TEACHSOC: Re: Time-tested sociological insights

Sat, 16 Sep 2006 20:25:04 -0700

Hi Del,

 

I can see what you are saying about functional imaging showing that thinking and behavior are dependent on the definition of the situation/environment as a very powerful point.  Could you say a bit more?  And if you could provide a few citations to the functional imaging literature where this point is made, I would be very grateful!

 

Thanks,

Michael

 

From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Del Thomas Ph D
Sent: Friday, September 15, 2006 4:10 PM
To: Del Thomas Ph D
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [email protected]
Subject: TEACHSOC: Re: Time-tested sociological insights

 

oops

Del Thomas Ph D wrote:

I would prefer to talk in terms of the best science......  science is self correcting..... so there is "consensus" rather agreement

regarding planets in our .....   at the recent conference  they were all in agreement that Pluto was not a planet..... but what to call it.  It is what
it is.  It had been a special case.....  perhaps because of the name.  Actually, because science knowledge is temporary terms
such as consensus may not serve us well.

There are some who do not consider sociology a science.   I am always amused by those who claim it is an art.
They don't realize that artists were among the first scientists........they are constantly testing.  You will find that many scientists
are skilled in the arts.... painting, jazz....and so on...The notion that science is precise is  errored.... a mechanical remnant
of the classical science.    a process that has not recognized the organic and fuzzy.

If I were to select on finding it would be the result of the last several decades of functional imaging......they have found that
thinking and behavior are dependent on the definition/structure of the situation/environment.     This  means that what is learned is
shaped by the environment.........  we know this from Skinner, Mead, Rosenthal and Jacobson.......... Durkheim and Darwin.   That is why
there is such an attack on Darwin by the creationists/constructionists.  So what is learned is dependent on the classroom structure.

That science is the basis for the finding that the lecture hall reduces access to lecture content to a very limited group  of students.  One could use
elimination of the teacher/preacher lecture hall model as a demonstration of the use of science to promote social justice.  We can have students discover this
rather than telling them.  One of the students on our panel claims that this is close to self instruction and give the student ownership.... an upgrade from
being a clerk. :-)

Inequity
This country has inequity built into the constitution.  It would be difficult to support an argument that there is more inequity
today than there was when slavery was the law and females could not vote.   We are a nation of laws after all :-)

Go Blue!

Del

 



Joyce Robbins wrote: 

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]]On
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
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
    



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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