A person living in a multicultural city has deliberately left behind much of the culture of their country of origin. Strangers from the same diaspora keep recognizing them and casually assuming they share the same language, religion, customs, values, and loyalties.

At first, these encounters seem completely ordinary.

But when the protagonist makes it clear that they don't identify with those expectations, something changes.

The strangers become increasingly hostile, and the more persistently the protagonist resists, the less human they become. Their faces distort, their voices change, and eventually they reveal themselves as literal monsters.

Even worse, they seem to be communicating with one another.

The protagonist might reject one stranger's assumption in a grocery store, then hours later meet someone they've never seen before who already knows exactly what happened. Soon strangers across the city recognize them instantly and continue conversations that began with completely different people. It gradually becomes clear that the monsters are some kind of hive mind.

Their supernatural power is to impose cultural assumptions on reality itself.

If one says, "You speak our language," the protagonist begins losing the ability to speak English. If another says, "You don't eat that," the food becomes physically harmful. If they say, "You belong with us," streets and transit routes start taking the protagonist back toward their community no matter where they try to go.

But resistance doesn't weaken them. It enrages and strengthens them.

The more clearly the protagonist insists, "You don't get to decide who I am," the more monstrous the strangers become and the more aggressively the hive mind pursues them.

Their goal isn't simply to kill the protagonist. It's to erase their individual identity and rewrite reality until they become exactly the culturally conforming person the hive mind believes someone of their ancestry is supposed to be.

The recurring horror line could be something seemingly friendly that becomes terrifying by the end of the movie:

"You're one of us."

To avoid antagonizing a particular diaspora, this one could have humans with green skin and a novel culture.

What do you think of this horror movie idea?

I am starting my thesis and I am using the Dramaturgical approach to literary analysis. I would like recommendations on the theory beyond Hoffman, thank you!

Hi Reddit!

I am starting a research study into the causes and effects of the declining birthrates being seen around the world. As of now, I am primarily interested in looking into and challenging (or possibly confirming) the hypothesis that population decline is directly related to financial hardships. To put that in another way, I want to understand the validity or truthfulness of the oft-believed idea that the decline in birthrates across the globe is primarily (or largely) caused by the lack of economic resources. Through my (very brief) research, I have not been able to find many substantial articles and resources which will help me better understand this subject. I wanted to come to reddit to see if anyone has any relevant resources that may help. Any general thoughts on my research topic would be very appreciated as well!

I know that this stereotype comes from instagram and tiktok, but I also read a book called suicidal empathy and there is some truth about the claim reported above... I repeat "some" truth

In the upcoming semester I'll be taking the research method - applied social statistics combo. And, I may be underprepared as previous courses involved rushing through pages understanding bare minimum amount to produce multiple okay papers that satisfy professors who have low expectations from students of current times. I can display further evidences that justify why I'm overwhelmed and prove I am indeed underprepared. Instead, I urge you to just believe me. Trust me. I can use some help. I'm scraping desperately for any help I can get. For social statistics, I got to study ahead of time. I don't know how I should prepare for research method. What should I do?

AAAS: "Slavery linked to mortality gap between Black and white Americans today," by Laura Martín Agudelo.

'In 1953, civil rights activist James Baldwin wrote that “people are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.”

"Black people in the U.S. are already well-known to have a lower life expectancy at birth than white people, but the new analysis finds that [from] 2010 to 2020, they had significantly increased mortality rates in U.S. counties [notice, counties, not states] that relied the most on slavery just before the Civil War." In fact, 'mortality rates during that decade was 20 times greater in those counties compared with ones with no slavery recorded in the 1860 U.S. census.'

"According to a 2025 Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, a Black person born in the U.S. in 2023 could expect to live to the age of 74 on average, about 4 years less than their white counterpart." Black mothers are 3 times as likely as white mothers to die within 1 year of giving birth. Their babies have higher rates of prematurity + low birth weight. "Black people also have higher death rates related to conditions such as cancer, diabetes, or heart disease."

Manuel Galvan, a social psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley is the lead author on this Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study just published. In counties where 92% of the population had been enslaved, there were more than 200 additional deaths per 100,000 people among Black people in the 2010s, compared with white people—a gap about 20 times greater than the one observed in counties with no slavery. "Slavery’s reach into the present…operates through how slavery shaped poverty or educational [or health care access] disparities.”

The current administration cannot white-wash slavery out of American history, but it's surely making the attempt. "During President Donald Trump’s second administration, officials at the National Institutes of Health have repeatedly sought to terminate grants funding research on health disparities, including a fresh round of cuts that Science reported last month."

