a reflection and critique of the current self-regulating free market forces against the market economy of centuries past. Written in response to the flaws of free market forces such as inequality, war, oppression and social turmoil, Polanyi attempts to convince the…
By: Garrick Roegner on January 31, 2014
David Brooks socio-psychological study, The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement, while full of holes and inconsistencies overlaying a political agenda, does very much get to the heart of how human’s develop, grow, and flourish. His central thesis is that our emotional subconscious is very much a key leader in how…
By: Carol McLaughlin on January 31, 2014
Perhaps you tuned in to watch President Obama deliver the State of the Union address this past Tuesday evening. During his speech the middle class was held up as the class for those in poverty to aspire toward and encouragement was sounded forth for employers to raise the minimum wage. The measure of success is…
By: Raphael Samuel on January 31, 2014
By: Karl Polanyi The title “The Great Transformation,” almost sounds like an action filled movie. In a sense Karl Polanyi’s account of the, political, social, and economic factors that led to the greatest period of transformation in Europe can be seen as an, action filled epic overview. The account has both historical and intellectual value…
By: Fred Fay on January 30, 2014
Imagine this; an irate parent comes to church complaining about his untrustworthy son to a staff member. The parent cannot control the son’s behavior. The youth director feels that this young man is making people feel uncomfortable by inappropriate words and actions. His social interactions have become unacceptable. He is not welcome back to youth…
By: Sandy Bils on January 30, 2014
“Who are we? We are like spiritual Grand Central stations.” (David Brooks, The Social Animal, Kindle Electronic Edition: Location 167) In his book “Social Animal: The hidden sources if love, character, and achievement“, New York times political columnist David Brooks dedicates himself to the question what drives individual behavior and decision making?What is life about? …
By: Sharenda Roam on January 30, 2014
The Wild Core of Art & Music As I followed Erica and Harold through their conversations, activities, thoughts, and experiences I ran into a section of the book, “The Social Animal,” that gave my unconscious pleasure. It is a portion that discusses music and art. Certain patterns of music, David Brooks explaines, produce warm swellings…
By: David Toth on January 30, 2014
It was an uneventful flight over the Atlantic into Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, at least until the landing. I fly a fair amount and have experienced both take offs and landings in inclement weather. This particular early morning in the late fall was foggy, very foggy. I usually choose a window seat so that I am…
By: Deve Persad on January 30, 2014
Webster’s Dictionay (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pawn): pawn noun ˈpȯn, ˈpän 1: one of the chessmen of least value having the power to move only forward ordinarily one square at a time, to capture only diagonally forward, and to be promoted to any piece except a king upon reaching the eighth rank 2: one that can be used to…
By: Phil Smart on January 30, 2014
I normally use a life experience or story to illustrate the meanings and take-a-ways from a theoretical book. But in the case The Social Animal by David Brooks, the book is the story and I have to come away with the theoretical meanings and take-a-ways. Insights and tidbits of stimulating information flowed from every page…
By: Chris Ellis on January 30, 2014
The Truman Show stars Jim Carry as an insurance salesman whose life since birth is actually an elaborate TV show watched by millions. NY Times writer David Brooks might have had this movie in mind when he wrote Social Animals. He takes the latest developments in psychology, human development, anthropology and neuroscience and weaves them…
By: Ashley Goad on January 28, 2014
For years I heard my son, Clint, a soldier in the 173rd Airborne, speak of “collateral damage.” I cringed every time he said the phrase, knowing he used the words to describe an unintended consequence of an armed intervention. In plain speak, though it was not planned, innocent people lost their lives. Reading Zygmunt Bauman’s Collateral Damage:…
By: Clint Baldwin on January 27, 2014
To my recollection, I first encountered Zygmunt Bauman in 1996 through reading Miroslav Volf’s Exclusion and Embrace. As I remember, I appreciated what I was able to encounter of Bauman there. I subsequently came across Bauman more frequently in readings and really appreciated his Globalization: The Human Consequences. It was some time after he wrote Globalization and as we…
By: Clint Baldwin on January 27, 2014
What “makes” you think the way that you do? What orientations do you typically adhere to without even considering that you do so? What subconsciously drives your thinking and your actions? Charles Taylor in Modern Social Imaginaries explores facets of these very questions. Taylor, suggests that ideas drive actions which lead to the creation of…
