WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.274 Greetings everyone and welcome to the first session, our first live session of Introduction to Sociology. 00:00:08.274 --> 00:00:13.423 The last few days have been simply extraordinary in terms of the response and the discussion 00:00:13.423 --> 00:00:17.573 on the course website which I’ve been following. 00:00:17.573 --> 00:00:22.547 Although I have not been able to respond to each and every one of your postings, 00:00:22.547 --> 00:00:27.641 I want you to know that I’ve been looking carefully at the many things that you have written 00:00:27.641 --> 00:00:33.333 and I am so impressed with the level and quality of the discussion and the ways 00:00:33.333 --> 00:00:38.988 in which you are all helping one another along to develop a better understanding of the material. 00:00:38.988 --> 00:00:46.485 This is peer learning at its best and this a very impressive group of students from all over the world. 00:00:46.485 --> 00:00:51.906 I want to begin today by thanking my own administration — 00:00:51.906 --> 00:00:56.997 the President and the Provost, and the Dean of the faculty and the Dean of the college, 00:00:56.997 --> 00:01:01.520 and the Associate Dean, and the people at the McGraw Teaching Center, 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:08.736 and the people working here in the broadcast center at Princeton University for making all of this possible. 00:01:08.736 --> 00:01:18.449 It’s this university’s commitment to bringing courses like this to a wider public and being inclusive 00:01:18.449 --> 00:01:20.822 that has made this possible, 00:01:20.822 --> 00:01:26.195 and their decision to devote the resources to this kind of enterprise 00:01:26.195 --> 00:01:31.558 makes me feel wonderful as a member of the Princeton faculty 00:01:31.558 --> 00:01:38.428 and I know that my colleagues on the Princeton faculty feel as though very similarly to me 00:01:38.428 --> 00:01:43.438 that this is a very special moment in the history of higher education that we are a part of, 00:01:43.438 --> 00:01:46.418 that we have the privilege of being a part of. 00:01:46.418 --> 00:01:49.279 And, I want to say also that, you know, 00:01:49.279 --> 00:01:54.985 this is really part of a pretty long-standing tradition here at Princeton: 00:01:54.985 --> 00:02:00.370 In our university we have a very generous financial aid package to students 00:02:00.370 --> 00:02:03.449 who’ve come here from a very wide variety of backgrounds. 00:02:03.449 --> 00:02:09.875 And one of the things that I think didn’t come across in the article by Malcolm Gladwell 00:02:09.875 --> 00:02:16.809 is the extent to which that is significant in the ongoing life of Princeton. 00:02:16.809 --> 00:02:26.218 We have certainly the best financial aid package in the world and it is something that we are very proud of. 00:02:26.218 --> 00:02:30.406 Probably 60 percent of our students are on financial aid. 00:02:30.406 --> 00:02:35.097 Our students are not required to take out loans to come here. 00:02:35.097 --> 00:02:41.005 The financial aid is available to students not only from the United States but from all over the world, 00:02:41.005 --> 00:02:49.093 and it extends from $5,000 to $50,000 depending on the needs of an individual family in a given year 00:02:49.093 --> 00:02:52.847 and I have received questions over e-mail from students around the world asking 00:02:52.847 --> 00:02:57.990 whether or not it’s possible for people from outside the United States to apply for financially aid. 00:02:57.990 --> 00:03:00.978 And the answer is yes, there are no limitations on that, 00:03:00.978 --> 00:03:07.588 and financial need is not taken into consideration when admissions decisions are made. 00:03:07.588 --> 00:03:11.500 Over ten percent of our student body comes from outside the United States 00:03:11.500 --> 00:03:15.642 and many of those students are on financial aid. 00:03:15.642 --> 00:03:25.815 I want to talk today about the Malcolm Gladwell article but first I want to begin by discussing in some detail 00:03:25.815 --> 00:03:32.255 the article that we read by C. Wright Mills which was written of course in 1959. 00:03:32.255 --> 00:03:36.495 And I want to begin by welcoming the students from around the world 00:03:36.495 --> 00:03:39.609 who are part of our seminar for today. 00:03:39.609 --> 00:03:45.451 I should say at the outset that we invited a couple of more people to join us today and for technical reasons, 00:03:45.451 --> 00:03:49.600 some of them are not up on the screen — they might pop up during the course of our conversation. 00:03:49.600 --> 00:03:54.040 But for the time being, we are going to speak with the people that are there. 00:03:54.040 --> 00:04:01.247 I’d like them to introduce themselves to us beginning with the person on the far left, Dipendra. 00:04:01.247 --> 00:04:03.250 And then let’s go through each person. 00:04:03.250 --> 00:04:07.505 And I’d like the each of you to say something about what you thought was most interesting, 00:04:07.505 --> 00:04:13.768 something brief about what you thought was most interesting about Mills’s essay, “The Promise.” 00:04:13.768 --> 00:04:15.531 Dipendra. 00:04:15.531 --> 00:04:19.233 >> Hi, this is Di [from] Nepal. 00:04:19.233 --> 00:04:27.685 And if you are wondering where Nepal is, we are in [inaudible] India [inaudible]. We’re a very small country. 00:04:27.685 --> 00:04:35.065 I come from [inaudible]. My bachelors in rural development and I have a major in sociology as well. 00:04:35.065 --> 00:04:41.351 Particular interested in this, today’s text by C. Wright Mills. 00:04:41.351 --> 00:04:50.375 I’ve been very much fascinated for those examples of study relating to the institution of the society, 00:04:50.375 --> 00:04:56.641 specifically at his out during the lecture regarding divorce and marriage. 00:04:56.641 --> 00:05:00.056 That was one thing very much interesting to me. 00:05:00.056 --> 00:05:04.928 Another thing we tried, at the last time, the text which is 00:05:04.928 --> 00:05:12.383 that if you want to develop your socialism then you should plays very mean. 00:05:12.383 --> 00:05:17.460 So, that, about the thing that have been striking… 00:05:17.460 --> 00:05:22.894 >> Okay. Dipendra unfortunately the connection to you was not great 00:05:22.894 --> 00:05:29.206 but I will summarize though that you thought that one of the most interesting things 00:05:29.206 --> 00:05:35.324 has to do with the connection of the sociological imagination to marriage and divorce. 00:05:35.324 --> 00:05:40.729 And, we will look forward to hearing more from you later, hopefully with a better connection. 00:05:40.729 --> 00:05:42.537 Doug? 00:05:42.567 --> 00:05:46.501 >> Yeah, hi, I’m Doug, I’m from Philadelphia. 