College-educated Americans speak about the economic problems of the working class in terms of trends that can be seen in tables and graphs. Those on the left criticize the federal minimum wage as being too low, while those on the right bemoan the erosion of work incentives. But the people who are experiencing these adverse economic trends express themselves differently, using a moral language that is often rooted in attitudes about work and race.

This was first noted by the sociologist Michèle Lamont in her book “The Dignity of Working Men.” She found that white working-class men often define their self-worth through their ability to lead disciplined, responsible lives...

This was first noted by the sociologist Michèle Lamont...

Obviously, it wasn't. And the premise, the first paragraph, is obscene.

history, and some fun.

I made a few glib comments recently about sociology, talking to a historian of 19th century Germany, and he agreed without caveat.  I've blamed Weber for modern journalism and gotten smiles, a better response now than a few years ago.

The blank naiveté at the core of modern social science has always annoyed me. I've documented it at it's worst but haven't picked it apart.

...the impersonal in art and technocracy, though the product of the same events are very different things.

The passage that sentence appears in makes the point but it's not strong enough.

Arendt hated social science. She's the heir to the humanist tradition in an anti-humanist age, but fighting for it rather than merely acknowledging its fading. And her work has some of the weakness of writing for function.

Scientific American: Who Speaks Up in the Face of Uncivil Behavior?

On the one hand, you might hypothesize that people who are more aggressive or hostile by nature are more likely to openly challenge a stranger. On the other hand, speaking out against injustice could be seen in a more positive light, as an act of maturity. Emerging research supports the latter idea—that people who stand up to incivility have a strong sense of altruism, combined with self-confidence. Understanding what motivates these heroic individuals could lead to more effective ways of curbing everyday immoral behavior.

"Emerging research" confirms common knowledge. Social science research is full of this crap, the product of a refusing to engage fully with a given situation. The passive observer is simply a note-taker, as if note-taking means objectivity. The result in fact is lazy, flabby, passive subjectivity, and a weakened flabby science.

Persuasion persuades

In a peer-reviewed study we published this month, we find op-eds do change minds. After reading opinion pieces, we found people were far more likely to agree with the author’s point of view.