Howard Becker’s 1967 ‘Whose Side Are We On?’ is one of the most famous papers in Sociology – a staple reading for generations of undergraduates, and still the subject of argument between academic sociologists about what Becker actually meant. Yet I have just discovered (thanks to Alistair Leitch at Oxford) a later 1973 paper by Becker that I think should be much more famous, for it considers the broader relationship between radical social science and radical politics, and poses more difficult questions for engaged social scientists in twenty-first century Britain. I can’t recommend reading the full paper highly enough, but in this post I want to dwell on one question it raises: is seeking the truth about the social world an inherently conservative enterprise? Continue reading
- Inequalities is a biweekly blog by Ben Baumberg Geiger (and formerly also edited by Rob de Vries and Brendan Saloner) about inequalities-related research in the UK, US and beyond. The blog was originally a collaborative blog (we explain the change here), so from 2010 to 2014 there's also a collection of great posts by a series of other contributors. If you want to stay updated, then see the subscription options in this column further down the page.
-
Latest articles
- On being more like John Hills February 8, 2021 Ben Baumberg Geiger
- Perceptions of poverty levels: a long view August 19, 2019 Guest Blogger
- Is truth-seeking inherently conservative? August 16, 2018 Ben Baumberg Geiger
Latest short posts
Latest comments
- Comment on Half a million people didn’t take-up Universal Credit at the start of COVID-19 – and why this matters by Half a million people didn’t take-up Universal Credit at the start of COVID-19 – and why this matters | sdbast
- Comment on The effects of information about inequality in different countries by Ben Baumberg Geiger
- Comment on The effects of information about inequality in different countries by Megen de la Mer
-
RSS feed
-