00:05:46.501 --> 00:05:52.898 I don’t know. “The Promise,” — I believe is the name of the paper — 00:05:52.898 --> 00:05:56.400 my impression, it was really hard to understand — you know, 00:05:56.400 --> 00:06:01.846 trying to put myself back in 1959 and trying to understand where it was coming from. 00:06:01.846 --> 00:06:08.933 It seemed almost like he was just trying to focus on the psychology, I guess, of being trapped. 00:06:08.933 --> 00:06:15.036 But I also want… I did understand the basic thing of where I was going with it. 00:06:15.036 --> 00:06:19.071 >> Doug, could you tell us a little bit about yourself in Philadelphia. 00:06:19.071 --> 00:06:21.839 >> Yeah, I’m a firefighter in Philadelphia. 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:27.633 34 years old which I think makes me the oldest member of the panel. 00:06:27.633 --> 00:06:32.122 You know, I took a little bit of college. 00:06:32.122 --> 00:06:35.913 After high school I was in the Navy most of the time. 00:06:35.913 --> 00:06:38.287 And now I’m trying to get back in college. 00:06:38.303 --> 00:06:41.566 >> And are you, are you talking to us from the firehouse right now? 00:06:41.584 --> 00:06:43.805 >> No. No, (>> [laugh]) I can’t. 00:06:43.805 --> 00:06:46.766 I can’t do that. [laugh] (>> [laugh]) 00:06:46.766 --> 00:06:50.784 Everything that I say is — what — my opinion; it has nothing to do with the Fire Department. 00:06:50.784 --> 00:06:54.932 But no, I’m at my house and yeah, I’m excited to be here. 00:06:54.932 --> 00:06:58.165 >> Okay. Thank you, Doug. 00:06:58.165 --> 00:07:00.403 >> My name is Estela Diaz. 00:07:00.403 --> 00:07:04.220 I’m a Princeton University student majoring in Sociology. 00:07:04.220 --> 00:07:12.397 I’m originally from Los Angeles, California and currently living in Spanish Harlem in New York City. 00:07:12.397 --> 00:07:19.330 One of the things I thought was most interesting is considering the sociological imagination 00:07:19.330 --> 00:07:27.609 in context of the United States 2012 political campaign and the presidential election. 00:07:27.609 --> 00:07:32.172 I’m just kind of considering how issues are framed — 00:07:32.172 --> 00:07:41.772 Whether they are framed as personal issues or public issues, especially the economic downturn. 00:07:41.772 --> 00:07:45.375 >> Fascinating. Is it Nana who’s next? 00:07:45.375 --> 00:07:49.283 >> I’m Nana. I’m from Georgia. 00:07:49.283 --> 00:07:53.175 It’s Caucasus not Georgia in USA. 00:07:53.175 --> 00:07:54.091 >> [laugh]. 00:07:54.091 --> 00:08:03.990 >> I am working as a representative of Israeli delegation here in Georgia and Ukraine and in Belarus. 00:08:03.990 --> 00:08:11.233 Also I have a travel company with my friend; we’re dealing only with incoming tourists, 00:08:11.233 --> 00:08:22.659 And for me the most… I pay attention on the sociological imagination in the chapter one: 00:08:22.659 --> 00:08:29.731 it was quite interesting for me how people can imagine the things in the world, 00:08:29.731 --> 00:08:37.834 and also marriage and divorce, because in Georgia it’s quite complicated. 00:08:37.834 --> 00:08:40.228 >> Thank you, Nana. 00:08:40.228 --> 00:08:42.622 And then finally. 00:08:42.622 --> 00:08:48.179 >> Hello, my name is Pavel [inaudible] University School of [inaudible] 00:08:48.179 --> 00:08:54.043 and National Relations which is the case in Southwestern Russia. 00:08:54.043 --> 00:09:00.904 I found this article very interesting because it’s referring to the effect 00:09:00.904 --> 00:09:11.974 that our lives are just a moment in terms of historical change and even the… 00:09:11.974 --> 00:09:18.787 so we have to think more, to think wider in this case. 00:09:18.787 --> 00:09:22.337 >> That’s very interesting. 00:09:22.337 --> 00:09:26.322 Okay, well, these are some very interesting ways of beginning our thinking 00:09:26.322 --> 00:09:30.783 about what Mills was trying to say and what I’d like to do now with you guys is 00:09:30.783 --> 00:09:34.821 to try to go through the essay in a little bit of detail — 00:09:34.821 --> 00:09:40.964 from Kathmandu, to Siberia, to Georgia, to Spanish Harlem, to Philadelphia — 00:09:40.964 --> 00:09:46.606 and talk about the meaning of some of these lines and how we should interpret them. 00:09:46.606 --> 00:09:52.534 I want to begin with the first paragraph, the second line where Mills says, 00:09:52.534 --> 00:09:56.841 “they sensed that within their everyday world, they cannot overcome their troubles 00:09:56.841 --> 00:10:02.184 and this feel, and this feeling they are quite often correct.” 00:10:02.184 --> 00:10:04.884 One question that I want to ask you is this: 00:10:04.884 --> 00:10:13.207 is there some sense in which that line, and the essay as a whole, gives an impression to people 00:10:13.207 --> 00:10:22.690 that if only they can develop a sociological imagination, that they can overcome their troubles? 00:10:22.690 --> 00:10:26.126 And is that really realistic? 00:10:26.126 --> 00:10:36.048 What are some of the dilemmas involved in thinking about this in such a way? 00:10:36.048 --> 00:10:38.836 >> Yeah. I believe that was something that 00:10:38.836 --> 00:10:41.914 had something to do a little bit more with this psychology of it, you know, 00:10:41.914 --> 00:10:47.109 somebody kinda trapped in their own sometimes made-up shell. 00:10:47.109 --> 00:10:51.685 It’s because they feel — I mean it’s almost like looking at this minute, you know, I was never able… 00:10:51.685 --> 00:10:57.153 I wasn’t much of a person that was very smart coming out of high school, I guess, 00:10:57.153 --> 00:11:01.030 so I didn’t take the college route. 00:11:01.030 --> 00:11:06.795 And as I got older, I wanted to go to college but now this is a forwarding opportunity. 00:11:06.795 --> 00:11:10.657 I feel like I’m widening now a little bit like from personal experience. 00:11:10.657 --> 00:11:12.495 So that’s kinda like the way I look at it — like 00:11:12.495 --> 00:11:18.356 instead of me [standing there] in my own shell, now I feel like I’m just through this course. 00:11:18.356 --> 00:11:21.698 I’m feeling like I’m kind of getting over it. 00:11:21.704 --> 00:11:26.773 >> And, is there a sense though — I’m curious to know — in which… 00:11:26.773 --> 00:11:31.699 Does having a sociological imagination give us any legitimate reason to believe 00:11:31.699 --> 00:11:36.865 that we are in a better position to overcome our personal troubles? 00:11:36.865 --> 00:11:45.927 Or is that an unrealistic kind of thing to begin the essay with? 00:11:45.927 --> 00:11:54.394 >> I didn’t personally interpret it as such. Instead I interpreted this repeated notion 00:11:54.394 --> 00:12:00.272 of not being able to overcome one’s personal troubles — 00:12:00.272 --> 00:12:08.785 I interpreted that as Mills arguing for a larger perspective, not necessarily saying 00:12:08.785 --> 00:12:15.309 that having a sociological imagination will allow you to overcome troubles 00:12:15.309 --> 00:12:25.222 but instead emphasizing that our troubles are not strictly derived from the individual. 