WHEN THOSE IN POWER DON’T WANT YOU TO LEARN A TOPIC

That’s Exactly the Topic You Should Be Studying!

I taught Principles of Sociology as an adjunct at a Florida state university and a state college for fifteen years. I loved it.

My classes consisted of future police officers and EMTs, nurses, psychologists, counselors, and social workers, and in the opening years, future teachers. Principles of Sociology was required or was at the very least one of the social science options for most of these majors.

I surveyed my students in the beginning and the end of every semester to gage where they were, determine what they needed, and then evaluate how well I met their needs. The overwhelming majority of students had no idea what sociology was, let alone why it was a required course in their particular field of study. Why does a future cop need to know Cultural Capital Theory? What is a nurse going to do with an understanding of structural functionalism, or dialectical materialism?

My first task lay in convincing them that they were in my class for a reason.

I explained that they live in a society. That there really is no alternative to people living in a society. Every individual in the world had to learn how to navigate the social world, understand its nuances, analyze the parameters in which society functions. Therefore, every individual in the world, whether they wanted to or not, whether they were in my class or not, were sociologists. The only difference, then, was in how much they knew what they were doing.

The fact is that every level of society, from the exo-global scale, to the micro-interactions we have in the grocery line, plays its part in shaping who we are. Furthermore, every level of society is a convergence of historical, structural, and interactive forces pushing and pulling every individual in what I refer to as a complex social matrix. Everything every individual does, says, thinks, and feels, everything they know about others and everything they know about themselves is shaped by this social matrix. It is, therefore, incumbent upon all of us to submit everyday life to analysis. Sociology is the systematic and scientific examination of the everyday.

Those individuals who will be professionally involved in responding to and shaping the futures of other people within this social matrix have an even greater burden to understand the larger social forces that impact human behavior. This is especially true for police officers and nurses who are often dealing with people at their worst moments, counselors and social workers who must help people realign their places within their social worlds. Educators teach young people how to thrive within the social world. These are huge tasks, often under tremendous strain. A background knowledge of sociology can be central in helping students become more competent professionals as well as more well-rounded individuals.

That’s why they are taking Principles of Sociology.

I then provide a trigger warning. I inform my students that I will, at some point in the semester, piss them off. I will depress them. I will enrage them. I explain that every single person in that room, myself included, has come through the door carrying their own preconceived notions. I then cupped my hands and started petting a little, invisible, animal representing these preconcieved notions…like a little bunny. I go on to explain that we all have and love these preconceived notions. They are warm and fuzzy and make us feel happy and comfortable.

I then dramatically slap my hands together…WHAP!

My more visually imaginative students jump and sometimes yelp.

It never gets old!

I explained that I would endeavor to kill all their fuzzy warm preconceived notions and replace them with cold, prickly facts. In the process, we’ll learn a little more about what it means to be human. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll develop a greater respect for our shared humanity.

Because our lives are not our own. Our lives are intertwined. When that police officer pulls over a car, there are countless social and historical variables at play, and it is the police officer, propped up by state power, who is responsible for making that interaction go smoothly no matter who is behind the wheel, and no matter the circumstance. Almost every time, that interaction goes off without a hitch…almost. When it doesn’t, how the officer responds could be a matter of life and death.

Another important element of sociology is in providing an analysis of power. Sociologists examine larger power relations and how they impose themselves on populations. Sociologists also analyze the role of less powerful individuals in reproducing and performing the functions of larger power systems. Police officers, nurses, teachers, counselors do the work of power. They can do this work in constructive or destructive ways. A police officer’s badge is a symbol of the state that vouches the wearer with almost supernatural power. It’s important to understand how power imbues our relationships with others…and how that power can corrupt us.

Sociology is serious business. And it’s hard. The student who takes it seriously, whether they choose to be a sociologist or not, will have a richer understanding of the world she inhabits, the myriad forces shaping that world, and their interactions within it. They will also develop a deeper empathy for those with whom they share the world and a more critical understanding of the relationship between the powerful and the comparably powerless.

Sociology is that freakin’ cool!

So, it should come as no surprise that aspiring autocrats, like those here in Florida, should want to destroy sociology. The most recent rule change in Florida removing sociology from a list of core classes that can be used to satisfy general education requirements is just the opening salvo in this war.

As it stands, social science and humanities courses are already threatened as students are encouraged to forgo such studies in favor of more lucrative courses that can help them pay back their student loans upon graduation. Topics like sociology, without corresponding high school classes, are further threatened because students are not even aware that they exist as fields of study. In many cases, that Introduction course taken as an undergraduate is the first exposure many students have to sociology as a field of study. I know that was true in my case.

Losing sociology as a core class means smaller enrollments, smaller departments, budget cuts and, ultimately, closure of the department.

And that would suit the ignorance mongers just fine.

The DeSantis administration tries to justify its decision to promote ignorance by claiming that they are trying to improve civic literacy. According to Manny Diaz, the Florida Commissioner of Education, “The revision I’m suggesting would reduce the number of social science [Gen Ed] courses to six, with three of those potentially being options to meet the requirement for civic literacy.” This rationale is misdirected at best and disingenuous at worst.

What can be more relevant to civic literacy than a critical analysis of power? Civically engaged students need to understand power beyond the mere “separation of powers” and “checks and balances” taught in survey history courses. Students benefit from understanding how power is exercised in the real world, not just in the creation of policy in the halls of government, or the corporate boardrooms. Sociology breaks past the facade of power to reveal its inner workings, its subtle mechanisms that go beyond motivating our actions to even shaping our very thoughts.

A critical examination of power, however, is a dangerous weapon from the point of view of would-be authocrats. Guns can be tolerated. They are no threat to power, so long as they are in the hands of the ignorant or the converted. Critical knowledge, however, must be banned, must be exterminated. Courses that encourage people to think, to question, to willingly abandon their most cherished beliefs in service to the truth, cannot be tolerated in the Free State!

The surveys I give at the end of the year indicate that I was largely successful in my endeavors. Students who had never heard of sociology were thankful for the perspectives that I introduced, for challenging their proconceived notions and offering a number of alternative frames by which they could relate to others. Future police officers felt that they benefited from understanding the social forces and interactions that shape young men on the streets. Teachers discovered ways to relate to their most problematic students. Nurses felt better prepared to deal with the nuances associated with the sick role and how it conflicts with cultural standards of masculinity…and so on and so forth.

Removing sociology as an option for such students, or as an option that students have to search out, can only result in weaker professionals, many of whom are in a position to shape or misshape the lives and futures of others. It’s true that sociology teaches us that racism is structural and cultural (illegal in Florida) and that gender is a social construct (illegal in Florida). We teach these things because they have the inconvenient quality of being true…even in the Free State of Florida.

Therefor, as far as the DeSantis political machine is concerned, sociology has to go. Making it more obscure to college students is just the opening shots in the war against Dangerous Knowledge. Soon, sociology will be illegal. They’ll use the excuse of declining enrollments to remove the course completely. Then they’ll move on to other forms of dangerous knowledge. Anthropology will be next. The arts and humanities are certainly on the block because…well, you know…naked people!

It is clear through his actions that DeSantis’s goal is to make the Free State of Florida the most ignorant state in the union. Remember, tyranny thrives in ignorance.