Social Scientist?

Going along with my "Favorite Things" theme, I thought I'd start off with a light and cheery peek into one of my hobbies, our society.

Yeah...

Society is truly a fascinating subject, there are just so many layers and levels of depth to analyze, and even more thrilling and exhilirating is the fact that you and I are both components of this subject. Isn't that amazing?? Perhaps it's my good old SMU education, or maybe it was all chance or coincidence, but the courses I took exposed me to several diffirent aspects of society. My favorite course, for example, was on the History of Sex in America, from the beginning (colonial times) through the 20th (and beginning of the 21st) century. It was baffling, to say the least, actually slightly overwhelming, that we as human beings, components of our society, create and construct categories and characterize (and sometimes blindly enforce) sexuality. While social and sexual revolutions do take place over time, I find (and this is the part that truly fascinates me the most) that even though some social constructions deteriorate, new ones are born and so the cycle is renewed.

After that course, I had the lovely opportunity of taking two more interesting courses, "Dumb White Guy Politics in America" and "Troubled Youth." Perfect complements to my fascination with society. While these courses didn't focus on the social constructions of sexuality (they did brush on occasion with this sub-subject), they did allow for a more well-rounded overview into our society. While at times it seems that sexuality and gender roles play a major part in our society's behaviors, it turns out that social constructions exist everywhere. It's all breathtakingly amazing. I love society. I love human beings. I love social constructions.

Sometimes I wonder if I majored in the wrong thing, but then I realize: I am a social scientist. I'm an economist, and I will find a way to amalgamate my interest in social constructions with my passion with Economics. I've got a feeling that a major study is going to break through both fields of Economics and Sociology, perhaps behavioral Economics?? :)

Till then, enjoy the following clip. (A special thanks to my "Troubled Youth" professor!)