00:12:25.222 --> 00:12:33.439 So Mills is arguing that having that sociological imagination will give you a different perspective on your troubles 00:12:33.439 --> 00:12:37.877 but it will not necessarily solve your troubles. 00:12:37.877 --> 00:12:42.736 >> Very interesting. Would anyone else like to comment on this? 00:12:42.736 --> 00:12:51.502 >> I think almost the same because I, I think it’s not depend to overcome the troubles, 00:12:51.502 --> 00:12:56.572 it’s not coming from the sociological imagination. 00:12:56.572 --> 00:13:07.052 You can you can solve your troubles and solve your problems without knowing it but it helps you quite a lot. 00:13:07.052 --> 00:13:09.789 >> But are you sure about that, Nana? 00:13:09.789 --> 00:13:17.024 Are you really sure that having a sociological imagination would help you in solving the personal troubles? 00:13:17.026 --> 00:13:20.060 >> Eh. Like in Georgia [inaudible]. 00:13:20.060 --> 00:13:23.942 >> Oh, really? Could you say more about that? 00:13:23.942 --> 00:13:31.351 >> Let’s say, in Georgia if you’re… 00:13:31.351 --> 00:13:40.601 like, for people who are coming from abroad, it’s not easy to find some jobs. 00:13:40.601 --> 00:13:44.201 If you are not an investor it’s not easy to find it. 00:13:44.201 --> 00:13:50.793 If you know the sociological imagination, like to help 00:13:50.793 --> 00:13:56.918 how people think about it, you will not come in Georgia and start your work here. 00:13:56.918 --> 00:14:00.750 You will go to another country to find some job. 00:14:00.750 --> 00:14:03.846 Let’s say, let’s say this example. 00:14:03.846 --> 00:14:06.311 >> So, in other words, having the socio… that’s a really good answer. 00:14:06.311 --> 00:14:12.721 Having the sociological imagination is going to perhaps one way of having a sociological imagination 00:14:12.721 --> 00:14:17.759 is to know our probabilities, and understanding the probabilities means 00:14:17.759 --> 00:14:23.378 that we can assess our chances and decide what we should try and what we shouldn’t try, right? 00:14:23.378 --> 00:14:25.529 >> Yeah. 00:14:25.529 --> 00:14:27.783 >> Okay. But let me ask you a question, Estela. 00:14:27.783 --> 00:14:32.095 You’re a Princeton student, okay? 00:14:32.095 --> 00:14:35.751 >> If you knew (>> Mhm.) the probabilities when you applied to Princeton of being accepted, 00:14:35.751 --> 00:14:39.766 would you have ever tried? 00:14:39.766 --> 00:14:47.744 >> I mean, I think I kind of did know the probabilities was less than ten percent acceptance rate. 00:14:47.744 --> 00:14:55.700 And over, I think it’s, it was about 30,000 people who applied my year, 00:14:55.700 --> 00:15:04.457 with only… with less than 2,000 of us being accepted, the probability was extremely low. 00:15:04.457 --> 00:15:11.535 But you have to, in the case of applying to Princeton University, 00:15:11.535 --> 00:15:19.049 I think there was something worth a lot more than… I think it was worth taking my chances. 00:15:19.049 --> 00:15:24.422 >> But the thing is just: did having a sociological imagination and knowing the odds, 00:15:24.422 --> 00:15:27.992 did that increase the chances of you applying? Or don’t you think 00:15:27.992 --> 00:15:33.829 that there are some people who are having that knowledge might have said, “It’s not worth it to try at all”? 00:15:33.829 --> 00:15:38.482 I mean, if somebody finds out that the chances of doing, 00:15:38.482 --> 00:15:44.169 of succeeding in any field are small, does that knowledge necessarily help them in the end? 00:15:44.169 --> 00:15:49.046 We’re assuming that it’s empowering to have that knowledge, 00:15:49.046 --> 00:15:53.945 but I wonder if it could also be disempowering. 00:15:53.945 --> 00:15:56.372 What do you… (>> I think it could…) Go ahead. 00:15:56.372 --> 00:16:04.392 >> it could certainly be discouraging, especially if you consider Mills’ article in general, 00:16:04.392 --> 00:16:12.106 he’s kind of taking away from the notion of individual agency and individual power. 00:16:12.106 --> 00:16:22.549 So when you take that away, it does and can seem very discouraging. 00:16:22.549 --> 00:16:25.620 >> Doug, what do you think about this? 00:16:25.620 --> 00:16:30.075 >> Well, basically I think that Estela hit the nail right on the head. 00:16:30.075 --> 00:16:34.677 That — you know — that sense of, you know, when like things are hopeless, 00:16:34.677 --> 00:16:38.063 people are going to say, “Why am I going to put the effort in?” 00:16:38.063 --> 00:16:44.612 But, if you realize, like Estela did, that you know, that doesn’t just define who you are, 00:16:44.612 --> 00:16:48.660 that, you know, that 10%, if you’re going to part of that 10%, 00:16:48.660 --> 00:16:51.006 you’re part of that ten percent like what are you going to do about it? 00:16:51.006 --> 00:16:55.883 It is what it is, and that really, I think that could really be freeing for somebody 00:16:55.883 --> 00:17:00.088 because that’s not going to really upset them if they turn around and get rejected. 00:17:00.088 --> 00:17:04.066 They’ll say, okay, whatever, you know, although I was ready for that. 00:17:04.066 --> 00:17:08.722 It’s kinda like a you know, “expect the”… “expect the worst,” 00:17:08.722 --> 00:17:12.003 or “hope for the best and expect the worst” kind of thing, I guess. 00:17:12.003 --> 00:17:14.271 And I don’t know if I am missing that point. 00:17:14.271 --> 00:17:19.192 >> Let’s move on to the next part of the paper. 00:17:19.192 --> 00:17:25.578 At the very beginning of the second paragraph, Mills says, “Underlying this sense of being trapped 00:17:25.578 --> 00:17:31.772 are seemingly impersonal changes in the very structure of continent-wide societies.” 00:17:31.772 --> 00:17:36.707 There were some discussion on the discussion boards 00:17:36.707 --> 00:17:41.117 over the last few days about what Mills meant by impersonal changes. 00:17:41.117 --> 00:17:44.992 And I thought that you guys did a very good job 00:17:44.992 --> 00:17:49.440 of clarifying the issue for those who were confused, but what does this mean to you? 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:52.323 What are some of the kinds of impersonal changes 00:17:52.323 --> 00:18:00.415 that affect you in the society in which you live as a way of conceiving of what Mills is talking about? 00:18:00.415 --> 00:18:02.382 Dipendra, could you start? 00:18:02.382 --> 00:18:09.155 >> I was very much interested in the previous paragraph 00:18:09.155 --> 00:18:12.358 so I was about to speak but I lost my connection. 00:18:12.358 --> 00:18:17.685 So, maybe I would rather go back to that paragraph and I’ll jump to this paragraph at the end. 00:18:17.685 --> 00:18:22.597 >> Sure, why don’t you do that. (>> So, in the previous thing.) Go ahead, please do. 00:18:22.597 --> 00:18:27.774 >> So, I have a different I have a, I have a different perspective on 00:18:27.774 --> 00:18:36.440 that it does say, it is said that within the everyday works they cannot overcome the troubles. 