[NEWS] Five social science links: Canadian Jews, US mafia, Miles O'Brien, online fandoms, Monopoly

[rfmcdonald]

• The Conversation hosts an article looking at the evolution of Jewish identity in Canada from something religious to something cultural.


• The state of the American mafia, so thoroughly Americanized, is remarkable in a lot of ways. VICE reports.


• There is definitely something to be said for the idea that Star Trek's Chief Miles O'Brien is one of the best representations of someone Irish and of Irish culture in popular culture. entertainment.ie has it.


• This Wired article takes a look at the online interactions, positive and malign both, that have complicated so many fandoms like that of Harry Potter.


• Monopoly, this article reminds us at The Conversation, was a board game invented to remind people about the pitfalls of capitalism.

Comments

[ndrosen]

The original version of Monopoly, The Landlords’ Game, was not anti-capitalist, but anti-landlordist. Some Georgists, like me, are still around, and insist on the distinction. By the way, Charles Darrow was not the “second inventor” of Monopoly; he copied his version, down to the detail of misspelling Marven Gardens as Marvin.