37 consejos para estudiantes de sociologa

Hace un tiempo puse un post, titulado "Consejos para estudiantes de ciencia poltica":
http://martintanaka.blogspot.com/2006/12/consejos-para-estudiantes-de-ciencia.html
Siguiendo con esta lnea, esta vez presento consejos para socilogos jvenes, vlidos
para estudiantes de ciencias sociales en general (y a todos, en realidad). Los consejos
los da el socilogo Gary Marx. Su pgina web es interesantsima.
Of Methods and Manners for Aspiring Sociologists: 37 Moral Imperatives
In: The American Sociologist, Feb.-March 1997
Gary T. Marx
The careers and lives that shape the work we do as sociologists are rarely discussed in
the classroom or in our writing. When they are, we need to realize that sociological lives
may be entangled with sociological lies and as Freud noted biographies may lead to
"lying, to concealment, to flummery" (Bettelheim 1990). But such complexity aside,
most of our scholarly communication appropriately emphasizes the dispassionate
pursuit and reporting of ideas. We are professionally predisposed to be suspicious of the
personal when it seeps onto the formal pages of a journal article or book.
There are of course good reasons for this. But I think that in our training of graduate
students and mentoring of those starting out we need to give greater attention to making
explicit the insights and wisdom that we pass on informally. In general I find the image
of the profession presented to our students to be unduly timid, antiseptic, laundered,
formal and scholastic. It does not adequately prepare them for the worlds they will enter.
One can know a lot about the theory and history of bicycles and about famous bike
riders without being able to actually ride a bike. The situation for aspiring sociologists is
often parallel. As a popular 1950s song admonished "you gotta know the tricks of the
trade".
It is imperative for us as teachers and mentors to discuss the more personal and
professional sides of the discipline, even as we encourage students to find their own
answers. It is important to see the bigger picture, to locate ourselves within it, to reflect
on why and how we do our work and on what gives meaning to our lives. A little
anticpatory socialization might prevent many a mid-life crisis. To that end I offer the 37
moral imperatives shown in Table 1. The imperative tone is stylistic and jocular. [2] I
make few claims to empirical or moral universals. These are ideas that have worked for
me and in which I strongly believe. Each begins with the implicit qualification "in my
opinion...."
Table Of Contents

Develop the habits of critical thought, evaluation and observation

Write with clarity, logic and vigor
Write everywhere, all the time, on everything
Have a fresh argument
Write books don't read them
Take short cuts
Learn how to be an effective public speaker
Don't be scriptocentric
Disaggregate and aggregate
Be wary of sociologists bearing over-broad generalizations
Be wary of "Jack Webb-Badge 714 'Just the fact ma'am'" sociologists
Avoid the dangers that can arise from rigidly taking sides in doctrinal debates over
theory and method
Diversify. don't stay a specialist in one area too long
Be
problem
and
interdisciplinary
as
well
as
discipline
focused
Be wary of sociologists denying the desirability and possibility of scientific approaches
to understanding society
Treasure and develop the unique position of sociology as both a scientific and
humanistic undertaking and should you choose not to straddle the fence, be tolerant of
those sitting elsewhere
Know what the questions are
Be bold. Take risks!
Cultivate marginality
Have short and long range plans and goals
Life and sociology are about unfinished business and process
Create real and virtual communities
Actively look for mentors and role models, as well as anti-role models
Seek out those who are more knowledgeable, clever and/or successful than you are
Learn to "meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two imposters just the same"
Don't be selfish! give of your time and your thoughts to others
Be proud to be an academic
Tell it like it is. Speak truth to power and others
Believe in the sociology of knowledge and use it responsibly for insights
Learn to deftly walk back and forth between the point of view of the actor and the
observer
Know the difference between a scholar and a fundamentalist
Avoid the exclusionary notion that you must belong to a group in order to study it and
that individuals have some special obligation to study groups they belong to
Don't join the thought-police or spend undue amount of time looking for any possible
evidence of racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, or ageism on the part of your peers
Be aware when you are operating as a scientist and trying to be value-free and when you
are a more explicit political actor
Have fun! Enjoy what you do!
Have a sense of humor!

Keep the faith!...Know that both principles and ideas matter and that the indivudal can
make a difference. Believe that knowledge is better than ignorance, that knowledge is
possible, and that empirical and scientific knowlege about human and social conditions
can result in the improvement of those conditions
El texto completo en:
http://web.mit.edu/gtmarx/www/37moral.html