There no longer exists a theater of ideas in which artists or philosophers can perform the acts of the intellectual or moral imagination. In nineteenth-century England Charles Darwin could expect On The Origin of Species to be read by Charles Dickens as well as by Disraeli and the vicar in the shires who collected flies and water beetles. Dickens and Disraeli and the vicar could assume that Mr. Darwin might chance to read their own observations. But in the United States in 1979 what novelist can expect his work to be read by a biochemist, a Presidential candidate, or a director of corporations; what physicist can expect his work to be noticed, much less understood, in the New York literary salons? ("A Juggernaut of Words," Harper's Magazine, June 1979: pp. 12-13).Conditions have hardly improved three decades later. Now in the supposed "Information Age" six out of ten American households do not purchase a single book and one-half of American adults do not read one. Forty-three years ago in 1965 when the Gallup Organization asked young people if they read a daily newspaper, 67 percent said yes; in 2006, according to the NORC General Social Survey, only 11 percent of those 18-24 answered affirmatively. And yet "they" say we are saturated with informational overload!
I am most interested in the potential of this cyberspace medium to inform and to generate discourse, to enhance information literacy, and to truly be a "theater of ideas." This site features commentary, data analyses (hey, we've become a "factoid" culture), occasional essays, as well as the requisite links, put together for courses taught by myself and my colleagues. If you do give feedback on one of the message pads scattered across these pages and wish a reply, please include your e-mail address.
And now for some sites to stimulate the
sociological
imagination
(or, at a minimum, prepare one for
Sociology
Jeopardy).
General
sociological resourcesSociological
theoryData resources and some useful web toolsMethods
and statisticsGuide
to writing a research paperExercising
the imagination: Subject-based InquiriesOp-EdSearch
engine for site--improved for the new millennium
Sociology
of Death and Dying The
premier tour.The
Times of Our Lives: Social Contours of the Fourth Dimension
This
path takes you just about everywhere, from circadian rhythms to the implications
of historical ignorance.A
Sociological Social Psychology Another
far-ranging tour, from the nature- nurture controversy to history's thumbprint
on generations.Marriage
& Family Life On life's
home
base.Social
Gerontology We're in the
midst of
an aging revolution whose impacts will be felt for centuries to
come.Social
Inequality Reflecting on the
growing
gap between America's haves and have-nots.Gender
& Society Have gender
inequalities
decreased or increased with social evolution?Race
& Ethnicity How well is the American melting pot
dissolving inequalities between racial and ethnic
groups?Sociology
of Knowledge To what extent
are
different types of knowledge socially constructed?Demography
Are
social processes ultimately demographically
determined?Mass
Media and Communication StudiesPolitical
ScienceHealth
Statistics & the Medical EstablishmentAnthropology
History
Science
& TechnologyArt & Art HistoryParanormal
Sites (With your mind in mind)
Copyright © 1996-2010 Michael C. Kearl. All Rights Reserved.