00:18:36.440 --> 00:18:39.705 I want to keep myself in this example. 00:18:39.705 --> 00:18:42.378 I have my parents divorced. 00:18:42.378 --> 00:18:51.254 So in this actually when my parents, then was suddenly, the problem that I’m facing in the world. 00:18:51.254 --> 00:18:55.939 So, I, believe is facing this kind of problem and I was so… I have a small sister 00:18:55.939 --> 00:19:01.663 and I have my mom crying in front of me every day and my dad was with another woman. 00:19:01.663 --> 00:19:09.052 So, how I felt, it was like I felt that this was only me. This is only “I’m the guy” problem. 00:19:09.052 --> 00:19:14.844 But sociological imagination, I think that in a broader perspective, 00:19:14.844 --> 00:19:25.251 when I look at my society then I see a lot of people who get who get divorced so then, then I do is, 00:19:25.251 --> 00:19:33.266 I simply hiding myself and say that, okay boy, this is, this is not only the way you move ahead. 00:19:33.266 --> 00:19:39.014 It’s not, spend your whole life regretting because your dad married to another woman or something. 00:19:39.014 --> 00:19:46.558 So, when I look at only… when I think that is my problem only, I feel I’m trapped in that problem. 00:19:46.558 --> 00:19:53.449 But when I come out of my family, when I come out, when I look at my society then I feel a lot, 00:19:53.449 --> 00:19:59.461 this is the broader perspective that I should look into and that really motivated me. 00:19:59.461 --> 00:20:04.182 >> Well, I think that, that is a really wonderful statement because what you’re saying 00:20:04.182 --> 00:20:11.540 is that you feel as though the understanding that your experience was not a personal problem 00:20:11.540 --> 00:20:18.553 but was part of a larger trend and a larger public issue inspired you to feel empowered. 00:20:18.553 --> 00:20:22.768 And that you decided that you are going to rise above your social circumstances 00:20:22.768 --> 00:20:26.056 with that knowledge knowing that was not your fault 00:20:26.056 --> 00:20:30.490 or knowing that this was not the fault of your family — 00:20:30.490 --> 00:20:36.288 and I actually, I think that’s a really excellent response to my concern 00:20:36.288 --> 00:20:40.716 and it’s really a nice response because I think that in the case of divorce, 00:20:40.716 --> 00:20:46.284 it’s true that many children feel as though they are themselves the cause of their parents’ divorce 00:20:46.284 --> 00:20:50.216 so they feel as though they are responsible for it and certainly it’s true 00:20:50.216 --> 00:20:56.093 that their family members blame themselves, and I think it is the case that 00:20:56.093 --> 00:21:02.051 if you know that you’re part of something larger and wider, perhaps that is actually empowering 00:21:02.051 --> 00:21:06.019 to be able to get beyond it and move beyond it. 00:21:06.019 --> 00:21:13.461 And yet I must tell you that I feel still nevertheless a certain concern over these lines 00:21:13.461 --> 00:21:20.740 and what they imply in the essay because for many people, you know, their lives are just really hard. 00:21:20.740 --> 00:21:28.200 And, it is going to be hard for them whether they know that they’re part of a larger social trend or not. 00:21:28.200 --> 00:21:33.501 And the ability to rise beyond their social circumstances, 00:21:33.501 --> 00:21:40.157 I worry, takes a lot more obviously than any kind of knowledge or understanding of this kind, 00:21:40.157 --> 00:21:53.566 but perhaps that’s just obvious and not worth being overly concerned with. 00:21:53.566 --> 00:22:01.048 By the way, in our Princeton Seminars, there are moments, as Estela will tell you, of complete silence. 00:22:01.048 --> 00:22:04.458 And I encourage those moments in my seminar. I believe in silence. 00:22:04.458 --> 00:22:07.801 I think it’s great for people to be able to sit and think for a second. 00:22:07.801 --> 00:22:13.393 Sometimes we’ll have silence for 30 seconds in the room before somebody talks. 00:22:13.393 --> 00:22:18.503 We shouldn’t always feel pressured to fill in every gap at every moment, 00:22:18.503 --> 00:22:25.334 and no more so just because we happen to be on the Internet for 30,000 other students right now. 00:22:25.334 --> 00:22:30.720 Does anybody else have anything they wanted to add to that before we move on there, then? 00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:34.972 >> Yes. May I add something? It will be kind of question. 00:22:34.972 --> 00:22:40.589 When you were talking in your lecture about sociological imagination, 00:22:40.589 --> 00:22:46.008 what we find was mortgage and divorce — situations and issues. 00:22:46.008 --> 00:22:55.531 I remember the words of Soviet secretary-general Joseph Stalin ’cause he once said to Averill Harriman. 00:22:55.531 --> 00:23:01.853 He said, “The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of million is statistic.” 00:23:01.853 --> 00:23:08.600 I’d like to know that I am not a fan of Joseph Stalin, and my opinion, he was a dictator. 00:23:08.600 --> 00:23:12.342 That was just the first thing that came to my mind, 00:23:12.342 --> 00:23:17.472 whether there is an argument, whether he said it or not. 00:23:17.472 --> 00:23:24.421 So I wanted to ask a bit political question. 00:23:24.421 --> 00:23:32.085 I understand that in terms of historical change, as also Mills noted, 00:23:32.085 --> 00:23:42.149 our lives are only a moment so today anything around us could be revealed as a statistic — 00:23:42.149 --> 00:23:48.335 even our lives can be a statistic within this scope 00:23:48.335 --> 00:23:56.174 of the population size, and then the scope of many other issues. 00:23:56.174 --> 00:24:01.249 So our president tells about wages. 00:24:01.249 --> 00:24:07.184 When he tells about wages, he cites average wages data. 00:24:07.184 --> 00:24:13.207 Why doesn’t he cite the lowest [inaudible], for example Tatiana 00:24:13.207 --> 00:24:25.362 who is which a school teacher in Siberia in who has four children and tries to survive with four kids. 00:24:25.370 --> 00:24:31.781 How do you think, professor? Can the government treat its people just as a statistic? 00:24:31.781 --> 00:24:38.946 And where is the border of statistic and the real life? 00:24:38.946 --> 00:24:43.063 >> Well, I think that it’s very tempting to use a single statistic, 00:24:43.063 --> 00:24:48.695 and of course what a sociological imagination is going to do, 00:24:48.695 --> 00:24:52.975 is going to try to encourage people to look at the variation, 00:24:52.975 --> 00:24:57.711 and to try to explain the variation in a society. 