After googling for definition insight on the web, I
found:
Definitions of insight on the Web:
* penetration: clear or deep perception of a
situation
* a feeling of understanding
* the clear (and often sudden) understanding of a
complex situation
* grasping the inner nature of things intuitively
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
***********************
With the above understanding (yes, even before
googling), my interest was struck by the header of the
post. Alas, what I found bartered as sociological
insights were largely mundane empirical facts. Where
is the verstehen!?
OK, it is easy to criticize, so let me stick my neck
out and think about some sociological insights. One
of my areas of interest is public schooling, so let's
consider city school districts, quickly and with
little justification for sake of making my point.
Why are urban public school districts failing? Taking
a sociological perspective might have us consider the
consequences of race and class for education. Going
beyond the demographics, what are the consequences of
concentrations of disadvantage within schools.
Joblessness, poverty, single-parent households,
free-time, attitudes toward education. How is
education affected by hunger, the struggle to make a
living wage, etc.
A careful consideration of this situation might lead
us to recognize that the problem is not so much with
the schools, that is, not in their organizational and
curricular arrangements. Rather, the problem is with
the neighborhood and family contexts of many students
who attend these schools. This is, in-turn, driven by
larger social and economic forces.
This, of course, leads to the realization that charter
schools, vouchers, and other forms or public school
marketization will be ineffective in truly changing
the opportunity structures for the least advantaged.
Rather, if there was any investment in urban school
districts left among middle and working class parents,
these programs are likely to lead to its wholesale
abandonment and ultimately the breakdown of such
districts.
We might instead consider interventions that invest in
families and neighborhoods--not in curricula,
administrative reorganizations, and various modes of
privatization. The problem should be attacked at its
sociological roots, severing the connections among
poverty and poor educational performance.
A sociological insight begins with principles of
sociology and goes beyond a description of what is.
All empiricism makes and no reason makes sociology a
dull girl. Sociology does offer the opportunity for
insights, but it must go beyond demographic trends and
into analysis and consequences.
My $.02 or more.
--- Michael Francis Johnston <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> Could you let me know what you consider to be some
> non-trivial sociological
> insights that matter to our students? Ideally,
> these would be results for
> which there is consensus that, yes the evidence
> really does show that this
> is true.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Michael
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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