Sat, 27 Aug 1994 07:21:36 -0700 for <SOCGRAD@UCSD.EDU>
Date:         Sat, 27 Aug 94 09:05:42 EDT
From: Steve Harvey <HARVEY@UConnVM.UConn.Edu>
Subject:      sociology
To: SOCGRAD@UCSD.EDU
C'mon, guys. How about trying to understand what's going on, rather than
sulking about the folly of it all? The high moral ground is a comfortable
place to be, and lots of sociologists think they're paid to hang out there,
but it doesn't really tell us much. Why do politicians make the choices they
make (pretty easily answered..., though, probably with a few nuances left to
explore)? Why do voters make the choices they make? How does the system
generate these outcomes? Is the solution to social problems that "everybody
just wise up"? (as the tone of previous posts suggests). OR, is this world of
ours a product of people acting fairly wisely (let's say, a world of people
acting about as wisely as you and I generally act), but the aggregation of
their individual wisdoms does not always seem to be collectively wise? (and
yet,in some ways, is clearly collectively wiser than any individual can manage.
YOU try to design social systems that are as subtle and sophisticated as those
that presently exist!). I have two recommendations for up-and-coming
sociologists: 1) have a little respect for people, and recognize that the
world would not be cured of its ills if only all those poor misguided non-
sociologists "knew" what we "know" (sociological insight is tenuous, and more
of theoretical than practical value at this point), and 2) have a little
respect -and sense of wonder- for the social systems you purport to study.
Don't reduce this remarkable, subtle, problematic world to some banal
caricature, in which sociologists become the arm-chair gods with the wisdom
to knowingly smirk about the world's folly! Folly or no, its complexity still
far exceeds our grasp, and our main task is to tackle the immense challenge of
trying to understand its processes and forms. Too many of us pretend we have
a greater grasp of that than any of us really do. Our wisdom begins with the
recognition of our *own* ignorance.

Steve Harvey
harvey@uconnvm.uconn.edu