00:24:57.711 --> 00:25:04.404 And, I think that there’s always a tendency to try to put the focus in one place or the other 00:25:04.404 --> 00:25:10.409 but your job is as a sociologist is to move toward an understanding and grasping 00:25:10.409 --> 00:25:14.905 of that variation in which you just did in your wonderful comment 00:25:14.905 --> 00:25:22.438 and that’s a great quote which I’m sure that I’ll be using in the future when I give this lecture again. 00:25:22.438 --> 00:25:27.302 I want to ask you guys to take a peek though at the notion of 00:25:27.302 --> 00:25:34.427 that first line in the essay, and I want to get back to this issue of impersonal changes. 00:25:34.427 --> 00:25:40.532 Could you guys try to think about what that means, 00:25:40.532 --> 00:25:47.382 and try to help the students who were concerned about that all on the website to reflect on that a little bit more? 00:25:47.382 --> 00:25:51.879 What are some of the impersonal changes in your society? 00:25:51.879 --> 00:25:55.180 Nana has gone off, why don’t we go to Doug? 00:25:55.180 --> 00:25:59.492 >> When I look at this line, as far as impersonal changes, 00:25:59.492 --> 00:26:02.431 I felt like that was something that, you know, 00:26:02.431 --> 00:26:07.691 in a time, I mean, it was brought up before about what’s going on with the housing crisis, 00:26:07.691 --> 00:26:10.060 with the job crisis and everything else. 00:26:10.060 --> 00:26:14.379 And in a time when jobs are, you know, so few and far between, 00:26:14.379 --> 00:26:19.374 somebody can very easily think of themselves “Well there’s something wrong with me that’s why I’m not working,” 00:26:19.374 --> 00:26:24.024 when, if they look at the, you know, the way that everything is in society, 00:26:24.024 --> 00:26:26.978 it’s not a personal change that you need to make, 00:26:26.978 --> 00:26:29.892 it’s the way that the society is that, you know, the… 00:26:29.892 --> 00:26:34.981 the structure and, as it goes, the very structure of the continent-wide society 00:26:34.981 --> 00:26:39.114 that if there’s, there’s change made to the system, 00:26:39.114 --> 00:26:42.254 not something that has to do with this one person — 00:26:42.254 --> 00:26:46.069 like I feel like that line is trying to give somebody a little bit of hope you know, 00:26:46.069 --> 00:26:49.099 like “Look, it’s not you! You have the ability, you just need to understand 00:26:49.099 --> 00:26:52.125 that there’s a problem out there right now.” I think we’re just going 00:26:52.125 --> 00:26:57.050 to need to try a little bit harder and don’t let yourself down and don’t feel like you’re trapped. 00:26:57.050 --> 00:26:59.538 >> Okay. Estela? 00:26:59.538 --> 00:27:06.250 >> No, I think he saw that very well. 00:27:06.250 --> 00:27:07.958 I’m trying to think. 00:27:07.958 --> 00:27:16.366 I’m looking at what he says the structure of continent-wide societies and just contextualizing this 00:27:16.366 --> 00:27:24.411 in nineteen…, I mean, if we consider the effect of the Internet now in our very discussion here today, 00:27:24.411 --> 00:27:31.233 where we were discussing this with people on various continents, various countries. 00:27:31.233 --> 00:27:44.261 So looking at impersonal changes, that’s something far beyond our what he says as personal troubles,… 00:27:44.261 --> 00:27:51.205 >> Yeah. I think that one of the things that concerns me about this point as well is that, you know, 00:27:51.205 --> 00:27:58.194 the emphasis on, obviously, the impersonal changes and that as if they are always trapping us. 00:27:58.194 --> 00:28:03.826 And I think that we have to have more a nuanced view of it — at least I would propose that — 00:28:03.826 --> 00:28:09.684 and the, you know, the impersonal change of today of the Internet 00:28:09.684 --> 00:28:15.707 obviously is also leading to possibilities like the one that we have before us right now. 00:28:15.707 --> 00:28:18.554 And, I think that our job as sociologists 00:28:18.554 --> 00:28:23.340 is to look at the ways in which impersonal changes not only trap us, 00:28:23.340 --> 00:28:28.240 but also liberate us and potentially make us more free. 00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:33.817 And I wonder whether or not anybody could present an example other than the Internet 00:28:33.817 --> 00:28:37.306 of any kind of impersonal change in their own society. 00:28:37.306 --> 00:28:41.927 Or perhaps the internet is the best one for your society right now that you’d like to refer to, 00:28:41.927 --> 00:29:13.029 but in which the actual impersonal change has been liberating rather than simply constraining. 00:29:13.029 --> 00:29:17.556 Remember silence is fine. Silence is good in the seminar. 00:29:17.556 --> 00:29:22.868 Everyone can think. 00:29:22.868 --> 00:29:31.886 >> I think that was a good example, try to recover other issues. 00:29:31.886 --> 00:29:37.145 >> Okay. Well maybe we can ask our online viewers, 00:29:37.145 --> 00:29:42.840 the other members of the class, to think about that issue a little bit as we move forward in the class. 00:29:42.840 --> 00:29:48.936 I want to move on now to a discussion of the New Yorker article 00:29:48.936 --> 00:29:55.400 that was written by the great writer, the great non-fiction writer, Malcolm Gladwell. 00:29:55.400 --> 00:30:00.069 And I saw some questions on the discussion boards 00:30:00.069 --> 00:30:05.545 about why I would have assigned this article for the first class. 00:30:05.545 --> 00:30:10.761 And in fact, the article was assigned 00:30:10.761 --> 00:30:15.755 for exactly the reason that many of you proposed in your answers to the person who asked that question: 00:30:15.755 --> 00:30:20.737 because I believe it exemplifies the sociological imagination. 00:30:20.737 --> 00:30:24.026 Can you guys hear me right now? 00:30:24.026 --> 00:30:26.895 Yes? Okay, good. 00:30:26.895 --> 00:30:32.539 So, let’s begin now by talking a little bit about Gladwell’s article. 00:30:32.539 --> 00:30:35.686 Gladwell being a Canadian who came to the United States 00:30:35.686 --> 00:30:39.647 and was kind of intrigued by the culture of New York City 00:30:39.647 --> 00:30:44.426 in which he found that there were many people who were obsessed with Harvard in particular, 00:30:44.426 --> 00:30:49.463 and who seemed to think that if they had gone there 00:30:49.463 --> 00:30:56.082 that there was nothing of greater importance that could have happened to them in their lives. 00:30:56.082 --> 00:31:00.070 And he wrote this essay based on, as we know, 00:31:00.070 --> 00:31:04.456 based on the research of sociologist Jerome Karabel largely, 00:31:04.456 --> 00:31:15.402 about the nature of admissions at Harvard, Princeton and Yale, 00:31:15.402 --> 00:31:19.332 and the way in which it moved in the direction that it is in today. 