Paul Nervy Notes
“Jokes, poems, stories, and a lot of philosophy, psychology, and sociology.”


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Sociology, competition.  ---  .This section is about competition.  Topics include: ( ) Ethics.  ( ) Techniques.  ( ) Types.  ---  1/24/2006


Sociology, competition.  ---  A common phenomenon.  People trying to dominate lame situations and engaging in idiotic pursuits just so they can say they won.  It starts when young and still in school.  In school they teach kids to jump through hoops.  They teach kids to compete without considering the worth or value of the contest.  They teach kids that when the teacher says jump the student says how high.  ---  2/12/2004


Sociology, competition.  ---  Beware those who think everything is competition.  They think everything is war.  ---  9/19/2003


Sociology, competition.  ---  Competition can lead to the equivalent of an arms race.  Every individual constantly looking for an edge not only over other individuals, but also over the system itself.  Thus, competitive systems ratchet toward conflict.  Competitive systems tend toward conflict.  Like an arms race.  ---  6/29/2004


Sociology, competition.  ---  Competition: friendly and unfriendly.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, competition.  ---  Competition.  All social relations are competitive.  It is always a contest.  It sucks.  ---  10/17/1999


Sociology, competition.  ---  Competition.  If you lose you are not worthless.  If they win they are not better than you.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, competition.  ---  Competition.  Some people define competition as a form of conflict.  Some people define competition as a 50/50 mix of conflict and cooperation.  I prefer to define competition as a form of cooperation, because the basis of competition is the rules we agree to (often implicitly) that define competition.  ---  4/28/2001


Sociology, competition.  ---  Competition.  There are some people who view every situation as a competition.  We call these people assholes.  ---  11/20/2001


Sociology, competition.  ---  Excessive degrees of competition leads to monopoly in economics and dictatorship in politics.  ---  10/23/2003


Sociology, competition.  ---  Hyper-competitive and hyper-conflict individuals.  (1) Thinks every situation is a competition or conflict.  (2) Thinks unethical tactics are justified, even though they are not.  (3) Does anything to win.  Does anything to kill their opponent.  ---  12/8/2003


Sociology, competition.  ---  Hyper-competitive personality type.  Sees every social situation as a competition.  Feels the need to always win.  Feels the need to always dominate.  ---  10/23/2003


Sociology, competition.  ---  In America, a big slur is calling someone a loser, which reflects the hyper-competitive nature of American society.  We train our youth for mindless competition by means of a hyper-competitive school environment, sports and awards shows.  ---  9/1/2004


Sociology, competition.  ---  Many times competition is couched in terms of conflict.  "Destroy the competition.  We murdered them.  Etc."  So that what starts out as competition quickly devolves into conflict.  ---  10/23/2003


Sociology, competition.  ---  Problems with competition.  The "Win at any cost.", attitude.  At any expense of anyone or anything.  Eliminate the competition.  Caught up in meaningless contests.  ---  10/9/2003


Sociology, competition.  ---  The limits of competition.  Ask surfers about competitive surfing and most will tell you that competitive surfing is a business tool, and that surfing at its heart is not about competition.  Human life is like surfing.  Human life, at its heart, is about much more than competition.  Human life is much more than the acquisition of money.  Competition has its limits, especially as an explanation of human life.  Money also has its limits.  ---  8/29/2005


Sociology, competition.  ---  The tactic of school and parents is to inculcate into youth the notion of competition for competitions sake, thus guiding people into inane competitions.  ---  6/8/2004


Sociology, competition.  ---  Two problems of competition.  (1) Mindless competition.  It is a problem when you socialize people to engage in competitions mindlessly, without a thought of the purpose or value of the competition.  Sports are an example of mindless competition.  (2) Hyper competition.  Hyper competition is treating all situations as competitions.  And treating all competitions as to the death.  Not every social situation is a competition to the death.  Yet some people mistakenly believe it is so.  ---  11/8/2005


Sociology, competition.  ---  Two views of competition.  (1) Is competition a form of cooperation?  (2) Is competition a form of conflict?  ---  6/5/2004




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Paul Nervy Notes. Copyright 1988-2007 by Paul Nervy.