The scientific study of society.
Questions tagged [sociology]
103 questions
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Is the religious population declining?
Different groups argue that the numbers of religious people are either shrinking or growing, often depending on which group they are from.
One example of the shrinking religious viewpoint is the intro to this video talk by Dan Dennett…
going
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Is it accurate to say that 97% of experts agree that global warming is anthropogenic?
A recent spate of newspaper headlines reported that 97% of scientists agreed with the theory of anthropogenic global warming (AGW). The UK's Daily telegraph reported:
A review of 12,000 scientific papers has found the consensus among scientists…
matt_black
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Are there between 100,000-300,000 child sex slaves in the United States today?
Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore state this as part of the "Real Men Don't Buy Girls" campaign.
CNN -
There's between 100,000 and 300,000 child sex slaves in the United States today," Ashton Kutcher tells CNN's Piers Morgan. "If you don't do something…
user1873
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Is overpopulation a myth?
I happened across this website http://overpopulationisamyth.com, which raises some interesting arguments against the notion that overpopulation is a real problem.
Although it isn't obvious from the site. It appears to be backed by the Population…
JohnFx
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2 answers
Were Kinsey's studies debunked?
To quote from a comment on my recent answer (emphasis mine):
Your quoting of Kinsey's bogus studies on homosexuality -- criticized heavily by famed statistician John Tukey -- makes me severely doubt the rest of your answer.
Leaving aside the point…
user5341
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Can the Overton Window be deliberately moved by espousing extremist views?
The Overton Window is a political theory that 'describes a "window" in the range of public reactions to ideas in public discourse, in a spectrum of all possible options on a particular issue.'
When I have heard the Overton Window discussed it is…
Oddthinking
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Do biological males who were castrated at birth and raised as females often behave like stereotypical men?
In "Google's Ideological Echo Chamber", James Damore wrote (emphasis added on claim):
On average, men and women biologically differ in many ways. These differences aren’t just socially constructed because:
They’re universal across human…
Tim Schimandle
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Does staying married "for the kids' sake" benefit the kids?
The common opinion I have heard is that parental divorce has negative effects on children. Wikipedia has a section on "Effect of divorce on children" with all effects listed being negative, and several references. There is also a
notable study on…
rumtscho
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Is the US more tolerant of failure than other cultures?
I've come across several sources claiming that the US is more tolerant of trial-and-error than other cultures:
(The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb) "American culture encourages the process of failure, unlike the cultures of Europe and Asia…
cberzan
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Have one in ten women suffered rape in the UK?
A recent survey in the UK claims that about 10% of women have been raped but that most do not report the incident even to friends. In the words of one news report:
One in 10 women has been raped, and more than a third subjected to sexual assault,…
matt_black
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Can we determine the percentage of statistics made up out of thin air?
Comedian Stephen Wright once joked that 42.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
Recently, Arizona Senator and notably stubborn Jon Kyl provided us with the most famous example of just such behavior.
He can be seen here, stating that well…
Monkey Tuesday
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Are people who win the lottery more likely to go bankrupt?
It's been suggested that people who win the lottery are more likely to go bankrupt than if they had not. For example, an article on Smartmoney states:
More than 1,900 [lottery] winners went bankrupt within five years. That number implies that 1% of…
Brian M. Hunt
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Is asexuality real?
I read here about human asexuality, and I cannot figure out if it's real or if people are just making stuff up. Have studies been done about this phenomenon and what explains it?
picakhu
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Does being a strong free market supporter correlate with rejection of scientific claims?
The following research claims that there is a link between one being a strong free market supporter and being more likely to reject scientific claims:
Paralleling previous work, we find that endorsement of a laissez-faire
conception of…
WilliamKF
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Is the Predictive Index® personality inventory for hiring based on scientific research?
I just heard of it (a friend has to take it) and it seems obvious that it's a product marketed directly to business people.
I'd expect that the test isn't worth much because it was made in 1955 and personality theory has changed much since and…
Ruben
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