Wed, 12 Oct 1994 14:44:21 -0700 for <socgrad@ucsd.edu>
Subject: Graduate Student Defined 
To: socgrad@UCSD.EDU
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 1994 17:44:19 -0400 (EDT)
From: Karen T Farquharson <farquhar@isr.harvard.edu>
Wanda said:
> 
> I'm responding to Michael Gibbon's recent post regarding
> subscription to this list.  I guess I'm asking for a definition of
> who is welcome (or not welcome) to subscribe to this list, if such 
> a definition exists.  Are you suggesting, Michael, that a person's 
> intimidation level would be increased (or decreased) by their knowledge
> of who is "listening in" on our discussions?   You cite "professional
> types" as possible sources of intimidation to others on this list.
> I don't get it.  If sociology faculty (i.e., professional types)
> are out there listening in, maybe its simply because they're 
> interested in what we're talking about/thinking about.  I tend to
> get "intimidated" when faclty behavior suggests that they are NOT
> much interested in what I'm doing/thinking/saying. 
> Are others intimidated by the knoledge that sociology faculty and/or
> other sociology professionals might be subscribed to this list?      

I have to admit that I didn't read Michael's initial post. 
Anyway, in terms of intimidation, I really don't care who
"listens" in on our discussions.  Our discussions are generally not (IMHO)
on secretive topics.  We generally do what sociologists in other forums do,
namely, critically analyze whatever it is we're discussing.  In any case,
how likely is it that vindictive faculty members (or anyone else)
are subscribing?  It seems much more likely that, as Wanda says, they're
interested in (curious about?) what we're talking about.  As has been said
before, there aren't a whole lot of online options for general discussions
of sociology.
> 
> A study by Karp and Yoels on student participation in the college
> classroom comes to mind. Their findings suggest that a few students
> take on the active role of "talkers" (i.e., answer questions, make
> comments, etc.) while the other students maintain the roles 
> of "passive notetakers."  Maybe something similar is going on here and
> its not intimidation that keeps people quiet.  Just a thought.

Sounds reasonable.  I have to admit that I enjoy reading a lot of the
posts, but don't usually contribute, not due to intimidation, but because I
often don't have an interesting contribution to make.  

Karen