ZC_2_13 — Economic Sociology and Markets

Economic sociology examines how social structures, institutions, and cultural meanings shape economic life — rejecting the neoclassical assumption that markets operate according to purely rational, self-interested calcul

ZC_2_01 — Propaganda, Persuasion, and Information Warfare

Propaganda and persuasion studies span rhetoric, psychology, political science, and media studies. From Edward Bernays's Freudian public relations (1928) and Walter Lippmann's manufactured consent (1922), through Goebbel

ZC_2_07 — Sociology of Health and Illness

Medical sociology (or the sociology of health and illness) examines how social structures, institutions, and relationships shape health outcomes, health behaviors, and the organization of healthcare. Foundational concept

ZC_2_11 — Sociology of Religion

The sociology of religion examines religion as a social phenomenon — how religious beliefs, practices, and institutions shape and are shaped by social structures. Foundational approaches: Émile Durkheim (The Elementary F

ZC_2_05 — Criminology and Deviance

Criminology studies the nature, causes, consequences, and control of criminal behavior, while deviance encompasses behavior that violates social norms, whether or not it is legally criminal. Classical theories: Émile Dur

ZC_2_14 — Sociology of the Family

Sociology of the family examines how families are structured, how they function as social institutions, and how they have transformed historically. Talcott Parsons (1955) theorized the mid-20th-century American nuclear f

ZC_2_02 — Collective Memory and Cultural Transmission of Myth

Collective memory — the shared pool of knowledge and information held by a group — is the mechanism by which myths, traditions, and historical narratives are transmitted across generations. This document surveys the scho

G_4_00 — Interdisciplinary Meta Methods: Subfolder Summary

G_4_21 — Archaeogenomics: Ancient DNA and the Reconstruction of Human History

Archaeogenomics — the extraction, sequencing, and analysis of DNA from ancient biological remains — has revolutionized understanding of human migration, admixture, and population history since Svante Pääbo's pioneering w

G_4_16 — Comparative Mythology as Science — Phylogenetic and Statistical Approaches

Comparative mythology — the systematic study of myths and folktales across cultures to identify shared elements, trace historical relationships, and understand the cognitive and social processes that generate mythologica

G_4_17 — Microbiome Archaeology — Ancient Gut and Soil Microbes

Microbiome archaeology — the extraction and analysis of ancient microbial communities from archaeological materials (dental calculus, coprolites, mummified remains, soil sediments, ceramics) — has emerged since ~2012 as

G_1_05 — eDNA and Environmental DNA — Reading Invisible Life

Environmental DNA (eDNA) refers to genetic material shed by organisms into their environment — through skin cells, mucus, feces, urine, gametes, decomposing tissue, pollen, root exudates, and other biological residues —

G_1_04 — Isotope Analysis and Provenance Studies

Isotope analysis — the measurement of ratios of stable or radiogenic isotopes preserved in human bone, tooth enamel, animal remains, ceramics, metals, and organic residues — has become one of the most powerful tools in m

G_1_10 — Photogrammetry and 3D Scanning in Heritage Documentation

Photogrammetry and 3D scanning technologies have transformed archaeological and heritage documentation from two-dimensional plans and photographs into millimeter-accurate, three-dimensional digital records of sites, arti

G_1_13 — Use-Wear Analysis and Residue Studies — Reading Ancient Tools

Use-wear analysis (also called traceology or microwear analysis) and residue studies are complementary methodologies that determine how ancient tools were used — what materials they processed, what motions were involved,

G_1_16 — Ground-Penetrating Radar in Archaeological Prospection

Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) is a non-invasive geophysical survey technique that transmits short pulses of electromagnetic (radar) energy into the ground and records the reflections returned from subsurface interfaces

G_1_07 — Stable Isotope Analysis and Ancient Diets

Stable isotope analysis of human and animal remains — primarily the measurement of carbon ($\delta^{13}$C), nitrogen ($\delta^{15}$N), and sulfur ($\delta^{34}$S) isotope ratios in bone collagen, tooth enamel, hair kerat

G_1_09 — Provenance Analysis: Strontium, Lead, and Oxygen Isotope Sourcing

Isotopic provenance analysis has revolutionized archaeology by enabling researchers to determine where an artifact was made, where a person grew up, what they ate, and how far they traveled — all from the chemical signat

G_3_11 — Information Theory and Biological Complexity

Information theory, founded by Claude Shannon (1948, A Mathematical Theory of Communication), provides a rigorous mathematical framework for quantifying information content, communication capacity, and complexity — conce

G_3_23 — Actor-Network Theory: Latour, Callon, and the Agency of Non-Humans

Actor-Network Theory (ANT) is a theoretical and methodological approach developed primarily by Bruno Latour (1947–2022), Michel Callon (born 1945), and John Law (born 1946) at the Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (CS