(KNW1b) Sociology of Knowledge II: Actors and Structures of Knowledge

The sociology of knowledge explores the creation and representation of reality and social life, including organizational, practical, historical, cultural, and embodied knowledge, as well as beliefs, myths, facts, customs, routines, identities, and more. This session explores how knowledge actors and practices shape social structures and beliefs in societies. Papers explore the role of academics, politicians, governments, and researchers in shaping both the content of knowledge, and organizational structures and practices that reify knowledge. Tags: Community, Culture, Knowledge, Theory

Organizers: Lily Ivanova, University of British Columbia, Anastasia Kulpa, University of Alberta/Concordia University of Edmonton, Alvin Yang, York University

Presentations

Julien Larregue, Université Laval; Mélina Chasles, Université Laval

(De)dramatizing the race question in French criminology textbooks

This presentation investigates the role of academics in the making and sustainment of moral panics around immigrants and racial minorities. We analyze how the race-crime relationship has been discussed in 36 French criminology textbooks since the Second World War through content qualitative analyses. In so doing, we are able to identify social lineages where "authoritative" textbooks end up influencing the content of more recent textbooks written by authors who have a similar scientific positioning. Three main positionings can thus be identified: 1) legal scholars-criminologists with high academic capital, whose textbooks offer a comprehensive overview of knowledge on crime, and who devote considerable space to prove that there is a relationship between race and crime; 2) legal scholars who see criminology as peripheral to criminal law and procedure, and whose position is more neutral on the subject of race, which constitutes a secondary issue in their textbooks; 3) sociologists, whose capital is mainly scientific, who have been active since the 2000s, with textbooks focusing more on sociological theory applied to crime and questioning the link between race and crime. While the tradition with higher academic capital and lower scientific capital (legal scholars-criminologists) has played a role in the growing dramatization of racial questions, the tradition with higher scientific capital (sociologists) has always endeavored to attenuate and downplay the moral panic. The debate intensified and polarized over time, in particular since the 2002 presidential « insecurity campaign ».

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Non-presenting author: Sacha Raoult, Aix-Marseille Université

Neil McLaughlin, McMaster University

Bernie's Blinders: How the structure of the higher education system in the United States shapes left ideas

The American higher education system is unique, structured as it is by the dominance of elite private institutions that are subsidized by the public because of their non-profit charity tax status. The American Left, including Bernie Sanders, wishes to raise income taxes on the corporate elite, raise the cap on social security so that the upper middle class and wealthy pay more, raise property taxes to fund schools and social services and use the tax system to address climate change but practically no-one on the American Left, including Bernie, wishes to make elite private colleges pay property taxes, endowment taxes and sales taxes. Why? This paper draws on the comparative historical sociology on American exceptionalism, the sociology of higher education, the sociology of knowledge and Erich Fromm’s notion of the “social filter” to theorize why the idea of taxing elite private colleges in the United States is a conservative and Republican project not a left-liberal project, something that makes little sense when one looks at the ideas of the left outside of America. 

Manuel Vallee, University of Auckland

Managing Uncomfortable Knowledge about Pesticides: New Zealand's handling of Glyphosate Information

The knowledge that a population possesses will significantly mediate their resistance to environmental injustices. For instance, if people are aware of the harmfulness of pesticides applied in public parks, they will be more likely to organize and pressure politicians to create laws that will curb or perhaps even ban the application of such pesticides on public lands, as has occurred in Montréal. On the other hand, if they are unaware of the pesticide’s harmfulness, they are less likely to be concerned about it or oppose it. This points to the fact some knowledge is inconvenient to those in power, and that such individuals have a vested interest to manage uncomfortable knowledge. As demonstrated by previous scholarship, one way of doing so is through the active production of non-knowledge (also referred to as ignorance), which can be cultivated by actively suppressing the production of knowledge that might be inconvenient, which some scholars refer to as undone science. For example, in the case of pesticides, manufacturers and government agencies can impede the allocation of public funding for research that might reveal the pesticide’s harmfulness. The scholarship also shows that when the production of uncomfortable knowledge can’t be suppressed, suppressing its release becomes another way of managing it. As Peter Galison (2008) emphasizes, censorship and designating something as “classified” are extremely effective strategies to suppress the emergence of potentially uncomfortable knowledge. Neutralization is another management strategy identified by previous scholarship. When the release of uncomfortable knowledge can’t be suppressed, those in power will often seek to neutralize its impact through denial, downplaying, and distraction. Drawing on the previous scholarship about uncomfortable knowledge, this paper will analyse the way government agencies manage uncomfortable knowledge about pesticides. Towards that end, I focused on the New Zealand government’s production of knowledge about Monsanto’s glyphosate herbicide. This herbicide makes for a remarkable case to study. While the United Nations’ International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as a group 2A carcinogen in 2015, it has since become the world’s best-selling herbicide. New Zealand is also a strategic case selection. While the country regularly presents itself as being environmentally responsible, its restrictions on glyphosate are comparatively low and its use comparatively high. Moreover, in Auckland (i.e. New Zealand’s largest city) the herbicide is regularly applied to roadways, sidewalks, parks and sports fields. This paper will trace the country’s use of glyphosate to the system of knowledge government agencies have produced about the herbicide. Towards that end the paper will identify the tactics government agents have used, which will include interfering with the production and dissemination of uncomfortable knowledge about glyphosate. As well, based on a content analysis of their communications campaign (which will include press releases, quotes in the media, and other means of communication) about glyphosate, the paper will identify the tactics they have used to neutralise uncomfortable knowledge that couldn’t be suppressed, which will include denial, downplaying and distraction tactics. This paper will contribute to this session on knowledge by drawing attention to both the important concept of uncomfortable knowledge, and how such knowledge is managed by government agencies. Further, it contributes to the conference theme by revealing processes through which powerful entities facilitate environmental harm, knowledge that can help communities build a more sustainable shared future.

Chloe Halpenny, Queen's University; Kendal David, Carleton University

Cultivating change through collage: Reflecting on creating a zine as arts-based knowledge mobilization of basic income research

In 2017, the former Ontario provincial government introduced a basic income pilot as a policy experiment to test better ways to address poverty. For just over a year and a half, 4,000 low-income Ontarians received a monthly unconditional cash transfer. Despite being slated to last three years, the pilot - and the research associated with it - was prematurely cancelled by the incoming Ford government in 2018. A project from the Basic Income Canada Youth Network (BICYN), "Room to Dream" is a 32-page, full-colour zine that combines research and art to provide an accessible and compelling account of the Ontario Basic Income Pilot and its effects on participants lives. Featuring handmade collages and anonymized quotes from pilot participants drawn from two separate research projects which collected data from the pilot in the face of the cancellation, it foregrounds lived experience while providing powerful evidence about alternative approaches to income security in Canada. Authored by Chloe Halpenny and Kendal David - PhD students and co-chairs of BICYN - "Room to Dream" represents a sincere effort to preserve knowledge about this short-lived policy endeavour. As of January 2024, we have distributed more than 1100 copies of “Room to Dream” across Canada and beyond. has found its way to zine libraries, elected officials, frontline organizations, classrooms, and book clubs. In this session, Kendal and Chloe shed light on why zines are an effective medium for sharing research with a broad public audience, and discuss their experiences creating and distributing the zine. In particular, they discuss the importance of arts-based methods for sharing knowledge about basic income (and why they loved using collage for this project).