From: Vincent Campbell (VCampbell@dmu.ac.uk)
Date: Thu 29 Jan 2004 - 13:53:22 GMT
<It is true that the great bulk of sociology is intellectually
empty. It is a combination of such things as ideology, wishful thinking,
careerism and professionalism.>
That's an outrageous and almost entirely unfounded comment- yes their are
parts of the social sciences that are cringeworthy to other parts of the
academy, and to some us within the social sciences too (the cultural
relativists and postmodernists spring most easily to my mind), but your
comment displays a tremendous degree of ignorance which is unfortunate.
If you actually look closely at parts of the social sciences, you will see
much that overlaps with approaches from the natural science to questions
such as the evolution and development of cultural. Diffusion of innovations
work, for example, has mostly been conducted in the social sciences.
If you're too quick to dismiss entire disciplines' worth, you won't find
anyone outside your own to listen to your views.
Vincent
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