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Moral Minefields

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In “Moral Minefields,” Shai Dromi and Samuel Stabler examine sociology’s moral debates on race, genetics, secularization, nationalism, poverty culture, and parenting practices.

Image courtesy of interviewee. March 4, 2024

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This video video discusses the motivation behind a book exploring the relationship between morality and sociology, inspired by discussions between the authors during their graduate studies. It highlights a longstanding debate within sociology regarding whether the field should align more closely with rigorous scientific methods (positivism) or adopt positions that emphasize moral and political engagement.

The authors examine significant controversies within sociology, particularly surrounding the works of figures like Alice Goffman. They focus on five contentious topics: religion, race, nationalism, gender, and reproduction, analyzing how moral frameworks influence research methodologies and the evolution of sociological thought over time.

Through historical analysis, the authors identify seven common ethical justifications that sociologists have used to support their research. They illustrate how arguments about what constitutes acceptable research can lead to innovation and new theoretical developments within the field. Specifically, the text discusses differing perspectives on secularization, nationalism, and global society, revealing how scholars have navigated the moral complexities surrounding their work.

Ultimately, the authors advocate for a recognition of moral pluralism within sociology, asserting that diverse viewpoints can enrich the discipline. They argue that disagreement is not necessarily detrimental; instead, it can be a catalyst for progress, encouraging critical examination and the exploration of new research avenues that contribute to the growth of the field.

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00:00.185 --> 00:03.925
So the book was really motivated by me

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and Chi's friendship in graduate school,

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and particularly, these debates that were going on

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around sociology, about,

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how moral ideas should guide research.

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So, sociology has had a traditional group that,

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that are called positivists, who tend to argue

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that sociology should be a rigorous,

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rigorous science like physics or some of the other sciences.

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Uh, and then more recently, people like Alvin Morris

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and Mary Romero have started arguing

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that sociology should be

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and has always been morally, politically engaged.

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Uh, and really this motivated us to think about

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and asked the this question about kind of what kind

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of discipline is sociology

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and what kind of values it should pursue.

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Uh, and as I said, when China were grad school,

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this became particularly problematic as,

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a few notable sociologists probably,

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most famously marked ous, Alice Goffman,

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became ensconced in controversy over

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the nature of their research.

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Its political values, its social values.

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Uh, and so our book really kind of came out

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of this conflict about, you know,

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so should sociology be scientifically oriented?

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Should it be culturally, politically, morally oriented?

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Uh, and really our idea was to try to develop a framework

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that could include all of this as sociology to think about

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how has sociology grown

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and really thrived by embracing the plurality

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of positions we take on our different, research

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and why it's morally worthwhile.

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Sam and I are really interested in understanding

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how debates over what's like morally okay to research,

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have influenced sociology over time.

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So, we focused on five topics that have

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historically caused a lot of disagreement.

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Uh, the study of religion, race nationalism, gender

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and, reproduction.

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And within each area, we analyzed

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historically the different types of, frameworks

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researchers used when they were, justifying

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or critiquing or defending different ideas about why is

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this, research morally okay.

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Why, why is this something that social scientists,

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can and should pursue?

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Through this historical research,

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we identified seven common, frames

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or what we call repertoires,

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that sociologists have drawn on when talking

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about proper research.

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So, for example, this research helps promote equality.

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This research helps, give voice

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to marginalized communities.

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This research addresses common concerns, that members

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of the public have and, and so on and so forth.

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Um, and so, so to research this, we dug deep into

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how discussions have played out within each topic.

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Um, how disagreements started, how scholars responded

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to criticism of their work, how they balanced, you know,

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wanting to do research,

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but also being, sensitive to the moral,

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complexities.

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Um, and ultimately what we, what we were looking for is

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how the fields change over time

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because of disagreement about what's, what's moral

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to research, therein,

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and the results of our, research in these different, of,

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in these different subfield, can shed light on

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how controversy can drive actually like new theories

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and innovations and move scholarly fields forward

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in, productive ways.

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I'll talk to you a little bit about, one

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of the central concerns that brought me

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to sociology was this question of secularization.

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So secularization is the idea that religion is declining.

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Uh, sociologists since Marx

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and Weber have argued that, religion is doomed to die,

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with modernity and with modern life.

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Uh, and of course, we pick up this picture,

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we pick up this story somewhere in the mid 20th century when

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there is this massive wave of religious revival

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and religious innovation, that begins with kind

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of the new religious movements in the 1960s and,

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and the, the flower power generation,

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but then evolves very quickly into, the kind

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of contemporary forms of evangelicalism

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and the religious revivals on the right

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that we also see still in our politics today.

