Dan Silver
@dsilver432.bsky.social
Reposted by Dan Silver
Another excellent piece from a sociologist I truly admire. As one of "those" in the Parsons camp, this essay spoke volumes to me. But, its value is in its attempt at transcending the (very) small contemporary pro-Parsons faction in the field. Erudite and insightful...check it out.
This essay responds to Joseph Heath’s recent post on social construction and the “sick role.” It offers three comments on Talcott Parsons. open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
The Sick Role and the Gift of Life
Comment on Heath, Parsons, and Social Construction
open.substack.com
January 28, 2026 at 3:00 PM
Another excellent piece from a sociologist I truly admire. As one of "those" in the Parsons camp, this essay spoke volumes to me. But, its value is in its attempt at transcending the (very) small contemporary pro-Parsons faction in the field. Erudite and insightful...check it out.
This essay responds to Joseph Heath’s recent post on social construction and the “sick role.” It offers three comments on Talcott Parsons. open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
The Sick Role and the Gift of Life
Comment on Heath, Parsons, and Social Construction
open.substack.com
January 28, 2026 at 2:40 PM
This essay responds to Joseph Heath’s recent post on social construction and the “sick role.” It offers three comments on Talcott Parsons. open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
What would happen if John Rawls ran into Nietzsche’s demon while shopping at a grocery store for breakfast cereal? I try to answer that question with a little parable that tells us something about the problem of existential meaning and aesthetics for liberalism.
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
Fear and Fair. Nietzsche, Rawls, and the Eternal Recurrence of the Other
A parable about liberalism and the search for existential meaning
open.substack.com
January 24, 2026 at 3:54 PM
What would happen if John Rawls ran into Nietzsche’s demon while shopping at a grocery store for breakfast cereal? I try to answer that question with a little parable that tells us something about the problem of existential meaning and aesthetics for liberalism.
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
Reposted by Dan Silver
So ends an era of ASA’s public facing journal as @contexts.org officially leaves print behind and moves completely online.
I've somehow spent 1/3 of my life w/ @contexts.org starting on the grad board under the leadership of @chrisuggen.bsky.social, Douglas Hartmann, and @lettapage.bsky.social
I've somehow spent 1/3 of my life w/ @contexts.org starting on the grad board under the leadership of @chrisuggen.bsky.social, Douglas Hartmann, and @lettapage.bsky.social
Contexts Magazine is closing out 2025 by celebrating outgoing co-editors @aminghaziani.bsky.social and @sethabrutyn.bsky.social, along with senior managing editor @lettapage.bsky.social! Editor-elect David Grazian will take the helm in 2026, with @elenavanstee.bsky.social as managing editor.
January 8, 2026 at 3:33 PM
So ends an era of ASA’s public facing journal as @contexts.org officially leaves print behind and moves completely online.
I've somehow spent 1/3 of my life w/ @contexts.org starting on the grad board under the leadership of @chrisuggen.bsky.social, Douglas Hartmann, and @lettapage.bsky.social
I've somehow spent 1/3 of my life w/ @contexts.org starting on the grad board under the leadership of @chrisuggen.bsky.social, Douglas Hartmann, and @lettapage.bsky.social
In this post I discuss the logic of functionalist explanation and argue we should not be afraid to use it, when appropriate.
Bonus points if you can recognize the image and see the connection!
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
Bonus points if you can recognize the image and see the connection!
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
The f-word
Give functional explanation a chance!
open.substack.com
January 5, 2026 at 3:37 PM
In this post I discuss the logic of functionalist explanation and argue we should not be afraid to use it, when appropriate.
Bonus points if you can recognize the image and see the connection!
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
Bonus points if you can recognize the image and see the connection!
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
A Market-Failure Approach to Platform Ethics. The first in a series of posts on why social media is a staged competition for influence, and how to decide what counts as fair play.
