What is this “conservative constant” that John Howard talks about? It is fortuitous that this month, at my book club, we are reading Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence. I certainly would not defend that version of American modernism, however, its critique of...
Dear Emma, Those who have made the complaint should be informed of a number of facts. 1. I am not a UQ Staff Member. 2. I am a member of the public. 3. I am a leader in several community organisations. 4. I am a UQ alumni member, one among many Ph.D. graduates who...
Is 'Schooling' Education? Or is it behaviour modification, and is it that necessarily a bad thing? What I am suggesting is that the problem is not so much around the institutional commitment to modify behaviour for socialisation, but much, much, more that...
My new sociological model. Politicians and bureaucrats at the top, bottom-thinking in a tight bubble of a worldview, and thinking well of their 'success'. The public frustrated at policy failure. And policy researchers and developers in the squeeze of being...
Wright Mills’ The Power Elite (1956) has been a major sociological work that has repeatedly been the right framework to understand the political and social chaos I have experienced and witnessed in my lifetime. It is not a perfect work and not a perfect model. The...
This is a blog post to set everyone straight, which makes me open to the critique of being one of Manning Clark’s ‘straighteners’; but that’s another story. My arguments, as a general framework, is based on a basic critique of the neo-conservative paradigm. The...
“Is that really you, Ruth.” I was really feeling her hand on the side of my face, and my finger held in her other hand, as her alive body snugged against my bum, lying on the bed. A dream. A dream very deep in the prefrontal cortex, and after a night of heavy...
"History and historians play a crucial role in Australian culture. They are foundational to other fields in the arts, with historical research often underpinning film, theatre, literature and even, on occasion, dance. A government serious about implementing a cultural...
I was recently shocked by email replies to a short comment I made, as what I thought was a extending out a hand of friendship with an intelligent comment. The replies were hostile in the first case, and extremely annoyed in the second. Both replies...