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In addition, sociology as a practice seems to tie itself deeply to activism. When it does so, the credibility of sociology as a scientific pursuit weakens. Co

In addition, sociology as a practice seems to tie itself deeply to activism. When it does so, the credibility of sociology as a scientific pursuit weakens. Compare, for example, at Colombia University, the Department of Sociology homepage http://sociology.columbia.edu/ http://sociology.columbia.edu/ and the Department of Economoics http://econ.columbia.edu/ http://econ.columbia.edu/. The sociology page features a huge image of a protest of the recent immigration executive orders. The economics page, on the other hand, features upcoming talks like "Iceland's Road to Recovery" and "Modern Financial Markets: The Role of High-Frequency Trading". The sociology department is signaling that they're passionate about ideological issues, while the economics department is signaling that they're focused on understanding and analyzing. People trust scientists because people believe they are willing and able to divorce their emotions and vested interests from an objective pursuit of the truth. Sociology seems to fail that test time after time.

RodericDay 10y ago
> Compare, for example, at Colombia University, the Department of Sociology homepage http://sociology.columbia.edu/ http://sociology.columbia.edu/ and the Department of Economoics http://econ.columbia.edu/ http://econ.columbia.edu/. The sociology page features a huge image of a protest of the recent immigration executive orders. The economics page, on the other hand, features upcoming talks like "Iceland's Road to Recovery" and "Modern Financial Markets: The Role of High-Frequency Trading". The sociology department is signaling that they're passionate about ideological issues, while the economics department is signaling that they're focused on understanding and analyzing. How can you conjure up this example, and conclude that only sociology is ideological?
- barry-cotter 10y ago
  > How can you conjure up this example, and conclude that only sociology is ideological? Would it be better if he had said that the Economics department seems to aspire to centrist technocracy and the Sociology department varies from left wing to far left?
  - RodericDay 10y ago
    Yeah, I wouldn't bat an eye at that.
- weberc2 10y ago
  I'm missing the ideology in the Econ headlines. Can you spell it out for me?
jolux 10y ago
Do you not see ideology in the statements on the economics department's page?

RodericDay 10y ago

> Compare, for example, at Colombia University, the Department of Sociology homepage http://sociology.columbia.edu/ http://sociology.columbia.edu/ and the Department of Economoics http://econ.columbia.edu/ http://econ.columbia.edu/. The sociology page features a huge image of a protest of the recent immigration executive orders. The economics page, on the other hand, features upcoming talks like "Iceland's Road to Recovery" and "Modern Financial Markets: The Role of High-Frequency Trading". The sociology department is signaling that they're passionate about ideological issues, while the economics department is signaling that they're focused on understanding and analyzing. How can you conjure up this example, and conclude that only sociology is ideological?

barry-cotter 10y ago
> How can you conjure up this example, and conclude that only sociology is ideological? Would it be better if he had said that the Economics department seems to aspire to centrist technocracy and the Sociology department varies from left wing to far left?
- RodericDay 10y ago
  Yeah, I wouldn't bat an eye at that.
weberc2 10y ago
I'm missing the ideology in the Econ headlines. Can you spell it out for me?

jolux 10y ago

Do you not see ideology in the statements on the economics department's page?