Social Castration

The destruction of people’s ability to become socially mature through generations due the increasingly overprotective way we raise our children.

Person 1: I wasn’t allowed to play on the streets in my suburban neighborhood ever when I was a kid!
Person 2: Sounds like social castration!

by gooffahh September 11, 2022

Liquor Store Social

When an unusually large number of homeless people (4+) hang out together outside a liquor store.

John: "I was on the bus headed to the comic store today when I saw like 8 homeless dudes hanging out outside the liquor store talking."
David: "Damn, how come we didn't get invited to the Liquor Store Social?"

by TurksAgainstVapes January 13, 2026

Social Power Theory

A framework ranking the fundamental forces that drive human societies, where Money is the base, tangible power (controlling resources), the Individual (genius, leader, or icon) is the catalytic power that redirects history, and the Nation-State is the supreme, organized power that monopolizes violence and ideology. Jiang argues these layers constantly interact: great individuals (like Steve Jobs or Napoleon) harness money to create change, but ultimately get co-opted or crushed by the state apparatus, which is the only entity that can legally print money, wage war, and define truth. It's a cheat sheet for who really calls the shots.

Example: "Social Power Theory explains Elon Musk: he has Money power (Tesla wealth) and Individual power (cult following), but if he clashes with Nation-State power (the U.S. government over satellites or China over factory rules), the state will win every time. The house always wins."

by Abzugal January 24, 2026

Social Control Theory

The study of how elites (states, corporations, institutions) keep the masses in line using a trio of levers: Money (economic incentives/debt), Ideology (narratives like patriotism or wokeness), and Fear (of chaos, violence, or ostracism). Jiang posits that stable societies master all three: pay people enough to be comfortable, convince them the system is just, and scare them with what happens if it falls. The theory examines which lever is pulled during crises—print more money, ramp up propaganda, or unleash the police.

Example: "During the pandemic, Social Control Theory was on full display: Money (stimulus checks), Ideology ('we're all in this together'), and Fear (of disease and social shaming). When one lever failed, they doubled down on the other two."

by Abzugal January 24, 2026

Hard Problem of the Social Sciences

The prediction problem. Unlike in physics, where you can isolate variables and predict an eclipse to the second, social sciences (economics, political science, sociology) deal with complex, reflexive systems. Humans react to predictions, changing the outcome (the "Lucas Critique"). The hard problem is: Can you have a real science of human society if its core subjects alter their behavior upon hearing your findings? True scientific laws are supposed to be invariant. Social "laws" are more like trends that expire once people know about them, making the field perpetually one step behind a moving target.

Example: An economist develops a perfect model predicting stock market crashes. Once published, investors see it and adjust their behavior to avoid the predicted conditions, thereby preventing the very crash the model forecasted. The model is now wrong. The hard problem: The act of studying the system changes it. This makes falsification—the bedrock of science—incredibly tricky. Social science thus often ends up explaining the past very well (postdiction) but failing at predicting the future, which is what we usually want from a science. Hard Problem of the Social Sciences.

by Nammugal January 24, 2026

Social Media Trauma

Psychological injury resulting from direct, cumulative, or vicarious exposure to harmful experiences on social media platforms. This includes targeted harassment campaigns (dogpiling), doxxing, revenge porn, cyberstalking, extreme public shaming, and witnessing graphic violence or hate speech. Unlike general internet stress, it's tied to the specific architectures of social platforms: viral amplification, permanence of content, network effects linking different life spheres (work, family, friends), and algorithmically-fueled harassment. The trauma stems from the feeling of being hunted, exposed, and powerless in a space that feels ubiquitously connected to one's social identity.

Example: A teenage artist posts a mildly political drawing. It gets picked up by a hate group whose members flood her notifications with rape threats, photoshop her face onto obscene images, find her school, and call her principal accusing her of crimes. She deletes her accounts but knows the images are still out there. She develops panic attacks at phone notifications, isolates from friends, and feels perpetually unsafe. This is acute social media trauma—the platform's features turned a single post into a life-altering assault.

by Dumuabzu January 25, 2026

Social Media Trauma Syndrome

The chronic, symptom-based profile resulting from unresolved Social Media Trauma or prolonged exposure to a toxic social media environment. Symptoms mirror Complex PTSD and include: hypervigilance toward notifications, identity fragmentation (curating multiple "safe" personas), somatic symptoms (eye twitching, headaches from screen stress), paranoia about being recorded or discussed, and a disrupted sense of reality from gaslighting or misinformation campaigns. The "syndrome" reflects how the embedded, daily use of these platforms can rewire stress responses, making the digital world a persistent source of psychological threat.

Example: A journalist who survived a coordinated mob attack on Twitter now compulsively checks three different analytics tools before posting anything, drafts tweets in a notes app to scrutinize them for "attack vectors," has lost their authentic voice online, and experiences a full-body freeze response when seeing a certain notification sound. Their offline relationships suffer because they're emotionally exhausted from this constant digital defense posture. Their personality and nervous system have been pathologically shaped by the platform's hostile dynamics. Social Media Trauma Syndrome.

by Dumuabzu January 25, 2026