"Pure Science" vs. "Applied Science," research funding, and public perceptions

As we discussed in class, cultural anthropology often lends itself to criticism of being a "soft" science, and businesses do not often employ social scientists because their research does not lend itself to technological innovations with immediately apparent usefulness or marketability.  The same can be said for the "harder" sciences of biology, chemistry, and physics.  Plenty of valid research topics can lack a recognizable application that can generate a revenue stream for businesses despite increasing our knowledge and understanding in a host of theoretical areas.  The problem gets worse when the very validity of a research topic is questions, such as the infamous "duck penis" study we discussed.

Of course, the Fox News survey shown above was a rather skewed audience- you would probably get a much different distribution of answers if you asked people who watched MSNBC or PBS.  So here you can read for yourself- Fox News' article discussing the research proposal, and the rejoinder penned by a Yale biologist who was part of the study.  You can judge for yourself if there is any value to letting top scientists decide what is worthy of study or if non-scientists should miro-manage the purse strings for federal funding of scientific research (nb: what was at issue here was the  merit of the research itself; no accusations were made about mismanagement of the funds disbursed for the research).

Fox News report about the research:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/25/what-to-cut-as-congress-treats-crises-with-new-programs-government-grows/

Slate article by biologist:
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/04/duck_penis_controversy_nsf_is_right_to_fund_basic_research_that_conservatives.html

More applied anthropology in the news- high tech Intel Corp wants anthropologists to gather stories...

...and hey- there are robots too.  How cool is that?




http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/16/technology/intels-sharp-eyed-social-scientist.html?_r=0

Also, read what New York Times columnist Nick Kristof wrote about the "ivory tower" of academia.  I've argued as much in my classes, although I would point out that it takes two- anthropologists have to make themselves more relevant, but more companies have to invest in social science research like Intel to reap a return on investment as well as to get academicians to take the business world seriously.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/16/opinion/sunday/kristof-professors-we-need-you.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0

Harvard Business Review: "An anthropologist walks into a bar..."

Applied Anthropology Goes to Harvard

Hot off the press folks-  just YESTERDAY the Harvard Business Review came in (my wife subscribes, but I don't normally read it) and it has a feature about anthropology and other "soft" sciences being of value to the business community.  Businesses tend to be very quantitative in their approach to data collection, however they often find that the numbers don't give them all the information they need, so the qualitative approach of ethnographers benefits them greatly.

It would be nice if this meant that they actually went out and hired anthropologists and anthropology majors, so we'll see what becomes of this!

Here's a link to the article:   http://faculty.elgin.edu/mhealy/HBRAnthropology.pdf

Postmodernity Goes to the Movies

Re-treaded super hero franchises?  Postmodern.

Mixed metaphors?  Postmodern.

Ironic self-conscious parody?  Postmodern.

Simulacra?  Postmodern.

Nostalgia?  Postmodern.

Burred categories?  Postmodern.

It's all postmodern these days, except the things that aren't.  Which is nothing.


'The Lego Movie': Building a postmodern, tongue-in-cheek toy film:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-lego-production-20140207,0,5610795.story#axzz2t3i2OkiF

Paper Assignment Number 1

Assignment #1:

Ethnography of Place

Due:  Tuesday, February 25

What can you learn about a culture by studying the nature, form and content of the spaces they occupy?  What can you learn about your own culture by stepping back and critically analyzing the spaces we construct, inhabit, and circulate in everyday?  As a primarily consumptive society, a great place to study that is a grocery store.

Your assignment:  Write a 3-4 page paper comparing two grocery stores:  the Jewel Osco grocery store (1660 Larkin Avenue, Elgin) and the Elgin Fresh Market (306 S McLean Street, Elgin).  I suggest you visit each location at least twice preferably on different days of the week and hours in the day, spending 45 minutes to an hour in each, preferably visiting both back to back.  You must devise some sort of methodology and describe it in your paper with a brief discussion of what specific kinds of data you were looking for and why.  The majority pf your paper should be based upon your findings.  How are these places different?  What do they tell you about the consumptive habits of each group?  What other cultural attributes do you find interesting or surprising?  Do you see any use for the concepts of ethnocentrism or cultural relativism at work here?  What did you learn from this assignment?

Please refer to the guidelines for writing a paper for me on my course webpage.

Things that (may) seem familiar to Americans, but strange to people from different cultures...

Do a search on "weird things in America to foreigners" or something like that and you'll find LOTS of things to read.  Not all are worth it though, and you pretty much want the five minutes of your life you spend reading them back.  Here are two sources I would share.

1) Here's a list of 13 from Business Insider Magazine:
http://www.businessinsider.com/things-americans-do-that-seem-just-bizarre-to-the-outside-world-2013-5


2) This is the first list I read- there are lots of them out there, but I like this one because it identifies where the people making the observations are coming from:
http://www.quora.com/How-Americans-Are-Different/What-facts-about-the-United-States-do-foreigners-not-believe-until-they-come-to-America#ans3433252