Suchergebnisse

"Society and democracy are ever threatened by the fall of fact. Rigorous analysis of facts, the hard boundary between truth and opinion, and fidelity to reputable sources of factual information are all in alarming decline. A 2018 report published by the RAND Corporation lay the challenge of fixing this "truth decay" at the door of the academy, but, as Andrew J. Hoffman points out, academia is prevented from carrying this out due to its own existential crisis--a crisis of relevance. Scholarship rarely moves very far beyond the walls of the academy, and is certainly not accessing the primarily civic spaces it needs to be in in order to mitigate truth corruption. In this brief but compelling book, Hoffman draws upon existing literature and personal experience to bring attention to the problematic of academic insularity--where it comes from and where, if left to grow unchecked, it will go--and argues for the emergence of a more publicly and politically engaged scholar. This book is a call to make that path toward public engagement more acceptable and legitimate for those who do; to enlarge the tent to be inclusive of multiple ways that one enacts the role of academic scholar in today's world"--

Rather thanpointers to improve the dialogue about this pressing issue in hopes of finding common ground. attributing fault lines in the climate debate to rival scientific theories, this brief argues that the public is split by opposing cultural views through which science is interpreted. After considering how the media, social norms, and psychological factors cause us to accept or reject climate change, Andrew J. Hoffman provides.

American universities are facing a crisis of relevance. While there are multiple reasons for this to be happening, one that deserves particular attention is the extent to which academic scholars do not see it as their role to engage in public and political discourse. However, increased engagement is unavoidable in an emerging educational context where the caliber of public discourse has become so degraded and social media is changing the nature of science and scientific discourse within society. Further, there is a demographic shift in play, where young scholars are seeking more impact from their work than their more senior colleagues. In this article, I begin the process of articulating what we know and what we don't know about the evolving role of the engaged scholar by breaking the conversation into two parts. First, why should academic scholars engage in public and political discourse? Second, how can we structure a set of ground rules that could form what might be considered a handbook for public engagement? In the end, this paper is about a reexamination of how we practice our craft, to what purpose and to which audiences.