This week, I was asked to participate in a panel at ASA about scholar-activism. The panel was organized by Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra with panelists Daniel Laurison, Philip Cohen and ASA’s Margaret Vitullo. The whole panel was fascinating. Before we get to what I said, I just want to affirm the following so that people on don’t misconstrue what I said:
- I believe that activism is valuable.
- I believe that many scholars are great activists.
- I believe that it would be very good if social scientists contribute to the public.
- There are many excellent sociologists whose work has public impact.
So, then, what’s my beef? I have three points:
Scholar-activism can cheapen activism: This happens in a few ways. For example, some people might say, “everything we do is activism.” Or, people who aren’t activist are implicit activists because they reinforce the status-quo. With respect to scholars of color, some might…
View original post 525 more words
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments