Sociologyspeaking topic
Relationship tests like the bird test tell you to check whether your partner looks up when you point at the sky. Why are we outsourcing judgment about our own relationships to viral formulas?
— X/Twitter discourse
practice with this topic
Set the timer (5-30 min), take 20 seconds of prep if you like, start talking. Jot your thoughts onto the sticky-note board.
similar topics
- Marcuse's one-dimensional man: as comfort and consumption keep us content, are we forgetting how to think critically? Could comfort itself be a tool of domestication?
- Foucault's panopticon: why does a prisoner who never knows whether he is being watched start disciplining himself? Is the possibility of surveillance a more powerful tool of control than surveillance itself?
- Beck's risk society: does modern society now distribute risks (climate, technology) rather than wealth? Is progress creating more dangers than it solves?
- Can parents realistically shield their children from social media, and should they?
- Bourdieu's analysis of taste: are our preferences innocent? Why does one painting count as 'deep' and one song as 'shallow', and who decides?