I KNOW. I basically tell my students in intro sociology not to trust anything that 1) Publishes its own research, 2) Receives funding from private sources to test said source's products/ideas, or 3) Isn't peer-reviewed by people outside the company. Also anything reported in the news media or by a politician isn't a…

You're right. On the technical definition I've got nothing. :-P I think majority is fine to use in this case because it's a vernacular use of the term, but you've got the dictionary on your side.

I think individualism in the US is taken to an extreme that might encourage isolation. We're also a very distrustful society, so it makes us much less likely to know our neighbors for fear they'll hurt us.

I think it's a case of the old Socrates dilemma (I believe I'm getting the person right). Socrates was worried about writing because it meant information would be stored for people to reference later, and thus writing was hurting knowledge. I hear my Dad make the same argument about my younger sister: "She doesn't…

Thank you. I'd also add that it gets tiring hearing the media and commenters endlessly speculate over who's friends are "real" and whose are "online."

43% is a majority group if there are categorical responses and the largest group comprised 43% of the population.

I'm very skeptical of a survey completed by an email marketing company.

The Pew Research Center has been saying that while Americans aren't as socially isolated as we originally thought, we are still a very highly isolated people, on average. Survey research tends to show that Americans (when factoring in the internet and mobile phones) tend to have a mean of 2-3 confidants, and for many…

Agreed. I know a number of incredibly intelligent people who have strong religious beliefs. I've worked with a few in academia. They also understand that science and religion are separate and reconcilable.

Religiosity doesn't need to be a bad thing (and the article goes a way toward saying so). I bounce between agnostic atheist and agnostic theist but describe my religious views as apathetic. However, I do acknowledge religion has done great things for scores of people. It also doesn't mean that someone is stupid if…

Economics is still geared toward the 'only men are rational' mentality, and it's really rather disappointing. While you've got other social sciences opening up to women (even if it's in superficial ways most of the time), there's still a feeling about economics that it's a 'boys only' club. I find this especially…

It's amazing the lengths we go to as a fat-phobic society to keep fat stigmatized. One example that always sticks with me is this, taken from Amy Farrell's 'Fat Shame' (p. 13):