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As a grad student, I was "warned" about the professional "consequences" of "going public" with my research findings...as though having respected/rigorous research was incompatible with public-facing work.
This advice felt irresponsible to me.
This advice felt irresponsible to me.
My latest article, "Radical Compassion" in @contextsmag revisits these misconceptions.
As I write..."If something could be called 'sociological malpractice,' it would be bearing witness to social injustice and inequality and not doing anything to try to expose it or change it."
As I write..."If something could be called 'sociological malpractice,' it would be bearing witness to social injustice and inequality and not doing anything to try to expose it or change it."
"If we are a discipline of radical compassion, then that orientation must be part of our disciplinary commitment; Not part of the margins of our profession, but part of the very definition of what it means to be a sociologist." https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1536504220977952
"Our “pursuit of objectivity” in our research scares us into incorporating considerations of compassion, dignity, and grace into sociology despite the overwhelming evidence that it may be an antidote for the loss that we are experiencing in this moment."
"...it may be self-evident that a radical compassion is the only way that we can move forward with our teaching, research, and advocacy. These are unprecedented times, and unprecedented times change institutions and sociology is NOT immune."
I am grateful for the MANY sociologists who are doing pathbreaking research & public scholarship and are moving the field forward. Like @eveewing @louise_seamster @drvictorrios @SociologistRay @JessicaCalarco @tressiemcphd @EricKlinenberg and SO many others...
I see a future where public sociology IS....sociology and one does not have to justify such work to the discipline, at large. It is part of the definition of what it means to be a sociologist.
I want to thank @motorresx who helped me capture the phrase "sociological malpractice" while at the Du Bois conference. He tweeted what I uttered in a talk & made me realize I need to write this article! He is the next gen of inspiring sociologists! https://twitter.com/motorresx/status/1124698640495333376?s=20
