I've seen hires across the board in social sciences, to be honest. They could do with some more critical theorists in some fields. Some of the stuff is surprisingly practical in its implications; what gets dunked on social media is the stupidest version (as one expects).
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I spent enough time two good history depts to get familiar with the non-Twitter version of critical theory, & in fact am now revisiting it in the evenings. I think the point of critical theory is to produce more criticism. They don't build things. They problematize.
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History scholars produce incredible work that's super practical and enormously time-consuming. Honestly, I feel like I'm cheating every-time I read their work. Policy, tech, business... Those are different things.
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I trained to be a historian of early Christianity. If you tried to produce something practical, you were looked down on. It was considered gauche & career death to try to connect w/ current events. The more obscure & pointless the work, the better your odds of winning with it.
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Replying to @jonst0kes @zeynep and
This was true for the entire Society of Biblical Literature, as well as the closely related American Academy of Religions guild. There were no rewards for "popularizers" & people who wanted to play the public intellectual. That way lie career suicide.
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YEP! Totally can see that happening rather than Antonio's suggestion, that it's a bunch of commenters holding court over society. It's a very very different incentive structure. That said, the skill-set and knowledge has super practical implications despite the career incentives.
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I always felt like library sciences were the best kept academic secret, in terms of practical stuff that could and totally should be used at Google and other places that deal with large volumes of cultural output.
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I'm currently at such a school (Library and Information Science School). Yep, our graduates work in the industry all the time. Honestly, Antonio's academy description a bit like the way Bret Stephens thinks Oberlin is representative of US undergrads.
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If you think I have thin-skin about academia being criticized. I'll just laugh and drop that, because I would actually like academia criticized *properly*, which I do all the time. And I will also just shrug at the idea that "outsiders" don't understand stuff. Neither is serious.
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