A central problem of this moment is a lack of sociology education.
Sociology helps us understand how ppl behave as we do—why we wanna hug & connect, why we dislike masks.
I wish govt & press took sociology classes.
Universities have no excuse for not engaging sociology.
Sociology helps us understand how ppl behave as we do—why we wanna hug & connect, why we dislike masks.
I wish govt & press took sociology classes.
Universities have no excuse for not engaging sociology.
We are social(ized) creatures. Never before has the human race so rapidly changed daily behaviors worldwide in months. Yet we still predictably act socially w the weight of history & sociology. Public health, harm reduction, higher ed & govt policy should respond accordingly.
Sociology takes seriously that social force is real. Markets are real. Businesses are real. Schools are real. & when opened, they predictably pull ppl towards them w marketized, socialized forces. Such forces are as invisible as gravity, but no less powerful to social creatures.
When creating public health policy that will help social creatures, we need to take sociology seriously.
And it's unconscionable when higher ed, govts or biz open spaces (& their gravity-like pull) and then blame the people pulled into them for predictably socializing in them.
And it's unconscionable when higher ed, govts or biz open spaces (& their gravity-like pull) and then blame the people pulled into them for predictably socializing in them.
Every US uni with in-person classes will stop them. Too many will use neoliberal framing as the reason. The structure will be off the hook, the blame shifted to the "failures" of individual students.
Sociology should be ashamed to be so ignored as a discipline.
Sociology should be ashamed to be so ignored as a discipline.
It's bad enough to live in a country that doesn't take sociology or any social science seriously.
But to live in a country where universities don't look to the field which explains human behavior? Even in a pandemic?
Sheesh.
But to live in a country where universities don't look to the field which explains human behavior? Even in a pandemic?
Sheesh.
Sociology also helps us understand the best way to engage mask-wearing & such is not to scream "YOU'RE BAD!" or even "ARREST THEM!" at ppl not hewing 100% to the already extraordinary project of rapid global behavioral change (via @JuliaLMarcus) theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
If even American *universities* don't look to their own departments which study how humans socialize for guidance, what chance do we have with containing a virus which transmits *socially*?
(BTW sociology isn't my home discipline. I'm an American Studies baby supervised by an anthropologist & I work in NU's journalism & medical schools. But I love sociology & think we need it to understand how ppl act. Scolding & ignoring ppl for acting as ppl act can't work.)
And here we have IU walking into Angela Davis & Michel Foucault’s description of the the school not as a prison pipeline, but as a prison itself. The “serious threat to the IU community” was your leadership’s avoidable choice to bring thousands of students to campus. 
As @JuliaLMarcus’s article lays out it’s a TERRIBLE idea to call the cops w public health and even worse for a uni to encourage this. It’ll drive secrecy. We need open communication that is not punitive at this moment. Furthermore...
If a chemistry prof put two reactive chemicals together & blew up their lab they’d be held to account. The chemicals wouldn’t be blamed.
Why are uni admins bringing back the predictably reactive element of students to campuses and then blaming...the students?
Why are uni admins bringing back the predictably reactive element of students to campuses and then blaming...the students?
It is unethical for unis to say to students, “There’s a global pandemic which is nearing a million deaths. Leave your family & social support & home community & come to us —but don’t you DARE socialize, hug, date or hang out once you get here, or you’ll become a killer.”
Picture it.
It’s an autumn Saturday night in a college town.
A student has been shipped thousands of miles from their mom, dad and dog.
They’re going to...sit alone in a dorm room, while thousands of their peers are within feet?
Why stage this scenario during a pandemic?
It’s an autumn Saturday night in a college town.
A student has been shipped thousands of miles from their mom, dad and dog.
They’re going to...sit alone in a dorm room, while thousands of their peers are within feet?
Why stage this scenario during a pandemic?