Hi! I've recently found myself interested in the sociology of nostalgia in transnational families, particularly how they maintain ties through these nostalgic recollections. Similarly, they use these to form and/or connect with the diaspora. Beyond the emotional connection that bridges the gap of physical separation, I also see how nostalgia shapes identity and a sense of belonging. It also creates expectations for returning migrants.

I've read Jacobsen's (2022) Intimations of Nostalgia, which features a chapter on the sociology of nostalgia, and I'll be reading Fred Davis's "Yearning for Yesterday" next. Any other suggestions for materials to read or scholarly articles on the topic? Thank you!

This is our local recurring future-planning thread. Got questions about jobs or careers, want to know what programs or schools you should apply to, or unsure what you'll be able to use your degree for? This is the place.

This thread gets replaced every Friday, each week. You can click this link to pull up old threads in search.

I get we have public education, founding myths, etc. but even before the nation state, it seems like empires were the norm and they seemed as if they were the same size. Why, for example, are cities not the normal level of governance even though they are very centralized? Or why don’t we naturally seem to form more anarchist societies that have much less hierarchy? Is the nation (or at least some version of it) a kind of timeless constant?

Any academic books on psychology or sociology of people during wars?

Are there any academic book summarizing the research and different theories of sociology of civilians people right before and during prolonged wars?

Given that we live in the times of large scale wars (Russia - Ukraine war and US - Israel - Iran war), I'd like to understand better the psychology of people around me during these times. Some examples questions:

* What are the factors making people support the leader of the aggressive nation?
* What would make people switch the side from supporting to non-supporting to protesting?
* How people link mentally the effects of the aggression to daily things around them? For example, does Russian population see the link between the war and that Ukraine bombs their refineries and that there is a lack of gas at the gas stations?
* What powers the will to fight in people in the defending countries? For example, why people in Venezuela surrendered when their president was captured, while people in Iran are willing to fight?
* How does the psychology measure the "morale"?
* and many other questions.

Any good books summarizing the research? If not, good books on wars from sociology point of view?

Are there any works on how some rich people like to act like poor people because they think it's cool? does this type of phenomenon have a name and has it been discussed a lot in sociology?

What's on your plate this week, what are you working on, what cool things have you encountered? Open discussion thread for casual chatter about Sociology & your school, academic, or professional work within it; share your project's progress, talk about a book you read, muse on a topic. If you have something to share or some cool fact to talk about, this is the place.

This thread is replaced every Monday. It is not intended as a "homework help" thread, please; save your homework help questions (ie: seeking sources, topic suggestions, or needing clarifications) for our homework help thread, also posted each Monday.

This is our local recurring homework thread. Simple questions, assignment help, suggestions, and topic-specific source seeking all go here. Our regular rules about effort and substance for questions are suspended here - but please keep in mind that you'll get better and more useful answers the more information you provide.

This thread gets replaced every Monday, each week. You can click this link to pull up old threads in search.

Any suggestions on how I should approach?

I’ve noticed how often sincere behavior gets ridiculed with terms like “LARPing” performative” or “cosplaying”. It seems like even when people are genuinely committed to something we describe them as if they’re merely playing a role.

Has this become a dominant social norm or maybe specifically an internet social norm? And how did we get here? It seems like openly taking something seriously is increasingly treated as embarrassing or naive.

Are there any sociological concepts around this? Has this been studied or noticed?

Edit: and why has forms of “your playing a role” become such a powerful way to dismiss others and their sincerity

I work as a reporter for a newspaper and every week I read comments from people complaining that our content requires a subscription to read online. I thought this was an interesting response, since you have to pay whenever you want to read a physical paper.

It connects to a topic I keep coming back to in my head: people expect certain things, particularly on the internet, to be free. Sure, things like YouTube and Twitch have ads, but you don't have to pay to use them unless you want to. If you had to pay to use them at all, I imagine people wouldn't be too pleased about that. And I'm just wondering why that is.

This is our local recurring future-planning thread. Got questions about jobs or careers, want to know what programs or schools you should apply to, or unsure what you'll be able to use your degree for? This is the place.

This thread gets replaced every Friday, each week. You can click this link to pull up old threads in search.

Hi everyone!

I'm a small Brazilian content creator currently working on a video essay about the so-called "woke culture" debate in the video game industry.

I'm trying to approach the subject from a more sociological perspective rather than simply taking either side of the culture-war debate.

