social mores

The Evolution of Social Taboos

Submitted by JuliaPM on Thu, 09/24/2009 - 23:42

Tim O'Reilly has some really interesting musings on the idea of socially taboo behaviours, and the sorts of shifts made by cultures. He writes about reading a book from a century ago, and the way that its prejudices are not just startling, but downright shocking in their blase assumptions about racial inequality.

"It makes me wonder what people a hundred years from now will think of our popular fiction, our popular movies. What do we take for granted that they will find odd, and perhaps even distasteful?"

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Privacy and Surveillance

Submitted by JuliaPM on Wed, 03/11/2009 - 10:49

Brad Stone writes for the New York Times about a study on attitudes towards privacy and the inconsistencies of human behaviour:

"Our privacy principles are wobbly. We are more or less likely to open up depending on who is asking, how they ask and in what context."

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