Dear colleagues
in reading the comments by some colleagues concerning the
initiative of Benoit de L'Estoile I have been astonished to see how
lightly some of us take the distinction between a professional role
and a citizen's role. According to them should as sociologists react
to precisely the same events in precisely the same way as citizens
or individuals. Anything else would be cynicism and blindness.
But this is not so: as a sociologist I would not teach in my course
everything I happen to believe in or be concerned about as a private
person. And I would not like that the European Sociological
Association as a professional association would take a stand in
questions ranging from murdering people "presumed guilty of terrorist
acts, past or future" (Said), suicide bombings, eviction of people from
their houses etc. But when a state acts against a research institute
financed by European countries, then it is legitimate for the ESA to
take a stand. And not only legitimate but necessary.
J P Roos
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J.P.Roos Professor of Social Policy
PB18 00014 The University of Helsinki Finland
Fax +358 9 19124564 Tel +358 9 19124582
Home Page: www.valt.helsinki.fi/staff/jproos/
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