RC#1

Why are women paid less than men? Why were there riots in some northwestern English cities in 2000 but not

in London? What is the significance of bloggers, or of the World Social Forum? One of the strange features of

our times is that well-educated people can get by with very little idea of how to answer questions like these.

Over the last few decades, we have witnessed great progress in the public's level of scientific understanding,

thanks to many brilliant expositors. In history, too, some of the most original minds are also first rate

communicators. Much of economics has permeated into common sense, particularly of decision-makers around

the world. But sociology has faded from view. Its heyday a generation ago feels like another era. As a result,

many people rely on very simple interpretive frameworks to make sense of what they see around them or on

the evening news. So conflicts between Muslims and Christians are attributed to culture or history. Gender

pay gaps are seen as the result of misogyny. The internet is ascribed with magical powers to turn the tables on

multinational corporations or governments. Some of the reasons for sociology's retreat from public awareness

lie in the discipline itself, which took a turn towards abstract theory in the 1970s and away from observation,

description and detailed historical analysis. Some of the reasons lie in the shape of professional careers which

enabled sociologists to progress without having to do primary observation. Within sociology very good work

is continuing to be done, and sense is being made of complex issues. But little of it is penetrating the public

consciousness.Charles Tilly is probably the outstanding contemporary exponent of an engaged but theoretically

rigorous sociology. It is a symptom of sociology's relative detachment that he remains largely unknown

outside academic circles in Britain, even though he is by some margin the most fertile thinker in the American

social sciences, covering topics as diverse as the rise of the state in 18th-century Europe to racial inequality,

political violence to the conditions for democracy in central Asia. In some ways he is old fashioned—he

offers explanations and shows how some things cause other things to happen. His accounts contain real

people, history and drama, and have lessons for how change might be achieved more successfully. Like all

the best sociologists, his work starts with close observation. A good example is pay inequality, which Tilly

investigated along with many other kinds of inequality in his book Durable Inequality. Economists have

found it hard to explain why gender pay gaps are so persistent, since in a properly functioning labour market,

employers should have incentives to reward women as much as men for their skills. Tilly points out that close

observation of how pay and jobs work in the real world soon shows that the most important determinant of

pay is the jobs that people take. Pay differences between the sexes within the same jobs are now small

(although a combination of men's greater pushiness and some lingering discrimination means they have not

entirely disappeared). "Since compensation varies systematically by job more than it varies by gender within

jobs, the big question we have to ask is not, 'How come individual bosses discriminate against women?' but,

'What is the process by which women stream into some occupations and men into others?'" he says.

1. What does the author mean by "sociology has faded from view"?

a. That there is no reasoning in our actions.

b. That religious conflicts are on the rise.

c. That there is breakdown in the human society.

d. That women are subject to gender bias.

2. The author cites the turn towards abstract theory to imply:

a. a shift in core sociology.

b. a drift away from historical analysis.

c. the superficiality of modern day careers.

d. the change in the professional objectives.

3. What does the author imply by stating that Tilly's accounts have real elements and they contain lessons

for achieving change successfully?

a. That Tilly is an advocate of theory based sociology.

b. That Tilly is one of the most fertile thinkers.

c. That offering explanations is considered old fashioned.

d. That learning by models is passé.