I met some of the students (dare I say "survivors") of one of Dines's classes. They all said that they heard her class was "easy" because all they had to do was regurgitate her rhetoric. That's exactly what they did, and sure enough, they all passed easily ... even though they didn't believe what she was preaching. That's probably the biggest joke on her!
The fact that Dines can hold down a professorship, despite being of apparently limited intellect, is one of the things that raises alarm bells about the social sciences
Jerry, I ran your comment by a friend of mine, who studied sociology in the 1980s & still keeps up with it. His thoughts:
"Social sciences have always changed in generational waves, as one generation of students and professors follows a particular individual's 'grand theory,' often with disciplines dividing along lines of competing theories, and periods where there is a 'truce' between theoretical camps (the most famous being the Pax Wisconsana of my time which emphasized empirical examination of mid-level theories). We're currently in a phase where a new 'grand theory' is being proposed, a hodgepodge of past ideologies and beliefs found in the postmodernist/post-structuralist Left. Likely we'll see a shift back to a more empirical approach, perhaps drawing from new insights in psychology about the need for individuals to control their surroundings, and the complex interactions which result from this premise.
"The real problem, however, is the practice of academic tenure, especially in American universities. While this was intended to protect academic freedom, in many cases it has fostered the opposite, since tenure is typically gained by conformity to the views of those who already have tenure, and as one generation of academics is supplanted by another, so the discipline is altered either to follow one approach or to become divided along two or more theoretical lines -- in effect, tenure leading to an intellectual version of social Darwinism.
"While Dines is known as a sociologist, she has not taught strictly in that area, and has principally taught under the auspices of Wheelock's women's studies and American studies department. She began teaching when the Pax Wisconsana period was beginning to be supplanted by the current theoretical/ideological climate, and she has clearly rode that wave. However, I'm sure that her second-wave 'radical feminist' views would have eventually faced opposition from those embracing the current weltanshaung, hence her formal retirement from teaching a few years ago."
I met some of the students (dare I say "survivors") of one of Dines's classes. They all said that they heard her class was "easy" because all they had to do was regurgitate her rhetoric. That's exactly what they did, and sure enough, they all passed easily ... even though they didn't believe what she was preaching. That's probably the biggest joke on her!
The fact that Dines can hold down a professorship, despite being of apparently limited intellect, is one of the things that raises alarm bells about the social sciences
Jerry, I ran your comment by a friend of mine, who studied sociology in the 1980s & still keeps up with it. His thoughts:
"Social sciences have always changed in generational waves, as one generation of students and professors follows a particular individual's 'grand theory,' often with disciplines dividing along lines of competing theories, and periods where there is a 'truce' between theoretical camps (the most famous being the Pax Wisconsana of my time which emphasized empirical examination of mid-level theories). We're currently in a phase where a new 'grand theory' is being proposed, a hodgepodge of past ideologies and beliefs found in the postmodernist/post-structuralist Left. Likely we'll see a shift back to a more empirical approach, perhaps drawing from new insights in psychology about the need for individuals to control their surroundings, and the complex interactions which result from this premise.
"The real problem, however, is the practice of academic tenure, especially in American universities. While this was intended to protect academic freedom, in many cases it has fostered the opposite, since tenure is typically gained by conformity to the views of those who already have tenure, and as one generation of academics is supplanted by another, so the discipline is altered either to follow one approach or to become divided along two or more theoretical lines -- in effect, tenure leading to an intellectual version of social Darwinism.
"While Dines is known as a sociologist, she has not taught strictly in that area, and has principally taught under the auspices of Wheelock's women's studies and American studies department. She began teaching when the Pax Wisconsana period was beginning to be supplanted by the current theoretical/ideological climate, and she has clearly rode that wave. However, I'm sure that her second-wave 'radical feminist' views would have eventually faced opposition from those embracing the current weltanshaung, hence her formal retirement from teaching a few years ago."