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Political Ideology in Social Problems Courses

Winter 2001
Author: Myles J. Kelleher
Source: The American Sociologist

"Political Ideology in Social Problems Courses" (pages 78-81) is found within the following article:

Kelleher, Myles J. Winter 2001. "The Professional Ideology of Social Pathologists Transformed: The New Political Orthodoxy in Sociology," The American Sociologist, Volume 32, Number 4, 70-88.

NoIndoctrination.org was denied reprint permission by Transaction Publishers (www.transactionpub.com), the publisher of The American Sociologist. Those who would like to read this article can locate this journal in many college and university libraries.

The author of this article reviewed a sample of 30 social problems textbooks used in college courses "...and examined their coverage of economic issues as a rough litmus test for political slant in student reading assignments. Judging by the results, it is clear that students of social problems are consistently presented with a bleak view of the free market (a term rarely used without derision in the texts), with the most frequent vitriol reserved for corporations." (p. 78)

The author also discusses the ASA resource manual (course syllabi, assignments, and exercises) for teaching social problems in higher education, and how political ideology is brought into the classroom.

"Given these deficiencies in textbooks, a great many students are likely to emerge from these courses unprepared to think critically and participate intelligently in public debates on social problems." (p. 81)

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