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And we really chart

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how scholars view this transformation, right?

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Um, there is this growing realization

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that there's this disconnect between

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what the scholars are saying that religion is going away

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and what is actually happening, right?

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That religion actually appears to be flowering.

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Uh, and so we track how three different groups

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of people thought about this as scholars thought about this

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with different moral repertoires.

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So the first group we, we talk about are,

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rational choice scholars.

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They really embrace this idea that part

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of the reason there's such a religious revival is,

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the growth of reli new forms of religious freedom.

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So they point to America, certain changes in the law

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around religion in America in the 1960s, 1950s,

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and the early 20th century,

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that allow religious innovation and change to flourish.

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And they say secularization doesn't go away.

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It it just related to how much law,

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you put around religion.

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And, and obviously they argue

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for more and more religious freedom.

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They are met by a group

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of comparative historical sociologists, who argue

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that we can't just generalize from America.

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So they look at different regimes of religious freedom

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and religious change, and reli religious innovation,

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and really emphasize that,

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while certainly the secularization theory of yesterday,

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that religion is just going away, isn't here to stay.

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We can't just say everything should look like America in

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terms of religion, and that's the way forward.

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We should do comparative historical work to determine

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what is and isn't, a worthwhile way

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of thinking about religion.

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Shy and I sort of entered graduate school.

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There's kind of one or the other, which led to a kind

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of third, maneuver, which we kind of, we, we describe

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as the, the turn to marketability.

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So in our generation of sociologist religion, there are lots

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of people who started saying, well,

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I'm not really interested in if secularization is real

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or if it's here to stay, or if religion's doomed.

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All these questions, you know, there's kind

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of no real answer there.

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We should turn instead to trying

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to understand people's religion in their own terms.

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In a very famous passage, we quote, Fen Yang, one

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of the, the leaders in the sociology

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of religion at a presidential lead, at a, a conference,

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his presidential address where he sort of says, you know,

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how could you define

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or defend getting a job if you can't even

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explain what religion is?

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Because you're so caught up in these other debates about

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secularity and secularization.

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And so by tracing these three responses, we sort of show

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how do people respond to not only the fact that,

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sociologists may have been wrong about something,

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but also that, that that error comes

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with certain moral questions and moral preoccupations.

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So Sam, Sam came into grad school

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with an interest in religion.

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I was actually interested in nationalism and, nations.

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Um, so,

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accordingly, that's, that's also a second, case

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that we look at where, it, this, this is an area

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that has had a longstanding controversy over whether,

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the world is still composed out of,

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separate nation states, or are we, have we moved on beyond

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that to, to an era

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where we are actually living in a global society,

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where we really need to rethink how we we think

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and talk about, that the world order.

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Um, and,

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and in the late 20th century, some thinkers started arguing

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that, continuing to talk about nation states,

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in this, you know, area, era of, globalization

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and, social and political change,

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is actually harmful, that it's actually an endorsement of,

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you know, a a a political order that's regressive,

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that's outmoded, that, that that's even,

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violent occasionally.

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Um, and the argument was that instead, sociology

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and that social sciences in general should shift toward,

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like a cosmopolitan view,

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that looked past national boundaries

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and really focused on, a global society.

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Um, now this caused tension for researchers who, who

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actually had research on phenomena like immigrations

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or national politics or,

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or any other phenomenon that's that, that is about states,

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which, you know, in one way

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or another we're still around.

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Um, and what we can trace in the chapter is the way that,

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to keep studying these areas, sociologists had

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to find new ways to frame their work, is contributing

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to the greater good, while also acknowledging that times

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of change and that there are moral problematics

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around these,

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around res con conducting research this way.

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So, some, researchers appealed to the idea of,

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community and tradition that's, enshrined in,

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in nations, kind of showing how historically,

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nations provided, important markers of,

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collective identity empowerment

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for certain, populations.

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Um, other scholars emphasize the value of, kind

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of remaining objective in our science

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and, kind of understanding nationalism itself

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as a phenomenon without necessarily saying if it's good

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or bad or if it's still exists, or doesn't, and so on.

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Um, and you know, in the chapter we also trace

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how ironically cosmopolitan thinkers also faced challenges

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eventually when, you know, states

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and, nationalism seemed to persist in reality.

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So debates also emerge

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around whether cosmopolitan scholars were too disconnected

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from, most people's actual experience.

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Um, so in short, what we sh what we show,

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that I guess both in this case

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and in, the religion case, is that we see

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how moral controversy shaped not just what gets studies,

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but also how researchers justify, their work.

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And even like when there is a controversy,

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new ideas can emerge as scholars, you know, find ways

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to keep engaging with the issues, that are, that are

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being questioned or being criticized.