00:31:19.332 --> 00:31:26.102 And, one of the things that I found very interesting about the responses on the Internet to this 00:31:26.102 --> 00:31:31.782 was that, there were many people who saw the decision 00:31:31.782 --> 00:31:37.751 of the Ivy League Schools to look at the “whole person” rather than a single dimension 00:31:37.751 --> 00:31:43.339 as meaning — as implying — that, that was somehow a false promise, 00:31:43.339 --> 00:31:47.663 or that people have been excluded 00:31:47.663 --> 00:31:53.977 that people, that they themselves were being promised something that wasn’t really fair or obtainable 00:31:53.977 --> 00:32:01.360 when they were given the hope that they one day could achieve or go to an Ivy League School. 00:32:01.360 --> 00:32:07.219 And I’m just curious about that response because my own feeling about it in looking at the way 00:32:07.219 --> 00:32:10.628 that the system of college admissions emerged is that, 00:32:10.628 --> 00:32:15.226 while I think it’s good that the largest group of students in the university 00:32:15.226 --> 00:32:18.361 has gotten there because of their academic achievement, 00:32:18.361 --> 00:32:23.420 I think that it is also true that there are so many other qualities in life 00:32:23.420 --> 00:32:27.201 that make for a deserving and an interesting human being. 00:32:27.201 --> 00:32:33.607 And, would we really want a college to only include the people who have the highest scores 00:32:33.607 --> 00:32:37.965 rather than a system like the one that has been designed 00:32:37.965 --> 00:32:42.961 which actually looks at a much wider variety of personal characteristics? 00:32:42.961 --> 00:32:47.424 And I’m just curious about what your response was to some of those comments 00:32:47.424 --> 00:32:53.652 and how you would design a system like this if it was up to you. 00:32:53.652 --> 00:32:55.467 Dipendra. 00:32:55.467 --> 00:32:59.322 >> Actually when I was going through this text, 00:32:59.322 --> 00:33:03.070 what I’ve felt was the education system the admission system 00:33:03.070 --> 00:33:09.470 that was there and unfortunately, in Nepal, I’ve been practicing that now. 00:33:09.470 --> 00:33:13.640 So, we have the, actually a brief background of 00:33:13.640 --> 00:33:19.484 the admission system that we have here and then I’ll get back to my point. 00:33:19.484 --> 00:33:26.168 So, here at Nepal, what [we have] there are typically two different kinds of colleges or universities. 00:33:26.168 --> 00:33:32.940 The primary targets of all the university and all the college here in Nepal is you should get at least good marks — 00:33:32.940 --> 00:33:37.962 at least, [inaudible] more than 60 percent or more than three GPA — 00:33:37.962 --> 00:33:41.113 so that you can get into good college or something like that. 00:33:41.113 --> 00:33:47.124 And very few, very few colleges and universities — we count in hands or fingers — 00:33:47.124 --> 00:33:53.741 that they’ll look overall student or they look at overall characteristics of students. 00:33:53.741 --> 00:33:59.142 So it would depend, but I would like to say seeing, to look at examples 00:33:59.142 --> 00:34:05.042 that I have seen here in Nepal, what I have come to conclude is typically, 00:34:05.042 --> 00:34:09.994 there are two different university here that I would like to mention in Nepal. 00:34:09.994 --> 00:34:15.224 The Tribhuvan University which is government owned university and Kathmandu University 00:34:15.224 --> 00:34:17.549 that is privately owned university. 00:34:17.549 --> 00:34:20.166 So, why does Tribhuvan University does it? 00:34:20.166 --> 00:34:24.655 They don’t have a proper definite system of taking in students. 00:34:24.655 --> 00:34:28.737 So, every time they can have a ticket of admission in that college. 00:34:28.737 --> 00:34:35.372 They have let’s say you have crossed 50 percent then you’ll get into that university — and where I am now. 00:34:35.372 --> 00:34:41.459 And before coming to this university, I actually dropped the Kathmandu University 00:34:41.459 --> 00:34:46.441 because private university and which required rigorous competition. 00:34:46.441 --> 00:34:50.961 They had added a baseline for academics. 00:34:50.961 --> 00:34:55.469 We need to get at least 60 percent in your high school, then 00:34:55.469 --> 00:34:59.584 you should be astounding in extra curricular activities, 00:34:59.584 --> 00:35:04.739 you should be astounding in sports, you should be social, and so many characteristics. 00:35:04.739 --> 00:35:11.855 And where the products that come out after from the universities after four years, 00:35:11.855 --> 00:35:15.236 we can see a clear distinction here in Nepal: 00:35:15.236 --> 00:35:22.811 Kathmandu University, which has a system of looking a student from all dimension, 00:35:22.811 --> 00:35:29.528 the students are… they are very practical, they know a lot of things, you know, they are outgoing. 00:35:29.528 --> 00:35:33.482 And while we look at the students of Tribhuvan University, 00:35:33.482 --> 00:35:38.770 what I see is students are very much confined to books — 00:35:38.770 --> 00:35:45.813 not even in textbooks: we have these papers here that means the questions that, the exams. 00:35:45.813 --> 00:35:53.365 So there are some predicted questions and you go through that question and you will get questions out of that. 00:35:53.365 --> 00:36:02.507 It is sometimes… that’s really a very difficult task at Tribhuvan University. 00:36:02.507 --> 00:36:10.592 So, what I feel is, for a college student to get admission, academics should be one of the primary criteria, 00:36:10.592 --> 00:36:14.212 but we should have also look at the students in overall — 00:36:14.212 --> 00:36:18.317 how good they [inaudible] in society, how good they [inaudible] in sports. 00:36:18.317 --> 00:36:19.852 That’s what I [think]. >> Thank you. 00:36:19.852 --> 00:36:23.018 Thank you for that interesting comment, Dipendra. 00:36:23.018 --> 00:36:25.049 Would anyone else like to comment on this? 00:36:25.049 --> 00:36:27.210 >> Yes, may I comment? >> Yes. 00:36:27.210 --> 00:36:30.424 >> Because getting in is a very pressing problem for me. 00:36:30.424 --> 00:36:39.113 Now I’m graduating in a few days, and then I’ll be… I have to find an advocate’s masters program. 00:36:39.113 --> 00:36:46.485 And while I was reading “Getting In” article, I have a feeling you know, 00:36:46.485 --> 00:36:56.591 well, the situation that existed in the beginning of the twentieth Century in Harvard University and Yale etc. 00:36:56.591 --> 00:37:02.170 With standardized tests now exists in Russia, 00:37:02.170 --> 00:37:07.384 in the twenty-first century, in the beginning of the twenty-first century. 00:37:07.384 --> 00:37:18.787 So, I think it’s not a good way to admit students just on the basis of standardized tests. 00:37:18.787 --> 00:37:28.394 Academic records is a very is a very… is an important problem 00:37:28.394 --> 00:37:35.325 but while admitting they should see… 00:37:35.325 --> 00:37:45.817 they should see the person[’s] hope — hope as in hope —, his background, his experience, 00:37:45.817 --> 00:37:56.351 what he can do, maybe… just not only his studies. 