Cultural Trends

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  [Article] Magical Thinking vs. Practical Thinking

  The practical thinking that dominates in a bull market carries a “reverence for science.” In a bear market, “magical thinking” prevails.
   
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  [Article] Challenging the Conventional Assumption About the Presumed Sociological Effect of Terrorist News

  There is probably not one person in a million who would disagree with the conventional view, espoused everywhere, that the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent deliverance of anthrax-laced letters to individuals shattered the confidence of Americans. Yet that conclusion flies in the face of the facts.
   
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  [Article] A Socionomic View of Central Bank Causality

  Both supporters and critics of the Federal Reserve System agree that the first cause of paper money inflation and credit expansion in the U.S. since 1913 is the Fed. How does a socionomist respond to this assertion?
   
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  [Article] The Socionomic Insight vs. The Assumption of Event Causality

  The Enron Scandal: A Case in Point. The socionomic insight is that the conventional assumption about the direction of causality between social mood and social action is not only incorrect but the opposite of what actually occurs.
   
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  [Article] The Land of Flint and Steel

  Social clashes take myriad forms, but one bellwether rift that has an almost perfect record of erupting into open hostility right at the onset of major downturns is in the Mideast.
   
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  [Article] Did a Break in the Big Brands Signal a Decline in Social Mood?

  Can a basket of equities backed by a broad cross-section of commercial fantasy images developed over the course of a bull market reflect the end of that bull market ahead of other major indexes?
   
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  [Article] Stocks and Sex: A Socionomic View of Demographic Trends

  The fundamental observation of the new science of socionomics is that social mood, which is patterned according to the Wave Principle, is the generator of social action, be it economic, political or cultural. The key insight of socionomics is that the direction of causality between social mood and social action is precisely the opposite of that which is almost universally presumed; the former dictates the character of the latter, not vice versa.
   
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  [Article] Basketball and the Bull Market

  This examination of that history shows the dominant influence of social mood on an American sport. Basketball is a coincident reflection of the rising mood behind the bull market of the last century. The game’s structure, rules and fortunes have developed in a manner that is totally consistent with the ebb and flow of the bull market in stocks.
   
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  [Article] A Historic Extreme in Baseball Emotions

  Sports can provide a background for extreme emotions socially expressed.