On the 16th of September 1885, German, U.S. based Neo-Freudian psychoanalyst Karen Horney was born in Blankenese, near Hamburg, Germany. Her theories famously questioned some traditional Freudian views, especially on sexuality and the instinct orientation in psychoanalysis. She is credited with founding feminist psychology in response to Freud’s theory of penis envy, disagreeing with Freud about […]
Category Archives: Sociology
American Concentration Camps in Masumi Hayashi’s Photoramas
posted by ArtLark
On the 3rd of September 1945, Japanese-American photographer Masumi Hayashi was born in Rivers, Arizona, in the Gila River War Relocation Camp, an internment camp built by the War Relocation Authority (WRA) for the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. Shortly after the end of the war, her family moved to Los Angeles, where she began her education, […]
Forgotten Philosophers: Adam Ferguson On Social Solidarity
posted by ArtLark
On the 20th of June 1723, Enlightenment philosopher and pioneering sociologist Adam Ferguson was born in Logierait, Perthshire, Scotland. “Ferguson is chiefly remembered for the Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767), an intellectual history that traces humanity’s progression from barbarism to social and political refinement. In his philosophy Ferguson emphasized society as the […]
Harriet Martineau: Agoraphobia and Feminist Freedom
posted by ArtLark
On the 12th of June 1802, pioneering sociologist Harriet Martineau was born in Norwich, England. In 1844 she wrote one of her most underrated books, Life in the Sickroom: Essays by an Invalid, a sociological investigation of illness in Victorian England, as well as an autobiographical reflection on convalescence. Written during a five year retreat to […]
Beau Brummell: The Dandy as Social Revolutionary
posted by ArtLark
On the 7th of June 1778, the most famous dandy in Regency England Beau Brummell was born in Downing Street, London. Despite his middleclass background, he studied at Eton and Oxford, where he quickly gained popularity among his school friends and tutors, always challenging the official dress codes with his reinvented looks. His wit, originality and […]
Disability and Creativity: Alexander Pope
posted by ArtLark
On the 21st of May 1688, English poet Alexander Pope was born in London, England. At twelve, Pope composed his earliest extant work, Ode to Solitude; the same year saw the onset of the debilitating bone deformity that would plague Pope until the end of his life. Originally attributed to the severity of his studies, […]
Hurricane Katrina, The Eye-opening Disaster
posted by ArtLark
On the 7th of May 1718, New Orleans (La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded by the French Mississippi Company, under the command of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. Not long before that date, Bienville, who was the Governor of Louisiana at the time, set out from Dauphin Island to select a place on the banks of the […]
Women’s Magazines and Ideology Shifts
posted by ArtLark
On the 2nd of May 1885, Good Housekeeping magazine was founded by Clark W. Bryan in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Still owned by the Hearst Corporation, it has ever since featured articles about women’s interests, product testing, recipes, diet, health as well as literary articles. It has become an institution known for its “Good Housekeeping Seal of […]
The Wobbly Beginnings of Motoring in Britain
posted by ArtLark
On the 14th of April 1931, the first ever edition of the British Highway Code was published, sold for one penny and containing only 18 pages of advice! Some of it was directed at drivers of horse drawn vehicles to ‘rotate the whip above the head; then incline the whip to the right or left […]
Chris Burden: The Artist Who Shot Himself
posted by ArtLark
On the 11th of April 1946, the American performance artist Chris Burden was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the US. “ Among other things, Burden has been described as a masochist; an avant-garde novitiate; a social therapist; an existential populist; a hero; the alter ego of the biblical Samson; a helpless, passive victim; a heroic victim; […]