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And these dynamics are really important

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for understanding change, in a field over time.

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One of the main things we hope readers will take away is an

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appreciation for, moral pluralism,

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both in sociology,

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but also, more broadly in the social sciences.

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Uh, and what we mean by that is that, recognizing

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that there isn't just one, right way for researchers

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to think about ethics

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and the public good, that, there's scholarly work might,

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bring about,

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that different scholars will have valid,

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but competing perspectives on those questions.

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Um, and, the, the, this diversity

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of viewpoints is actually a strength and not, not a weakness

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because, you know, often we, you know, we, we,

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we naturally think about disagreement

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as something negative, right?

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It's something that holds a field back,

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that holds academia back.

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Um, but as the, the various examples

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that we cover in the book show,

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having alternate positions can also push new ideas forward,

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and, help think about new research methods,

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new theories, help, scholars look

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for new empirical findings.

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So challenges researchers to think more, critically

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and find innovative, either middle grounds

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or, alternate bouts for research,

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which end up contributing to the growth of, of their field.

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Um, so we want, so we want readers

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to recognize pluralism as a strength.

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Um, and to see disagreement really is a normal

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and possibly even necessary,

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element in progress at times.

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Um, and, you know, to understand sociology's role

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in navigating difficult issues,

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that it stems sparkly from its willingness to

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actually thoughtfully consider multiple perspectives on,

12:28.705 --> 12:31.845
on morality and on, on, you know, what's,

12:31.875 --> 12:32.965
what is good research.

Navigating Morality in Sociological Research

00:00:00 - So the book was really motivated by me and Chi's friendship in graduate school, and particularly, these debates that were going on around sociology, about, how moral ideas should guide research. So, sociology has had a traditional group that, that are called positivists, who tend to argue that sociology should be a rigorous, rigorous science like physics or some of the other sciences. and then more recently, people like Alvin Morris and Mary Romero have started arguing that sociology should be and has always been morally, politically engaged.
00:00:36 - and asked the this question about kind of what kind of discipline is sociology and what kind of values it should pursue. and as I said, when China were grad school, this became particularly problematic as, a few notable sociologists probably, most famously marked ous, Alice Goffman, became ensconced in controversy over the nature of their research. Its political values, its social values. and so our book really kind of came out of this conflict about, you know,
00:01:07 - Should it be culturally, politically, morally oriented? and really our idea was to try to develop a framework that could include all of this as sociology to think about how has sociology grown and really thrived by embracing the plurality of positions we take on our different, research and why it's morally worthwhile. Sam and I are really interested in understanding how debates over what's like morally okay to research,
00:01:39 - So, we focused on five topics that have historically caused a lot of disagreement. the study of religion, race nationalism, gender and, reproduction. And within each area, we analyzed historically the different types of, frameworks researchers used when they were, justifying or critiquing or defending different ideas about why is this, research morally okay.
00:02:12 - can and should pursue? Through this historical research, we identified seven common, frames or what we call repertoires, that sociologists have drawn on when talking about proper research. So, for example, this research helps promote equality. This research helps, give voice to marginalized communities. This research addresses common concerns, that members of the public have and, and so on and so forth.
00:02:42 - how discussions have played out within each topic. how disagreements started, how scholars responded to criticism of their work, how they balanced, you know, wanting to do research, but also being, sensitive to the moral, complexities. and ultimately what we, what we were looking for is how the fields change over time because of disagreement about what's, what's moral to research, therein,

