Showing results for "Chance" in Sociology

Myth-shattering social scientist Brian Klaas dives deeply into the phenomenon of random chance and the chaos it can sow, taking aim at most people's neat and tidy storybook version of reality. The book's argument is that we willfully ignore a bewildering truth: but for a few small changes, our lives - and our societies - could be radically different. Offering an entirely new lens, Fluke explores how our world really works, driven by strange interactions and apparently random events.

It’s comforting to think that we can be successful because we work hard, climb ladders, and get what we deserve, but each of us has been profoundly touched by randomness. Chance is shown to play a crucial role in shaping outcomes across history, throughout the natural world, and in our everyday lives. In The Random Factor, Mark Robert Rank draws from a wealth of evidence, including interviews and research, to explain how luck and chance play out and reveals how we can use these lessons to guide our personal lives and public policies.

Als Jeremias Thiel elf Jahre alt ist, macht er sich auf den Weg zum Jugendamt. Er hält es zu Hause nicht mehr aus, hat Angst, der Armut und Verwahrlosung, die dort herrschen, niemals entkommen zu können. Seine Eltern sind psychisch krank und leben von Hartz IV, die häusliche Situation ist mehr als schwierig. Von da an lebt er im SOS-Jugendhaus, bis er als Stipendiat auf ein internationales College geht und im Herbst 2019 sein Studium in den USA beginnt. Er ist sich sicher, dass viele, die in ähnlichen Verhältnissen leben, nicht die Möglichkeit haben, sich daraus zu befreien.

Freakonomics showed how economic calculations can explain seemingly counterintuitive decision-making. Thinking, Fast and Slow helped listeners identify a host of small cognitive errors that can lead to miscalculations and irrational thought. In What the Luck?, statistician and author Gary Smith sets himself a similar goal, and explains - in clear, understandable, and witty prose - how a statistical understanding of luck can change the way we see just about every aspect of our lives.