00:37:56.351 --> 00:38:01.681 >> So, it’s interesting to hear your perspectives on this, and it is true that outside the United States, 00:38:01.681 --> 00:38:06.654 that the standards are usually much more narrow for admissions decisions. 00:38:06.654 --> 00:38:12.510 And I think that, that is what accounted for some of the surprise 00:38:12.510 --> 00:38:18.584 that initially came on to the site about the way that it’s done here in the United States. 00:38:18.584 --> 00:38:22.744 I want to, oh, I see we have another person that just joined us. 00:38:22.744 --> 00:38:25.756 Another Princeton student named Dixon Lee. 00:38:25.756 --> 00:38:27.136 Hi, Dixon. 00:38:27.136 --> 00:38:28.286 >> Hi, Mitch. 00:38:28.286 --> 00:38:32.824 >> So, we’re talking right now about the Malcolm Gladwell essay 00:38:32.824 --> 00:38:39.120 and one of the interesting points that I want to sort of end by thinking about, 00:38:39.120 --> 00:38:43.075 is something that came up a lot on the discussion boards 00:38:43.075 --> 00:38:47.519 which was the study that was cited — and this is for everybody, not just for Dixon — 00:38:47.519 --> 00:38:56.704 the study that was cited by Gladwell, by my colleague Alan Krueger, who did a study of the people 00:38:56.704 --> 00:39:01.346 who were — let’s say “hypothetically,” as it’s described in the article — 00:39:01.346 --> 00:39:09.394 accepted into a state university like Penn State, at a private university like the University of Pennsylvania. 00:39:09.394 --> 00:39:14.890 And what was his point in making that comparison and what did he find? 00:39:14.890 --> 00:39:17.377 Does anybody remember? 00:39:17.377 --> 00:39:22.527 It certainly elicited a lot of response on the discussion boards. 00:39:22.527 --> 00:39:28.105 >> Um. So they referred to it as comparing apples to apples. 00:39:28.105 --> 00:39:37.621 And what they discovered is that both the person who decides to go to the more elite university — 00:39:37.621 --> 00:39:45.517 “elites” — and the person who decides to go to the state school, both do well in the future. 00:39:45.517 --> 00:39:53.689 With the finding of one exception, which is those from the lowest economic strata. 00:39:53.689 --> 00:40:01.009 Those from this strata were seen as benefiting from the elite’s education. 00:40:01.009 --> 00:40:07.887 And it didn’t say… it didn’t explain this in any way but that was the finding. 00:40:07.887 --> 00:40:13.629 >> Can anybody explain — thank you Estela — Can anybody explain to us what was the logic of the article? 00:40:13.629 --> 00:40:18.951 He used the words “selection” and “treatment”, and what was the exact way 00:40:18.951 --> 00:40:28.241 in which he went about in doing his study, in which those words became so important? 00:40:28.241 --> 00:40:30.901 What was he measuring? What was he comparing? 00:40:30.901 --> 00:40:36.206 Does anybody have any memory of that aspect of the article? 00:40:36.206 --> 00:40:42.577 What was Krueger doing there? 00:40:42.577 --> 00:40:46.166 In the traditional — it’s just to jog your memory — 00:40:46.166 --> 00:40:51.783 in the traditional measures of the impact of an Ivy League education, 00:40:51.783 --> 00:40:56.175 comparisons have been made between the salaries of people 00:40:56.175 --> 00:41:01.270 who graduated from Ivy League Schools and the salaries of people 00:41:01.270 --> 00:41:08.339 who graduated from other schools, and what Kruger said was, “Let’s change the comparison.” 00:41:08.339 --> 00:41:16.237 Instead of comparing it in that way, how did we do it? 00:41:16.237 --> 00:41:22.291 He compared the people who were the same person. 00:41:22.291 --> 00:41:25.675 He only took people who were graduated, who were admitted 00:41:25.675 --> 00:41:28.862 both to private schools — to Ivy League Schools — and to other schools 00:41:28.862 --> 00:41:32.048 and who chose, for some reason, to go to the other school instead. 00:41:32.048 --> 00:41:38.543 And he compared those same people against the average people who came out of Ivy League Schools 00:41:38.543 --> 00:41:44.766 and he found out that those people actually did just as well as the people who went to Ivy League Schools. 00:41:44.766 --> 00:41:49.026 And so his point was, that it was not necessarily the treatment 00:41:49.026 --> 00:41:53.904 of going to an Ivy League School that mattered — in terms of the success of people — 00:41:53.904 --> 00:42:01.618 but it was instead the selection into the system from the very beginning 00:42:01.618 --> 00:42:05.933 of certain kinds of people that were destined to be successful. 00:42:05.933 --> 00:42:10.650 And he basically, despite the fact that he’s a Princeton professor 00:42:10.650 --> 00:42:14.561 and has every reason to be biased in favor of the Ivy League, 00:42:14.561 --> 00:42:20.174 he concluded that the impact of the Ivy League is not nearly as great 00:42:20.174 --> 00:42:24.411 as it’s taken to be by the wider society and the wider world. 00:42:24.411 --> 00:42:28.418 Now it seems to me that that kind of analysis that Krueger did, 00:42:28.418 --> 00:42:32.282 is in the best tradition of the sociological imagination. 00:42:32.282 --> 00:42:37.797 And it seems to me that, that kind of information should be empowering to many people, 00:42:37.797 --> 00:42:46.104 regardless of whether or not they would even want to come to Princeton or some other Ivy League School. 00:42:46.104 --> 00:42:50.725 Did you guys… did that information make a similar impression on you guys? 00:42:50.725 --> 00:42:58.243 What effect did it have on you to read that part of the article? 00:42:58.243 --> 00:43:02.600 >> Yeah, I understood. Yeah, I understand what you’re saying. 00:43:02.600 --> 00:43:08.969 The one quote that he has here is “having Penn on your resume opens doors.” 00:43:08.969 --> 00:43:15.689 And I do notice that there is that sort of the meanest attitude when it comes to society in general. 00:43:15.689 --> 00:43:20.257 People turn and maybe look at certain people a certain kind of way — they put them up on a pedestal — 00:43:20.257 --> 00:43:24.563 and you know, it can sometimes be a little unfortunate that they would do something like that 00:43:24.563 --> 00:43:28.369 but you know, I understand; and 00:43:28.369 --> 00:43:34.726 because there’s such an emphasis that’s been put on for so long about who’s coming out of where — 00:43:34.730 --> 00:43:38.243 just, you know, how, also like what he said earlier in the article, 00:43:38.243 --> 00:43:41.759 you know, when he… when somebody said they were from Harvard it was like everybody 00:43:41.759 --> 00:43:44.948 in the room got quiet you know and they were like, “Oh, this guy is from Harvard!” 00:43:44.948 --> 00:43:49.970 Just like I understand that’s what he was explaining. 