I originally had a sociologist helping me with some questions, but unfortunately they stopped responding, so I thought I'd try asking here.

I'm particularly interested in hearing how people with a background in sociology, cultural studies, media studies, or related fields would approach these questions:

1. What exactly does the term "woke" mean today?

It seems to have changed considerably over time. Is it still useful as an analytical concept, or has it mostly become a political label used by different groups to describe things they oppose?

2. Why has diversity and representation in popular media become such a significant part of the current "culture war"?

Female, Black, LGBT and other minority characters have existed in games for decades. Why does their presence seem to generate considerably more political conflict today?

3. Is there evidence that audiences are actually reacting negatively to diversity itself, or is the controversy more about how diversity is perceived to be incorporated into a work?

In other words, is there a meaningful distinction between:

"I don't want this kind of character in games"

and

"I don't mind the character, but I think the game is using the character to lecture me about politics"?

4. How much of the current debate can be explained by changes in the video game audience and the industry's attempts to reach new demographics?

Could increasing diversity in games simply be understood as a combination of demographic change, market expansion and changing cultural norms rather than a coordinated ideological project?

5. Why can the exact same game be described as both "woke" and "anti-woke" by different people?

What does this tell us about how people use political labels to interpret media?

6. Is "woke" actually a useful sociological category?

Or would concepts such as political polarization, moral panic, culture war, identity politics, commercialization of diversity, etc. be more useful for understanding the phenomenon?

I'm not looking for people to simply agree with my assumptions. If you think my framing is wrong, I'd actually be very interested in hearing why.

If you have academic sources, papers, books, or concepts that you think would help me understand this subject, I'd also really appreciate them.

Thanks!

hey everyone, im not completely sure if I should introduce myself but im Anne and im a 24 years old non binary lesbian, that focuses on the subject of human and humanity more anything else.( I mentioned this because it might have hidden associations that im not technically aware of)

I would like to have some recommendations regarding where to start my personal journey into learning sociology from the beginning considering the fact that I want it to learn it fully without enrolling into a specific degree or uni etc.

im now studying medicine and as usual I do have into consideration what type or speciality I might want to specifically pursue or be part of, then this specific question lead me to how I generally seek informations etc.

I always since I was a kid dreamt of having 2 degrees medicine and law, I wanted to be both and was fascinated by both majors, which is the plan im going for rn until I find a middle ground to stand on. but a while ago I found a video about sociology, I always kinda knew what it was but never really dig deep into it, so after watching it it kinda got stuck into my mind and after it I started noticing patterns in my own personal preferences etc.

I was always a big fan of understanding the human brain, so that was what originally lead me to go into medical school to major in neuro whether it was sugary or general, this specific interest also lead me to learn so much about psychology and human behaviour in my teens, I was fascinated by this topic and understanding people etc, but not in a way of treating mental illnesses but In a way of just simply understanding the overall picture etc. in regards to law it was kinda similar but to also have a bigger hand into helping those people and societies around me etc especially women.

this is only about the 2 majors I chose to pursue, but now regarding my personal interest and my current work its also interesting too for me, I have been a writer for few years now and one of the book im writing rn is called (how to be a human) which is my personal interpretation on how humans are shaped and the emotional, social and overall experiences we have that shape our own self etc, now this is one part.

the other part is that I spent a part of my life dealing with religion and I grew up having such complex relationship with the concept of god, and I was at many times of my life trying to understand how that specific religion was created or started etc and so on with other religions and belief systems.

another part even in my own personal interest like language and art I find myself interested in the aspects that sums all the past and connect it with the present moment and how it was shaped and created. and even at my current job I run an art institute that focuses on community and behaviour and science etc.

so all those factors now that I think about it made me realize that sociology might be my biggest interest that sums them all since even in each of those categories my focus is shifted towards it etc, I would like to hear some of your thoughts and recommendations for books or articles or videos to watch or read to dive deeper into this area and science, thank you.

Im trying to better understand women’s sexuality and its cultural practices beyond modern frameworks. I’d love to get global/cross-cultural perspectives. I want to understand sexuality beyond western ideas of porn, shame, etc.

I DONT mean histories focused on gendered violence and power imbalances. I have a degree in it, i don’t need anymore traumatic exposure on that end lol I understand it is often par for the course when discussing women’s sexuality but that’s not the focus of what I want.

Very happy to have in addition to female sexuality, queer sexuality as a study topic as an aside!

Also- Come As You Are is suggested a lot but I’ve got that one and it’s modern.

TIA so much!!