DEFEND YOUR RIGHT TO DANGEROUS KNOWLEDGE
When those in power tell you the stuff that they don’t want you to learn…it’s always a good idea to go out and learn it. If they tell you what books you shouldn’t read, immediately go out and read that book. When they tell you what subjects you shouldn’t bother studying, that’s an indicator that you absolutely should learn those subjects.
Right now the Florida government is telling you what they don’t want you to know about. Specifically, they have declared war on sociology as an academic discipline. They started out by putting gag orders and prohibitions on what they referred to as “divisive concepts”. For the Florida government, divisive concepts are any topics that offer a critical understanding of race, ethnicity, gender, and social inequality. This is an especial problem for sociologists because race, ethnicity, gender and inequality are huge themes in our field. Imagine William Julius Wilson writing The Truly Disadvantaged without reference to race and poverty? How do we even talk about great theorists like W. E. B. Dubois or Judith Butler without engaging in these “divisive concepts.”
Well, the Florida government would rather you not bother. They recognize the contradictions inherent in gagging divisive concepts for academic fields like sociology. Their solution is simple. Don’t study sociology! So, the Florida government has removed sociology from the general course curriculum.
Imagine that.
My guess is that they won’t stop with sociology. Other fields that engage in “divisive concepts” are Women’s Studies, Ethnic Studies, Anthropology, Psychology. Heck, even physics, chemistry and biology might be divisive!
To combat this reactionary tide, the American Sociological Association wants to reach out to sociology students from high school through graduate school to tell their stories about how sociology has inspired them. You may not even be interested in majoring in sociology, but maybe you took a class or read a book that made you think and inspired you in some way. If so, the ASA would like you to share your story on Tik Tok (yes…the government is going after Tik Tok as well!)
Value of Sociology Initiative Link
Here’s the Flyer
Mr. A's Underground Classroom 