Sociological and Philosophical Concepts of Power, Friendship, and Democracy

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers key sociological and philosophical theories regarding surveillance capitalism, epistemic disagreement, democratic saturation, and the nature of friendship and marriage.

Surveillance capitalism

A new form of capitalism defined by Zuboff where companies collect and analyze personal data to predict and influence behavior for profit.

Loss of Privacy (Zuboff)

A problem in surveillance capitalism where personal life is tracked and monetized.

Loss of Freedom (Zuboff)

A threat occurring when companies shape behavior rather than just predicting it, endangering rights to a future.

Privacy (Marmor)

Control over self-presentation, involving what others see about you and what parts of yourself you reveal in different contexts.

Reasonable Disagreement

A concept by Feldman where two individuals disagree, yet both are justified in their respective beliefs.

Epistemic Peers

People who possesses equal intelligence, reasoning abilities, and evidence regarding a specific subject.

Conciliationism

The view proposed by Christensen that when you disagree with an epistemic peer, you should adjust your confidence toward their view, treating disagreement as evidence.

Political Saturation

The spread of politics into every part of life, which Talisse argues leads to polarization and causes people to see others only as allies or enemies.

Civic friendship

A relationship characterized by respecting others and engaging in non-political activities together, even without liking or agreeing with them.

Sorting

A phenomenon described by Cherry where people only interact with those who share their views, leading to the creation of echo chambers.

Other-Regarding habits

Habits such as reasonableness (listening to others) and democratic sympathy (understanding others' perspectives) used to make civic friendship work.

Ethical Attentiveness

Being aware of what matters, recognizing differences, and treating others with humanity, equality, and inclusion.

Friendship of Utility

A type of friendship according to Aristotle based on business or mutual benefit.

Friendship of Pleasure

A type of friendship based on shared enjoyment, such as companions for partying.

Friendship of Good

The highest form of friendship that values the person for who they are; it is stable, based on virtue and mutual goodwill, and lasts the longest.

Knowledge of Social Reality

Moral knowledge gained through friendship about how systems like discrimination and inequality affect others.

Knowledge of Moral Reasoning

Moral knowledge gained by observing how a friend applies values in real life to test if your own principles work in practice.

Right to sex (Koltonski)

A social/moral right to a fair chance at intimacy and the reduction of social barriers, rather than a right to a specific person or forced encounter.

Mary Wollstonecraft's view on marriage

The belief that marriage should be based on equality and independence, where education enables friendship to replace fading sexual love.

John Stuart & Harriet Taylor Mill's view

The argument that marriage should be an equal partnership because inequality prevents real understanding.

Eros

Sexual love characterized as unstable and prone to fading, contrasted with the stability of friendship.