Not meant personally, but the use of the word "critical" by a subset of scholars always bothers me as leading to unconscious smugness? If I'm "critical", your lot isn't? Who, except flacks and twerps, isn't critical? Can we criticize the criticalists? Barry Wellman _______________________________________________________________________ S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC NetLab Director Department of Sociology 725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388 University of Toronto Toronto Canada M5S 2J4 twitter:barrywellman http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman fax:+1-416-978-3963 Updating history: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php _______________________________________________________________________

S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC               NetLab Director
Department of Sociology                  725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388
University of Toronto   Toronto Canada M5S 2J4   twitter:barrywellman
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman             fax:+1-416-978-3963
Updating history:      http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php

Dear Barry Wellman, Thank you for the criticism. I suppose that your response is in reaction to the CfP for the special issue "CfP: Marx is Back - The Importance of Marxist Theory and Research for Critical Communication Studies Today", edited by Vince Mosco and me. And yes, you are right, by this title we also want to express that not all Media/Communication studies/scholars and not all Internet studies/scholars are critical. But I think you have a point that it is important and quite interesting to discuss what it means to be "critical". This is of course an old question, one can go back to Lazarsfeld's distinction and it is fruitful to engage with the discussion in the Positivism Dispute in German Sociology, the arguments of Popper/Albers and Adorno/Habermas. One can also note that in the discussions about public sociology, MIchael Burawoy made points on how he thinks one should use the terms critical sociology and public sociology in a specific way. So this is an interesting topic. The thing is that nobody wants to be called critical and that the notion of being "critical" appeals therefore to most people. At the same time, the notion has a specific history linked to Marxism. My personal guess is that in a discourse about what "Critical Internet Studies" is all about, you would in relation to the notion of "critique" employed be Popper and I Adorno. Best, Christian > Not meant personally, but the use of the word "critical" by a subset of > scholars always bothers me as leading to unconscious smugness? If I'm > "critical", your lot isn't? Who, except flacks and twerps, isn't critical? > Can we criticize the criticalists? > > Barry Wellman > _______________________________________________________________________ > > S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC NetLab Director > Department of Sociology 725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388 > University of Toronto Toronto Canada M5S 2J4 twitter:barrywellman > http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman fax:+1-416-978-3963 > Updating history: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php > _______________________________________________________________________ > > > _______________________________________________ > CITASA mailing list > CITASA@list.citasa.org > http://list.citasa.org/mailman/listinfo/citasa_list.citasa.org >

I'll bite. If we are using the phrase "critical theory" in the sense that Horkheimer originally meant it in his essay "Traditional and Critical Theory," then there is probably very little critical theory going on in sociology today (at least not on this continent). Critical theory's goal of undermining present, unjust social relations (most notably capitalism) and the totalizing ideologies that sustain them is probably structurally incompatible with our discipline's norms of evaluation, which elevate government grants above all else. In short, critical theory asks sociologist to bite the hand that feeds them. Few oblige. ~PJ PJ Rey Department of Sociology University of Maryland @pjrey www.pjrey.net 2112 Art-Sociology Building University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742 On Sun, Sep 18, 2011 at 12:34 PM, Barry Wellman <wellman@chass.utoronto.ca> wrote: > Not meant personally, but the use of the word "critical" by a subset of > scholars always bothers me as leading to unconscious smugness? If I'm > "critical", your lot isn't? Who, except flacks and twerps, isn't critical? > Can we criticize the criticalists? > >  Barry Wellman >  _______________________________________________________________________ > >  S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC               NetLab Director >  Department of Sociology                  725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388 >  University of Toronto   Toronto Canada M5S 2J4   twitter:barrywellman >  http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman             fax:+1-416-978-3963 >  Updating history:      http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php >  _______________________________________________________________________ > > > _______________________________________________ > CITASA mailing list > CITASA@list.citasa.org > http://list.citasa.org/mailman/listinfo/citasa_list.citasa.org >