The Comparative Society

By Felix Mallin Comparison – or the mental faculty of distinction – is one of the most fundamental ingredients of autonomous life. It aids us in the quotidian tasks of decoding language, emotions, or smells, as well as in making sense of the society and world around us. Similarly, for any form of social scientific inquiry, comparison stands as an irreplaceable methodological principle. Indeed, to state the importance of comparison seems almost trivial. Yet not all comparison is necessarily me..