Debating Secularization and Religious Revival

00:03:14 - in these different subfield, can shed light on how controversy can drive actually like new theories and innovations and move scholarly fields forward in, productive ways. I'll talk to you a little bit about, one of the central concerns that brought me to sociology was this question of secularization. So secularization is the idea that religion is declining. sociologists since Marx and Weber have argued that, religion is doomed to die,
00:03:45 - and of course, we pick up this picture, we pick up this story somewhere in the mid 20th century when there is this massive wave of religious revival and religious innovation, that begins with kind of the new religious movements in the 1960s and, and the, the flower power generation, but then evolves very quickly into, the kind of contemporary forms of evangelicalism and the religious revivals on the right that we also see still in our politics today.
00:04:13 - how scholars view this transformation, right? there is this growing realization that there's this disconnect between what the scholars are saying that religion is going away and what is actually happening, right? That religion actually appears to be flowering. and so we track how three different groups of people thought about this as scholars thought about this with different moral repertoires. So the first group we, we talk about are, rational choice scholars. They really embrace this idea that part of the reason there's such a religious revival is,
00:04:47 - So they point to America, certain changes in the law around religion in America in the 1960s, 1950s, and the early 20th century, that allow religious innovation and change to flourish. And they say secularization doesn't go away. It it just related to how much law, you put around religion. And, and obviously they argue for more and more religious freedom. They are met by a group of comparative historical sociologists, who argue that we can't just generalize from America. So they look at different regimes of religious freedom
00:05:21 - and really emphasize that, while certainly the secularization theory of yesterday, that religion is just going away, isn't here to stay. We can't just say everything should look like America in terms of religion, and that's the way forward. We should do comparative historical work to determine what is and isn't, a worthwhile way of thinking about religion. Shy and I sort of entered graduate school. There's kind of one or the other, which led to a kind of third, maneuver, which we kind of, we, we describe
00:05:51 - So in our generation of sociologist religion, there are lots of people who started saying, well, I'm not really interested in if secularization is real or if it's here to stay, or if religion's doomed. All these questions, you know, there's kind of no real answer there. We should turn instead to trying to understand people's religion in their own terms. In a very famous passage, we quote, Fen Yang, one of the, the leaders in the sociology of religion at a presidential lead, at a, a conference,

Debates on Religion and Nationalism in Sociology

00:06:21 - how could you define or defend getting a job if you can't even explain what religion is? Because you're so caught up in these other debates about secularity and secularization. And so by tracing these three responses, we sort of show how do people respond to not only the fact that, sociologists may have been wrong about something, but also that, that that error comes with certain moral questions and moral preoccupations. So Sam, Sam came into grad school
00:06:51 - I was actually interested in nationalism and, nations. so, accordingly, that's, that's also a second, case that we look at where, it, this, this is an area that has had a longstanding controversy over whether, the world is still composed out of, separate nation states, or are we, have we moved on beyond that to, to an era where we are actually living in a global society,
00:07:25 - and talk about, that the world order. and, and in the late 20th century, some thinkers started arguing that, continuing to talk about nation states, in this, you know, area, era of, globalization and, social and political change, is actually harmful, that it's actually an endorsement of, you know, a a a political order that's regressive,
00:07:56 - violent occasionally. and the argument was that instead, sociology and that social sciences in general should shift toward, like a cosmopolitan view, that looked past national boundaries and really focused on, a global society. now this caused tension for researchers who, who actually had research on phenomena like immigrations or national politics or,
00:08:28 - which, you know, in one way or another we're still around. and what we can trace in the chapter is the way that, to keep studying these areas, sociologists had to find new ways to frame their work, is contributing to the greater good, while also acknowledging that times of change and that there are moral problematics around these, around res con conducting research this way.
00:09:00 - community and tradition that's, enshrined in, in nations, kind of showing how historically, nations provided, important markers of, collective identity empowerment for certain, populations. other scholars emphasize the value of, kind of remaining objective in our science and, kind of understanding nationalism itself as a phenomenon without necessarily saying if it's good

Embracing Pluralism in Sociological Research

00:09:33 - and you know, in the chapter we also trace how ironically cosmopolitan thinkers also faced challenges eventually when, you know, states and, nationalism seemed to persist in reality. So debates also emerge around whether cosmopolitan scholars were too disconnected from, most people's actual experience. so in short, what we sh what we show,
00:10:01 - and in, the religion case, is that we see how moral controversy shaped not just what gets studies, but also how researchers justify, their work. And even like when there is a controversy, new ideas can emerge as scholars, you know, find ways to keep engaging with the issues, that are, that are being questioned or being criticized. And these dynamics are really important for understanding change, in a field over time.
00:10:36 - appreciation for, moral pluralism, both in sociology, but also, more broadly in the social sciences. and what we mean by that is that, recognizing that there isn't just one, right way for researchers to think about ethics and the public good, that, there's scholarly work might, bring about, that different scholars will have valid, but competing perspectives on those questions.
00:11:09 - of viewpoints is actually a strength and not, not a weakness because, you know, often we, you know, we, we, we naturally think about disagreement as something negative, right? It's something that holds a field back, that holds academia back. but as the, the various examples that we cover in the book show, having alternate positions can also push new ideas forward, and, help think about new research methods,
00:11:43 - for new empirical findings. So challenges researchers to think more, critically and find innovative, either middle grounds or, alternate bouts for research, which end up contributing to the growth of, of their field. so we want, so we want readers to recognize pluralism as a strength. and to see disagreement really is a normal and possibly even necessary,
00:12:31 - and, you know, to understand sociology's role in navigating difficult issues, that it stems sparkly from its willingness to actually thoughtfully consider multiple perspectives on, on morality and on, on, you know, what's, what is good research.

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