Why Epistemic Believing Makes Us Better (Public) Sociologists

Abstract

I make parallel claims about the potential for “believing” as a methodological and political practice: it is a skill that can link the academic and political, and it is crucial for public sociology. Drawing on my experience of simultaneously being a sitting state senator and a university professor, I argue that while professional sociology is premised on and starts with skepticism, doubt, and criticism, public engagement as sociologists must, to a greater extent, be premised on reception and welcome of ideas. We need prosocial, courageous frameworks to realize the practical and ethical potential of sociology. Believing can do three things: it can help make our work more robust by exploring more ways of knowing (making us better scholars); it can help us create more and better connections with others doing such work (making us better organizers); and can help our social systems be more responsive and adaptive (it gives us better institutions). I outline how I see this happening.