Post #2

              For this week’s post, we looked at a variety of articles from different sociologists. Each of these articles pointed out how sociology is very underrepresented. Collins’ article pointed out mainly how sociologists are forgotten in society when it comes to new ideas. She expresses her frustration of not being able to use what she knows and what she has learned to help the rest of society as much as she should. Patterson went in a similar direction in his post by saying, if sociologists had been referred to when making new plans and programs, they could have worked a lot better. In Fabio Rojas’ article, he says that a cause for sociologists being forgotten is because we are too busy trying to learn how to do research instead of using that knowledge to make changes. He expands on his statement by saying academics and activism need to go more hand-in-hand as opposed to go to school first, then act. Karen Sternheimer also pointed out that sociology isn’t opinion based. I think that this is a huge misconception in society that it’s just “what we think”. She tells of her experiences as a sociologist that has been reached out to for some of the wrong topics. I found it funny how she said that in an interview, the interviewer said “you haven’t answered my question yet” because Karen hadn’t done research in that topic. It was better for her to not answer than to make something up, which I found very important. I think that my favorite journal was by Nathan Jurgenson. He proposed ways that sociology could come into the light of the public and how to get more people interested in it. All while saving money and gaining access to more information. I think that they all agree on the fact that sociology is misunderstood and they want to use their degrees in their field useful to the world.

                Making sociology more public is a main goal of most sociologists. How we do so is still a difficult question or task. Jurgenson gave the two main ideas of accessibility by availability and accessibility by design. I think that these two approaches are the easiest to accomplish first. Gaining access to all journals is a main key because then we can continue to expand our research in ways others might not have thought about doing before. The design of the journals, while very informational already, is lacking visual appeal. As a college student that grew up in the age of technology, I understand completely that just looking at a journal is nauseating sometimes. This is where new forms of media are very useful. Writing research on the form of tweets, posts, or blogs just like this one are a lot easier on the eyes and can be easier to understand. I think that C. Wright Mills would be impressed with all of these articles and the opinions stated in each. In terms of what he would say to the questions I was given, I feel as though he would be the one to ask them. It’s our job, just like it is for any other concentration, to expand our knowledge and expertise to the public and make more people aware of the world they are living in.

                Being the type of person that will talk to everyone I come into contact with, I think that some of the best ways to feed people information is to just talk about it. Giving examples of sociology and putting it into terms that everyone understands is an effective way of learning. Also, relating it to the person you are talking to and making it known that they are experiencing sociology all of the time makes people interested. Keeping it simplified while still being knowledgeable is my main goal when I talk to others about sociology.