A (Pragmatic) Defense of (Some) Science

In this commentary, a response to MacKendrick (2017), I examine the dilemma that recent science activism poses for sociologists of science. How can we maintain their critical integrity while condemning the anti‐science actions of the Trump administration? I propose that sociologists of science engage in two exercises to marshal a qualified defense of science. First, we should unpack what we might mean by the “science” we wish to defend. Then, we should begin to articulate grounds for defending that science commensurate with the urgency of the moment. I draw inspiration from American pragmatist philosophy to develop one such defense.     

(The Graduate) School (of Social Work) and Society

A learning paradigm for teaching social work research is offered as an alternative to the consumership models, the researcher as technician models, and the integration of research into other curriculum areas. The model presented adheres closely to the principle of knowledge-guided practice and ties knowledge about knowledge to the practice demands of the profession. The result is a highly integrative experience for the student. The last course has become a model for an integrative seminar.     

Netzwerktheorie(n)

Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. Zeitschrift für Angewandte Organisationspsychologie (GIO) -     

旅行(节选)

旅行虽然夹杂着苦恼,究竟有很大的乐趣在.旅行是一种逃避--逃避人间的丑恶. "大隐藏人海",我们不是大隐,在人海里藏不住.岂但人海里安不得身?在家园里也不容易遁迹.成年的圈在四舍房里,不必仰屋就要兴叹;成年的看着家里的那一张脸,不必牛衣也要对泣.家里面所能看见的那一块青天,只有那么一大块.取之不尽用之不竭的清风明月,在家里都不能充分享用.     

Work(ing) out

The recent marketing of new genetic tests for popular genealogy is one significant interface between the science of new genetics and public culture in the West. These new commodities offer to situate individuals within global patterns of human genetic diversity, locate genetic origins and sort out true biological relatedness from practised kinship. Taking two cases of recent attempts to popularize genetic tests in popular genealogy, this paper considers how ideas of gender, reproduction, nation, ‘race’ and relatedness are being shaped by and deployed within their discourses of genetic kinship. In these efforts to geneticize genealogy, the idiom of kinship and the gendering of narratives of reproduction and descent are used to make these tests meaningful and to distance them from ideas of ‘race’ and ethnicity. Discourses of family relatedness provide a grammar for translating the complexities of new genetics into public culture. At the same time, geneticized genealogy produces new versions of genetic kinship, in the form of Y-chromosome genetic brotherhood, Mitochondrial DNA clan membership and global genetic kinship. Yet, notions of genetic kinship also provide cultural resources for the making of personal and collective identities in a myriad of ways and with diverse implications for the politics of ‘race’ and national belonging.