#sociology #platforms
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
#sociology #platforms
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
Social Capitalist Ethics: beyond the morality of the gentleman
A Market-Failure Approach to Platform Ethics. The first in a series of posts on why social media is a staged competition for influence, and how to decide what counts as fair play.
open.substack.com
December 17, 2025 at 1:24 PM
A Market-Failure Approach to Platform Ethics. The first in a series of posts on why social media is a staged competition for influence, and how to decide what counts as fair play.
#sociology #platforms
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
#sociology #platforms
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
Here is a draft of my syllabus for a seminar on Artificial Social Intelligence. The goal is to return to and build upon some ideas from classical sociology in which mind, intelligence, and knowledge have a constitutively social dimension.
thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/my-syllabu...
thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/my-syllabu...
My syllabus on Artificial Social Intelligence (draft)
Sociology meets AI
open.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Here is a draft of my syllabus for a seminar on Artificial Social Intelligence. The goal is to return to and build upon some ideas from classical sociology in which mind, intelligence, and knowledge have a constitutively social dimension.
thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/my-syllabu...
thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/my-syllabu...
Why has so much contemporary social theory come to feel so empty? This essay argues that part of the answer lies in sociology’s implicit embrace of aspects of Kantian formalism.
thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/tarrying-w...
thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/tarrying-w...
Dan Silver (@thesilverlining3)
Why has so much contemporary social theory come to feel so empty? This essay argues that part of the answer lies in sociology’s implicit embrace of aspects of Kantian formalism. As an alternative, I e...
substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Why has so much contemporary social theory come to feel so empty? This essay argues that part of the answer lies in sociology’s implicit embrace of aspects of Kantian formalism.
thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/tarrying-w...
thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/tarrying-w...
@sethabrutyn.bsky.social wrote this thread about 6 months ago, about a post contrasting classics vs model based fields. Down-thread, Seth notes that he doesn't care about Hegel or Kant. I promised a post articulating why I think he should. Here it is!
thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/tarrying-w...
thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/tarrying-w...
November 17, 2025 at 4:45 PM
@sethabrutyn.bsky.social wrote this thread about 6 months ago, about a post contrasting classics vs model based fields. Down-thread, Seth notes that he doesn't care about Hegel or Kant. I promised a post articulating why I think he should. Here it is!
thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/tarrying-w...
thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/tarrying-w...
Designing experiments in classical social theory III. Welcome to the hidden abode of production.
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
LLMs as tools for experiments in Classical Sociological Theory III
Follow me into the hidden abode of production
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Designing experiments in classical social theory III. Welcome to the hidden abode of production.
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
An essay on the creativity of social conflict, from 1950s PTA meetings to 21st century social media flame wars.
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
How neighbors become enemies and every fight becomes about everything
The creativity of conflict, from PTA meetings to online pile-ons
open.substack.com
November 3, 2025 at 1:58 PM
An essay on the creativity of social conflict, from 1950s PTA meetings to 21st century social media flame wars.
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
Populism: a sociological perspective
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
This piece tries to bring a sociological perspective to the discussion of populism, building on Heath’s provocative essay and Dan Williams’ critical notes on grounding a theory of populism in dual process psychology.
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
This piece tries to bring a sociological perspective to the discussion of populism, building on Heath’s provocative essay and Dan Williams’ critical notes on grounding a theory of populism in dual process psychology.
Populism in the city: the case of Ford Nation
The populist script joins vertical and horizontal dimensions; the revolt against rationalism is against a form of social organization as much as of cognition. The case of Rob Ford illustrates.
open.substack.com
October 27, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Populism: a sociological perspective
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
This piece tries to bring a sociological perspective to the discussion of populism, building on Heath’s provocative essay and Dan Williams’ critical notes on grounding a theory of populism in dual process psychology.
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
This piece tries to bring a sociological perspective to the discussion of populism, building on Heath’s provocative essay and Dan Williams’ critical notes on grounding a theory of populism in dual process psychology.
Reposted by Dan Silver
True science is distinctively the study of useless things. For the useful things will get studied without the aid of scientific men.
