Perspectives on Sex Work: A Past Paper
As promised ages ago, here’s a paper on the topic of conflicting perspectives on sex work that I wrote for Teela Sanders’ course on Globalization and the Sex Trade at Leeds. Looking back, it’s probably a bit trite and glosses over some of the subtleties of the topic, so that might have contributed to my rejection from a variety of schools (this was my writing sample).
Legend of Merton III: Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
1. Yes, that’s Robert Merton firing lasers out of his spectacles.
2. Yes, this image is designed to appeal to that narrow segment of the population who is both familiar with the conventions of electronic role-playing games and mid-20th century sociological theory.
3. No, I don’t really buy into Merton’s theory of deviance.
4. Yes, I once wanted to be an artist. Looks like I made the right choice!
Kicked in the Head by Contingency
It may be that the best response to an unpredictable environment is to vary one’s actions and put out as much variety as possible until something “clicks”. That said, I feel somewhat foolish about having spent so much money on applications to grad schools recently. Speed of rejection seems to correlate fairly well with “quality” of school, with Harvard, UCLA, Stanford, Wisconsin and Berkeley all firing off “thanks, but no thanks” letters pretty quickly.
Right now, I’m in some kind of strange limbo — having gained acceptance to an MA program at the school I’m at now, and still waiting to hear on a few other places I’d rather go (if only they’d pay me — thanks a lot, Washington). No doubt I’ve been placed on waiting lists, meaning that I’m waiting to see if the first-choice people decline their offers, at which point the schools have to look for someone else.
Needless to say all this makes putting forth a good effort in one’s last month of one’s last year of one’s degree somewhat difficult. The hardest thing is that This Does Not Fit The Pattern. History has not taught me to fail well.
Perhaps if I’d created a hierarchical linear model predicting of my chances of getting in, I’d be less disappointed.
Equilibrium Decadence and the Failure of Macroeconomics
Justin Wolfers posts over at Freakonomics about a new study which calls out macroeconomists on their adherence to models which may not be very predictive at all. As a professor of mine noted, sociologists are dealing with the exact same issue, but since economists are held in much higher esteem, they have a lot further to fall.
My feeling is that the financial crisis has inspired a lot of popular rage against macroeconomists, but whether this will contribute to any substantial rethinking of the discipline or simply be dismissed as the raving of an uninformed public remains to be seen. Wolfers seems cautiously optimistic, holding that salvation rests in the refinement of current techniques.
Of course, I’m not an economist, but I’m not convinced that equilibrium models and assumptions of rationality are working so well these days. Perhaps these assumptions will be revised in the wake of this crisis, perhaps not. Sociology does not have a similar “opportunity” to fail, so it will likely be harder to shake out of its sleepwalking.
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