00:43:49.970 --> 00:43:55.782 And it kind of seems to me like — I’m not sure if I got [it] right, 00:43:55.782 --> 00:43:59.949 but what he was saying was that some of the [students] 00:43:59.949 --> 00:44:06.480 well, did really well in the lower-tiered school — like the state school — that they only did 00:44:06.480 --> 00:44:10.776 as good as the people who were like average students in the Ivy League School. 00:44:10.776 --> 00:44:13.906 >> No, no, no, no, no, no. It was exactly the opposite of that. 00:44:13.906 --> 00:44:18.846 He is basically saying that if you took the same person who is admitted to both, 00:44:18.846 --> 00:44:24.913 then it’s really ultimately the individual who mattered more than (>> Okay.) the social context. 00:44:24.917 --> 00:44:29.699 >> Okay, so, yes. I, I just, I understood that what he was talking about with that, you know, 00:44:29.699 --> 00:44:36.057 having Penn on your resume, that’s basically, you know, the whole, the general thing basically. 00:44:36.057 --> 00:44:37.797 Your dream is what you’re looking at. 00:44:37.797 --> 00:44:41.045 You know, when you’re coming out of that school, you’re grand and people look at 00:44:41.045 --> 00:44:46.012 that and they think that when you’re coming out of Penn or Harvard, you’re like a Mercedes. 00:44:46.012 --> 00:44:49.134 >> Right. But his… >> When you’re coming out of Penn State,… 00:44:49.134 --> 00:44:52.170 >> But his point though is — and it’s important to clarify this 00:44:52.170 --> 00:44:55.162 and make sure that we get on the same page on this point — 00:44:55.162 --> 00:45:00.580 is that his point is that when you look at the statistical data for large numbers of people, 00:45:00.580 --> 00:45:07.131 then those anecdotal stories actually don’t have as much explanatory value 00:45:07.131 --> 00:45:13.190 as the analysis that he did would have. 00:45:13.190 --> 00:45:15.472 Dixon, what do you think about this? 00:45:15.472 --> 00:45:20.210 >> So, when I was reading over it, I was interested to see that he says that 00:45:20.210 --> 00:45:25.276 the person who is accepted to Penn and the person who’s accepted to Penn State would do the same thing 00:45:25.276 --> 00:45:32.642 but then I was wondering, so admissions factors don’t always account for everything that person is capable of. 00:45:32.642 --> 00:45:38.328 So, I think it might have been just outside of the scope for his project. 00:45:38.328 --> 00:45:45.339 But I think that I would have been interested at this project have continued and then look at — 00:45:45.339 --> 00:45:51.201 so — what are the things that the [inaudible] students for and how did those affect people in the upper strata 00:45:51.201 --> 00:45:56.014 that normally wouldn’t be affected by the treatment 00:45:56.014 --> 00:46:03.762 that Princeton gives the, like the, really lower, lower strata that [inaudible] was talking about earlier. 00:46:03.762 --> 00:46:06.301 >> Good. That’s very interesting. 00:46:06.301 --> 00:46:09.074 So, basically, I hope that we can use Alan Krueger’s study 00:46:09.074 --> 00:46:13.868 as a way of getting and thinking more about the questions that I raised 00:46:13.868 --> 00:46:19.272 at the end of the first lecture of how it is that the individual makes a difference. 00:46:19.272 --> 00:46:26.167 And the extent to which we are truly trapped by certain social circumstances. 00:46:26.167 --> 00:46:31.654 Sometimes, we imagine that the social circumstances that are surrounding us 00:46:31.654 --> 00:46:39.092 are trapping us in ways that they actually are not, and it takes constant sociological investigation 00:46:39.092 --> 00:46:45.340 to know the difference between a real trap and an illusion of one. 00:46:45.340 --> 00:46:53.496 So, I want to end today’s discussion by just saying a little bit about where we’re going next. 00:46:53.496 --> 00:46:57.904 I want to say, first of all, that this was an experiment today. 00:46:57.904 --> 00:47:01.629 I know that the discussion was by no means perfect 00:47:01.629 --> 00:47:06.553 although it was as good as I could have ever hoped from a group of students around the world 00:47:06.553 --> 00:47:15.327 and I thought that your comments in the seminar today were really great and interesting and a wonderful beginning. 00:47:15.327 --> 00:47:22.105 But technically it could be improved and we will certainly work on that in the weeks to come. 00:47:22.105 --> 00:47:25.606 I really appreciate the patience of everybody who’s watching 00:47:25.606 --> 00:47:29.647 as well as your interest and I appreciate your support 00:47:29.647 --> 00:47:33.198 and your understanding that we are part now of a really big experiment. 00:47:33.198 --> 00:47:37.924 We’re trying to do something new and I suspect that we’re going to learn a lot along the way. 00:47:37.924 --> 00:47:41.883 When we meet the next time in the online forum, 00:47:41.883 --> 00:47:46.533 we’re going to include some new people that were not here today; we’ll also have some familiar faces. 00:47:46.533 --> 00:47:53.021 We’ll try to substitute some new people in, to keep the conversation representing different parts of the world. 00:47:53.021 --> 00:47:57.196 And, we will try to do some things to improve it each time 00:47:57.196 --> 00:48:02.971 until we really get it to a point where it is something that is working really well and we are really happy with it. 00:48:02.971 --> 00:48:07.634 But I must say that for a first time today, for a first effort, I’m really pleased with this. 00:48:07.634 --> 00:48:13.202 I also, I wanted to say that I was really excited to see the large number of study groups 00:48:13.202 --> 00:48:21.275 that had formed from around the world and I wanted to also give a special welcome to the people 00:48:21.275 --> 00:48:27.796 that are clearly participating in the class from Iran and from Afghanistan — 00:48:27.796 --> 00:48:35.637 two countries which do not have the greatest relationship officially with the United States today 00:48:35.637 --> 00:48:43.945 but that is certainly not due to any ill feeling on the part of Americans 00:48:43.945 --> 00:48:50.484 and we certainly all believe that these kinds of contacts are the ones that we should be having 00:48:50.484 --> 00:48:53.531 and I hope that in our future online seminars 00:48:53.531 --> 00:48:59.099 that we can have representatives from Iran and from Afghanistan with us as well. 00:48:59.099 --> 00:49:02.246 So, I ’m going to say goodbye to you all now. 00:49:02.246 --> 00:49:06.733 So, thank all of you online for participating in this wonderful experiment 00:49:06.733 --> 00:49:12.057 and I look forward to seeing you this Monday with the second lecture, 00:49:12.057 --> 00:49:16.071 in the discussion boards which I will be monitoring very carefully, 00:49:16.071 --> 00:49:26.007 and of course, in our second online seminar next Wednesday.