October 25, 2025 at 6:59 PM
True science is distinctively the study of useless things. For the useful things will get studied without the aid of scientific men.
What would Plato Do? On LLMs, writing, and thinking.
#Sociology #AI
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
#Sociology #AI
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
What would Plato do?
Plato met writing with invention, not despair or anger. We may need to do the same for the essay.
open.substack.com
October 21, 2025 at 1:12 PM
What would Plato Do? On LLMs, writing, and thinking.
#Sociology #AI
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
#Sociology #AI
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
What does it mean to kick away the ladder of reference?
On cultural vs social theories of LLMs. Saussure vs Peirce and Wittgenstein.
Social Theory ftw!
A critical response to Weatherby’s Language Machines.
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
#Sociology #AI #LLM
On cultural vs social theories of LLMs. Saussure vs Peirce and Wittgenstein.
Social Theory ftw!
A critical response to Weatherby’s Language Machines.
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
#Sociology #AI #LLM
Kicking away the ladder of reference
From cultural structure to social judgment. On Leif Weatherby's Language Machines.
open.substack.com
October 20, 2025 at 12:58 PM
What does it mean to kick away the ladder of reference?
On cultural vs social theories of LLMs. Saussure vs Peirce and Wittgenstein.
Social Theory ftw!
A critical response to Weatherby’s Language Machines.
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
#Sociology #AI #LLM
On cultural vs social theories of LLMs. Saussure vs Peirce and Wittgenstein.
Social Theory ftw!
A critical response to Weatherby’s Language Machines.
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
#Sociology #AI #LLM
Teaching classical sociological theory at the twilight of the Age of the Essay and the dawn of the Age of AI
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
LLMs as tools for experiments in classical sociological theory II
The introduction of class
open.substack.com
October 14, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Teaching classical sociological theory at the twilight of the Age of the Essay and the dawn of the Age of AI
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
Update on a continuing series about using a multi agent LLM platform to teach classical sociological theory in a new way. #sociology #AI #LLMs
In this episode, we introduce class into a market order and observe the results.
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
In this episode, we introduce class into a market order and observe the results.
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
LLMs as tools for experiments in classical sociological theory II
The introduction of class
open.substack.com
October 13, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Update on a continuing series about using a multi agent LLM platform to teach classical sociological theory in a new way. #sociology #AI #LLMs
In this episode, we introduce class into a market order and observe the results.
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
In this episode, we introduce class into a market order and observe the results.
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
Cultural cartography in sociology, literary studies, and LLMs. Plus a bit of sociology of the sociology of culture. On coding , counting, and reading, and the possibility of something else.
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
Between Interpretation and the Machines
Cultural cartography across literary studies, sociology, and LLMs
open.substack.com
October 6, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Cultural cartography in sociology, literary studies, and LLMs. Plus a bit of sociology of the sociology of culture. On coding , counting, and reading, and the possibility of something else.
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
One fun thing about spending a little time on Substack is that you glimpse how other disciplines wrestle with foundational issues.
thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/between-in...
thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/between-in...
Between Interpretation and the Machines
Cultural cartography across literary studies, sociology, and LLMs
thesilverlining3.substack.com
October 6, 2025 at 1:01 PM
One fun thing about spending a little time on Substack is that you glimpse how other disciplines wrestle with foundational issues.
thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/between-in...
thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/between-in...
In sociology, we don’t get monumental works of social theory by leading social theorists very often these days. So when we do, it is worth paying attention. In this post, I offer a critical analysis of John Levi Martin’s The True, the Good, and the Beautiful.
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
Comments on The True, The Good, and The Beautiful
Notes on John Levi Martin's Genealogy of Social Thought
open.substack.com
September 29, 2025 at 2:45 PM
In sociology, we don’t get monumental works of social theory by leading social theorists very often these days. So when we do, it is worth paying attention. In this post, I offer a critical analysis of John Levi Martin’s The True, the Good, and the Beautiful.
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
