Dear Joyce, Good points, complete consensus is too high of a standard. The scientific community has reached consensus about global warming (though politicians have not). They are able to offer advice, some of which differs dramatically. But there is agreement on the need for change. When you teach, is there something comparable that you point to in sociology?
Thanks, Michael -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joyce Robbins Sent: Friday, September 15, 2006 11:42 AM To: [email protected] Subject: TEACHSOC: Re: Time-tested sociological insights There's no consensus in the scientific community over how many planets are in the solar system; why would one expect consensus in the sociological community? The variety of theories is what makes teaching interesting. I would think that anything about which there is complete consensus would be trivial, or the consensus would reflect some kind of cultural/intellectual bias. Joyce Robbins -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Michael Francis Johnston Sent: Friday, September 15, 2006 12:51 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [email protected] Subject: TEACHSOC: Re: Time-tested sociological insights Hi, Del, Thanks for asking for the clarification. What I mean by non-trivial, time-tested sociological insights are ideas that have been produced by sociologists about the social world, were published in sociological outlets, are backed by a consensus on empirical evidence, and grab students attention (either because it directly matters for how the students live their lives or because students find that the idea helps them understand our social world in a new, interesting way). Some sociologists might argue that "the distribution of resources remains fairly constant from generation to generation" whereas others might argue that there is "growing inequality." To me, this could indicate a lack of consensus on this particular topic. I think that "growing incarceration rates" could legitimately be claimed as sociological (e.g. Bruce Western at Princeton) and there is a consensus on evidence. But does this matter to students? I think lots would think that they are not in danger of incarceration. At best, this would matter indirectly in that lots of tax money is being spent on incarceration. But students have little control over how are tax money is spent. An even less direct argument would be that the US is becoming a more authoritarian state, which I think would have the potential to make some students "tune out." Thanks for the postings so far, these have been very helpful to think through this issue! Respectfully, Michael -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Del Thomas Ph D Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 7:17 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [email protected] Subject: TEACHSOC: Re: Time-tested sociological insights Would you include science in this? What do you mean by matter to students and consensus? Del Michael Francis Johnston wrote: > Hi all, > > Could you let me know what you consider to be some non-trivial sociological > insights that matter to our students? Ideally, these would be results for > which there is consensus that, yes the evidence really does show that this > is true. > > Thanks in advance, > Michael > > > > > > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Teaching Sociology" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/teachsoc -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
