i am coming to this late (changing jobs, training my replacement, etc.), but wanted to add my $.02 to some of it...
i agree with Del about our lack of testable theories of social organization and how we seem to just re-hash old material. seems like soc is more of an overall "perspective" than a science; yes, we use the scientific method to gather information on what is occuring, but we really haven't developed any kind of formal, axiomatic theories of social behavior. our discipline is rife with concepts, all of which i love, but concepts, by themselves are not reflective of a systematic, empirically-verified process of theory-building. in short, if what we are trying to do is inculcate folks with the soc imagination, that's fine with me, i think the world would be a better place if we all had it. i don't think that the soc imagination is based on science, however, at least not to the extent that it is built on social-scientific evidence (Del's point about fMRI's et al is a good one -- there is some evidence for things called "mirror neurons" that do seem to represent the neurological ability to take the perspective of the other). lastly, i'm not sure about "what" mind is, but i am convinced that "selves" are an epiphenomena of it. i don't have a proof for that, but i can say with what i think is some confidence that pragmatically, we can live without selves, but i don't think we can live without minds. john John E. Glass, Ph.D. Professor of Sociology Colin County Community College Preston Ridge Campus 9700 Wade Boulevard Frisco, TX 75035 +1-972-377-1622 [EMAIL PROTECTED] He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice. - Albert Einstein
