OurStory

This blog, it is a changin'... a bit. Still primarily focused on the "Sociology of Compassion" , but, along with that, branching out to include "Social Entrepreneurship" and the "Sociology of Leisure". Both new directions represent courses I am or will be teaching. And they also represent research and writing opportunities which are strongly related to the further development of the Sociology of Compassion. So I think it would be neat to expand horizons somewhat. Who knows where this will take us? At any rate, I'll leave my original introduction up for the sake of general reference and posterity ;-) ...

Welcome to the Sociology of Compassion blog. Our motto? "Questioning our world. Offering truly human solutions. Bringing Compassion To Life!"

We would like to invite anyone who enjoys being sociological and who is committed to the problem of realizing compassion in our world today to join this blog.

You can participate via two methods:
(1) as a member of OurStory, you can "Connect to Me!" and then I to you;
(2) if you are not a member of OurStory, click here to register for FREE:
http://www.ourstory.com/register_user.html

Once registered, you'll AUTOMATICALLY become a member of this blog. Please feel welcome to join us! We're all looking forward to hearing from you!

- Mark Durieux

P.S., Some folks may ask: "What's sociology?" In a nutshell, sociology is an "itch" to explore our modern, complex, and curious times from the perspective of our social relations with each other and the world. We humans, sociologists claim, are not atomistic "individuals." We are, more accurately, interrelated "unique members of groups" of various kinds. Why is this important? Because group life -- or its lack -- counts for an awful lot when trying to understand what human beings are up to these days. Granted, it's not the entire story, but it's such a huge part of the story that if you miss modern human group life very little in the world today or the world to come makes sense. With this blog, we are asking: What's sociology got to do with compassion? The answer -- as it keeps unfolding in revealing, all-important ways -- is: "Lots!"

If you'd like to see a "catalogue of topic threads" we've covered in this blog, please go to: http://www.ourstory.com/thread.html?t=143897#70544.

Finally, if you'd like to email me directly, perhaps to suggest a topic for a new thread, please know that I would really welcome your doing so. I'm at: mbdurieux@shaw.ca .