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That Thing ("Then and again", Sociology 2020)
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rubard...@gmail.com
Jan 11, 2020, 3:10:25 PM1/11/20
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An *appel* occasionally made by "someone":
The situation concerning sociological research and instruction in 2020 is substantially the same as some points in previous decades.
1) Talcott Parsons remains the greatest American sociologist of all time. Those who complain about "technocracy" are right, and "worried well": those who complain about bad writing need to find another hobby.
2) Jeffrey Alexander, currently of New Haven, CT, is the greatest living American sociologist. This is "not a surprise" to anyone who can stand to actually pay attention to anything. He has written many books, including fairly recently.
3) That is the "over and under" of serious thinking about American society from America. There remain (though there occasionally effectively are not) "views from other places", foreign theories that educate and enlighten without being Quite The Thing for those trying to have "complete purchase" on the attention of another US citizen.
PS: On the "real level", Althusser's work remains in the third category. "Deprecated" if not literally interdicted as in the past, the work of Althusser remains a dumb "hook to hang one on" because you yourself had almost no excuse to have had effective recourse to it yourself.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Rubard (age 40)
The situation concerning sociological research and instruction in 2020 is substantially the same as some points in previous decades.
1) Talcott Parsons remains the greatest American sociologist of all time. Those who complain about "technocracy" are right, and "worried well": those who complain about bad writing need to find another hobby.
2) Jeffrey Alexander, currently of New Haven, CT, is the greatest living American sociologist. This is "not a surprise" to anyone who can stand to actually pay attention to anything. He has written many books, including fairly recently.
3) That is the "over and under" of serious thinking about American society from America. There remain (though there occasionally effectively are not) "views from other places", foreign theories that educate and enlighten without being Quite The Thing for those trying to have "complete purchase" on the attention of another US citizen.
PS: On the "real level", Althusser's work remains in the third category. "Deprecated" if not literally interdicted as in the past, the work of Althusser remains a dumb "hook to hang one on" because you yourself had almost no excuse to have had effective recourse to it yourself.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Rubard (age 40)
Jeffrey Rubard
Jan 21, 2022, 12:58:46 AM1/21/22
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Jeffrey Rubard (age 42, but still considerably less attractive than M. Alexander)
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