My mother always told me that I should never discuss sex, politics, or religion in public because people had strong opinions about these topics and discussing them could only lead to trouble.  Going into the fields of sociology and religious studies, it turns out that my whole life is mostly about discussing sex, politics, and religion.

 

And, yes, Mom was right that people have strong opinions about these topics and that it can lead to trouble.  But if these topics are understood correctly in their academic context, there shouldn't be any trouble at all -- because it's really not our opinions about them that we'll be discussing (not your opinion and not my opinion).

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In order to avoid the problems, the first thing you need to understand is that this is a college course just like any other.  What you're learning about and being graded on is your mastery of basic concepts and methods.  When you take a math class and you are told that 2 + 2 = 4, you need to understand concepts (like the numbers 2 and 4) and methods (like addition and totals).  The same thing applies to this course, too!

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The second thing you should know is that some of what you'll learn about in this course might be sort of mind-blowing.  And really, that's like many other college courses, too!  Take a look at that chair you're sitting on right now.  You think it's a solid chair, but if you take a course in physics you find that it's a bunch of atoms interacting with electromagnetic forces, and within those atoms are a bunch of electrons bouncing around.  That's pretty mind-blowing, right?  So, why doesn't it upset you that much?  It doesn't upset you much because you don't think it affects you personally.  You look at those facts and make a quick judgment that you don't need to know the relationship between energy and matter unless you're dealing with nuclear power, so you just sort of let those mind-blowing facts exist in a safe space where you don't take them too seriously.

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The difference between those mind-blowing facts and the ones you'll learn in the types of courses I teach is that you can't so easily dismiss the information you'll get from my courses.  It's personal.  I teach sociology, religion, and ethics.  These are deeply personal topics -- who you are, what you do, what you believe.  It's bound to evoke strong feelings -- maybe feelings of being threatened, or maybe feelings of immense relief.  Either way, it's something to come to terms with in a strong way.

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Now, that sounds rather scary, so let's go back to the first point.  This course is about learning concepts and methods.  Yes, you're studying deeply personal stuff.  It's YOU under the microscope in this science course -- but it is a science course!  Nobody is just making this stuff up, and it's not about your opinion or mine.  When it's all said and done, you can reach any conclusion you want on any of these topics -- but if you've embraced the concepts and methods you've learned in the course, you'll have an informed conclusion (which is actually something different than an opinion).

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Let's look at what some of these terms mean:

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Opinion - An opinion is a judgment not based on facts or knowledge.  It might feel right to you.  It might appear to make sense of observable things.  In reality, though, it's something that hasn't been tested and maybe can't be tested.  It's not based on facts or knowledge.  (For fun, see how Stephen Colbert's idea of "truthiness" in the video below describes substituting what feels true for what is true.)

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Common Sense - Common sense is related to opinion.  Common sense is the stuff that "everyone knows" -- except that it's also derived from things that haven't been (or can't be) tested.  In cases where common sense is tested, it might turn out to be right or it might to turn out to be wrong.  For instance, common sense tells you that wearing bicycle helmets will decrease the number or severity of head injuries from bike accidents.  When tested, however, this turns out to be untrue.  The number and severity of head injuries actually increases when bicycle helmets are worn.  (The scientist would then want to know why that would be so.  He or she might develop a hypothesis that people wearing helmets take bigger risks than those who don't... and then would have to test that theory.)

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Belief - Belief is also related to opinion.  The word "believe" is actually related to the word "love."  (You can almost see the relationship due to some similar letters in both words.)  In other words, belief is an idea (opinion) that is dearly held by a person.  It's intimate (which is why it's easy to feel attacked when beliefs come into question).  In proper usage, however, belief is best understood when referring to things which can't be tested scientifically -- the Tooth Fairy, reincarnation, or even God.  Maybe these things are true, maybe they aren't -- but science can't prove it one way or the other.  Thus, they remain dearly held opinions.

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Usage note:  now that you know what it means to believe, be extremely cautious about using that word in your papers or presentations.  For instance, don't say, "Emile Durkheim believed in social cohesion."  Why?  Because social cohesion is the phrase that Durkheim coined to describe a phenomenon which he scientifically observed -- namely, that societies stick together as a unit somehow.  He observed data, hypothesized about a cause, and coined a phrase to describe this.  There's no "belief" in it, so be precise in the language you choose!

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Data - Data are the things which can be observed or the "givens."  Data are the raw pieces of information that people need to organize, interpret, and make sense of.  Data may be quantitative things (like the statistics on how many people did this or that) or they may be qualitative.  A single piece of such information is a datum.

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Fact - Facts are things which are provable or indisputable.  Facts may include data (observable givens), historically documented events, etc.

 

Hypothesis - A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for the observed data.  This is different from an opinion because a hypothesis is intended to be tested scientifically to see whether it is true.  Sometimes a hypothesis is about whether there is a relationship between two data or about what causes that relationship.

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Theory - A theory is an overarching conception that tries to draw together and interpret a multitude of data.  A theory is like a particular lens which helps us to focus on a particular part of the data; it is a viewpoint on that information.  In sociology, we recognize that human social life is complex and multifaceted, so a single theory may not account for all of the facts.  The best theories are the ones which account for the most facts, and using the best theories together (sort of like triangulating) will hopefully give us a good picture of what's going on in the human social world.

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Now that you understand these things, hopefully you'll see that college courses like mine -- no matter how personal they might feel to you -- really aren't about opinions at all.  People engage in meaning-making.  We try to make sense of what we observe about life and the human condition.  In sociology, we're trying to scientifically make sense of human social life.  You'll learn about concepts and methods (like in other college courses), not about opinions.  You will learn about different theories that help to make sense of the data.  That's what you're learning and what you'll be graded on -- mastering the sociological material, not your opinions.

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Okay, that covers the sociology courses, but what about the courses in religion and in ethics?  Well, similar things can be said.  These are college courses; they aren't about your opinions.  In ethics, you'll be learning about principles of reasoning.  Let's say you value both A and B, but A and B lead to different and conflicting actions.  A course in ethics helps you reason out why A is more preferable to B in this situation, or B is more preferable than A in another.

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Likewise, religion in practice is a meaning-making activity which many humans engage in, but the class isn't about engaging in religion.  Rather, it's about learning about the ways in which people do so.  You won't be asked to believe in or do any particular thing, but to learn about what people believe or do, why they do so, and what the outcomes are for them.

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I hope you'll see that these courses are never meant to offend anyone.  The subject matter may feel deeply personal, and we humans don't always like to examine ourselves -- but that's what we do in these courses.

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If you ever have any concerns about the material presented, please come and see me so we can discuss it.