Syllabus as argument in an era of politicized pedagogy

IF 1.8 3区社会学 Q2 SOCIOLOGY

Sociological Forum Pub Date : 2024-07-02 DOI:10.1111/socf.13008

Michael L. Dougherty

{"title":"Syllabus as argument in an era of politicized pedagogy","authors":"Michael L. Dougherty","doi":"10.1111/socf.13008","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The traditional character of higher education in the US is under assault. The broad, intellectual focus on the liberal arts and its concomitant values of academic freedom and academic governance are giving way to an over‐managed vocational institution that prioritizes ambience over integrity and credentialism over citizenship. In this milieu, sociologists should use the classroom as an opportunity to model the explanatory power of the discipline by structuring our syllabi to make a point. I refer to this approach as syllabus‐as‐argument, which I contrast with the traditional organizational logic of syllabus‐as‐survey—configuring a syllabus to provide an overview of a given topic, theme or field. Where the chief criterion of success for the syllabus as survey is comprehensiveness, the syllabus as argument strives for convincingness. I draw from two courses to exemplify this approach. The first is a senior seminar in environmental sociology, which I have reworked into a course explaining the intractability of the climate crisis. The second is a general education course in community sociology that I remade to explain the links between growing inequality and deteriorating democracy in the US.","PeriodicalId":21904,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Forum","volume":"111 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Sociological Forum","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.13008","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"SOCIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

The traditional character of higher education in the US is under assault. The broad, intellectual focus on the liberal arts and its concomitant values of academic freedom and academic governance are giving way to an over‐managed vocational institution that prioritizes ambience over integrity and credentialism over citizenship. In this milieu, sociologists should use the classroom as an opportunity to model the explanatory power of the discipline by structuring our syllabi to make a point. I refer to this approach as syllabus‐as‐argument, which I contrast with the traditional organizational logic of syllabus‐as‐survey—configuring a syllabus to provide an overview of a given topic, theme or field. Where the chief criterion of success for the syllabus as survey is comprehensiveness, the syllabus as argument strives for convincingness. I draw from two courses to exemplify this approach. The first is a senior seminar in environmental sociology, which I have reworked into a course explaining the intractability of the climate crisis. The second is a general education course in community sociology that I remade to explain the links between growing inequality and deteriorating democracy in the US.

查看原文本刊更多论文

政治化教学法时代作为论据的教学大纲

美国高等教育的传统特色正在受到冲击。对文科的广泛关注、对知识的重视以及与之相伴的学术自由和学术管理价值观，正在让位于管理过度的职业教育机构，后者将氛围置于诚信之上，将证书主义置于公民意识之上。在这种环境下，社会学家应该利用课堂这个机会，通过编排我们的教学大纲来表明自己的观点，从而展示本学科的解释力。我将这种方法称为 "教学大纲即论证"（syllabus-as-argument），它与传统的 "教学大纲即调查"（syllabus-as-survey）的组织逻辑形成鲜明对比--后者是将教学大纲配置为对特定主题、专题或领域的概述。调查式教学大纲的主要成功标准是全面性，而论证式教学大纲则力求令人信服。我以两门课程为例说明这种方法。第一门是环境社会学的高级研讨会，我将其改编为一门解释气候危机难以解决的课程。第二门是社区社会学通识教育课程，我将其改编为一门解释美国日益加剧的不平等与不断恶化的民主之间联系的课程。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Sociological Forum SOCIOLOGY-

CiteScore

2.90

自引率

11.10%

发文量

期刊介绍： Sociological Forum is the flagship journal of the Eastern Sociological Society. The journal is peer reviewed and committed to publishing high quality, cutting edge research on substantive issues of fundamental importance to the study of society. The journal"s mission is broad in scope, encompassing empirical works (both quantitative and qualitative in nature), as well as works that develop theories, concepts, and methodological strategies. All areas of sociology and related fields are welcomed in Sociological Forum, as the journal strives to create a site of learning and exchange for scholars and students of the social sciences.