Social Loyalty Theory

A scientific social theory proposing that the fundamental cohesive force binding societies, social groups, and collective entities is neither shared interest, nor ideological agreement, nor economic interdependence—but loyalty, both individual and collective. According to this theory, groups persist not because members benefit from them (though they may), but because members remain loyal to them even when they don't. Loyalty explains why people fight for nations that exploit them, defend institutions that fail them, and remain in communities that exclude them. It's the emotional and psychological adhesive that outlasts utility, the bond that holds when all rational reasons to stay have evaporated. Social Loyalty Theory doesn't deny that interests matter—it just insists that loyalty is what keeps people bound to groups through conflicts of interest, not only when interests align.

Example: "He stayed in the political party long after it abandoned every principle he believed in—Social Loyalty Theory explains this as loyalty operating independently of ideology, a bond that transcends the very beliefs that once created it."

by Dumu The Void March 12, 2026

Social Media Gang Up

A specific form of digital mob attack occurring primarily within social media platforms, characterized by the unique dynamics of those spaces: algorithmic amplification, hashtag-driven coordination, platform-specific norms of engagement, and the visibility metrics (likes, shares, retweets) that reward outrage. Social media gang ups exploit platform architecture—the way algorithms promote controversial content, the way notifications create a sense of constant siege, the way networked publics can form instantly around a target. Unlike broader internet gang ups that might require cross-platform coordination, social media gang ups can achieve devastating effect within a single platform's ecosystem, leveraging its specific affordances to produce maximum harm with minimum effort.

Example: "Her mention went viral and within hours she'd received ten thousand replies—a Social Media Gang Up powered by the algorithm's love of outrage and the platform's design for maximum engagement regardless of human cost."

by Dumu The Void March 14, 2026

Social Gang Up

The broadest category of mob attack, encompassing any collective action where social pressure, exclusion, harassment, or punishment is applied by a group against an individual or smaller group within a social context. Social gang ups can occur anywhere humans gather—in workplaces, schools, neighborhoods, families, online spaces, institutions. They represent the fundamental danger of human sociality: our capacity to coordinate against each other, to use our numbers as weapons, to destroy through collective action what we could never harm individually. Social gang ups are what make gossip lethal, what make ostracism devastating, what make mobs possible. They are the shadow side of community, the proof that our need to belong can be weaponized against us.

Example: "It started with whispers, then exclusion from lunch, then a formal complaint, then everyone pretending she didn't exist—a Social Gang Up that used every tool of human community to destroy one of its members."

by Dumu The Void March 14, 2026

soccer

a fake word that murica uses to call the sport with the foot and the ball

murican: wanna play soccer
non-murican: bro said soccer lmfao

by cohendaniel798 March 15, 2026

Social Sciences of Scientific Orthodoxy

The application of social science disciplines—sociology, anthropology, political science, economics—to the study of scientific orthodoxy. The social sciences of scientific orthodoxy examine how social forces shape consensus: how power, status, and networks influence who gets to define orthodoxy; how economic interests (funding, patents, consulting) shape which views become dominant; how political contexts influence what counts as acceptable science; how cultural values are embedded in orthodox assumptions; how institutions create and maintain orthodox views through training, hiring, and promotion. They treat scientific orthodoxy not as a purely intellectual phenomenon but as a social one—shaped by all the forces that shape any human community. The social sciences of scientific orthodoxy reveal that consensus is never just about evidence; it's always also about power, money, culture, and social structure.

Example: "His social sciences of scientific orthodoxy research showed how the Cold War shaped which research programs became orthodox in several fields—not because scientists were political, but because funding followed political priorities, and what gets funded becomes what gets studied, and what gets studied becomes what's known."

by Abzugal March 16, 2026

Social Infrasciences

The branch of infrascience that examines the infrastructure underlying the social sciences—sociology, anthropology, political science, economics. Social infrasciences investigate the foundational systems, structures, and conditions that make social scientific inquiry possible: data infrastructure (surveys, censuses, administrative records) that provides empirical material; methodological infrastructure (statistical techniques, qualitative methods, software tools) that enables analysis; institutional infrastructure (research centers, universities, funding agencies) that supports social science; technological infrastructure (computing power, data storage, communication networks) that extends research capabilities; and social infrastructure (professional networks, collaboration systems, public engagement) that creates the communities within which social knowledge is produced. Social infrasciences reveal that social science is never just about studying society—it's always built on social infrastructure itself, and understanding social science requires understanding the systems that make it possible.

Example: "Her social infrasciences analysis showed how the development of large-scale survey infrastructure transformed sociology—making possible kinds of knowledge that simply couldn't exist before. New pipes, new knowledge."

by Abzugal March 16, 2026

Social Metasciences

The systematic study of the social sciences themselves—a second-order discipline that takes sociology, anthropology, political science, economics, and related fields as its objects of inquiry. Social metasciences ask meta-level questions about social scientific knowledge: How do social scientists know what they claim to know? What methods do different social science disciplines use? How does social scientific knowledge change over time? How do social, cultural, and institutional contexts shape social science? What are the limits of social scientific understanding? Social metasciences are the social sciences reflecting on themselves—the attempt to understand what social science is, what it can achieve, and how it relates to other forms of knowledge. They're essential for social science to be self-aware rather than merely empirical, for social scientists to understand their own practices rather than just practicing them.

Example: "His social metasciences research examined how the replication crisis has transformed psychology—not just by correcting specific findings, but by forcing the discipline to reflect on its own methods, assumptions, and institutions. Crisis becomes self-understanding."

by Abzugal March 16, 2026