Fwd: ASA complaint (fwd) (fwd)

Apologies to PSNers for recieving this post twice, but
I found the post below to be of interest.  It is a
"complaint" letter with signatures submitted to ASA. 
To use the discourse of science has been a staple for
those who like to hide their politics.  May it be that
for most of these signees this was a justifiable war? 
 

It would be interesting to break down the racial,
ethnic, and gender composition of the listees, just so
we can be "scientific".

Khaldoun


> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2003 11:09:15 -0400
> From: James Tucker <jetucker@cisunix.unh.edu>
> To: jetucker@hopper.unh.edu
> Subject: ASA complaint
> 
> Fellow sociologist:
> 
> A growing number of sociologists from various
> universities have requested
> that their names be added to the following complaint
> (see below), directed
> to the American Sociological Association.   If you
> wish to add your name to
> the list of complainants, please let me know, and
> please forward this
> letter and my e- mail address
> (jetucker@hopper.unh.edu) to other people who
> might be interested.  Thank you.
> 
> Best,
> James Tucker
> Department of Sociology
> University of New Hampshire
> 
> 
> To the Chair of the American Sociological
> Association Committee on
> Professional Ethics:
> 
> We would like to complain about an ethics violation.
> 
> Background
> 
> Shortly after the commencement of the war in Iraq, a
> group sociologists
> composed the following resolution:
> 
> The American Sociological Association comprises
> sociologists and kindred
> professionals who study, among other things, war and
> peace, democracy and
> totalitarianism, conflict resolution and violence,
> systems of inequality and
> their effects, states and legal orders, nationalism,
> and nation-building.
> ·     We believe that foreign interventions that do not
> have the support of
> the world community create more problems than
> solutions. President Bush's
> and Prime Minister Blair's decision to invade Iraq
> against the wishes of
> most of the nations of the world will undermine the
> already weakened UN,
> the League of Arab States, and the rule of
> international law, and will
> bring more harm than good to the Iraqi people.
> ·     We also believe that the threat of terrorism is
> not ameliorated by this
> intervention in Iraq. Instead of lessening the risk
> of terrorist attacks,
> this invasion could serve as the spark for multiple
> attacks in years to
> come. ·       This statement is not issued, and should not
> be construed in any
> way, as supporting the dictatorship of President
> Hussein or his regime. Our
> major concern with Bush and Blair's policy is not
> the stated end but with
> the means. ·  Hence, the American Sociological
> Association calls for an
> immediate end to the war against Iraq.
> 
> Following ASA bylaws, the group of sociologists
> circulated the resolution
> and secured the signatures of 3% of the voting
> eligible membership.  The
> resolution was then forwarded to the ASA Executive
> Council.  The Council
> chose to put the resolution to a membership vote. 
> According to an
> announcement that appears on the ASA web site:
> 
>        Two thirds of the members who cast a vote on
> [this] member-generated
> resolution voted in support of the resolution
> calling for the Association to
> take a position favoring an immediate end to the war
> against Iraq. The
> resolution emphasized that this position does not in
> any way reflect support
> for the Hussein dictatorship but rather a view that
> such involvement could
> create more problems than solutions. This resolution
> was entered onto the
> ASA annual election ballot before the conclusion of
> major hostilities in
> Iraq. The membership vote becomes an official
> position of the American
> Sociological Association.
> 
> Complaint
> 
> This resolution ? now an official position of the
> ASA -- violates the ASA's
> Code of Ethics, which states that sociologists must
> "provide service only
> within the boundaries of their competence, based on
> their education,
> training, supervised experience, or appropriate
> professional experience"
> (Ethical Standards, Section 1)  and "rely on
> scientifically and
> professionally derived knowledge; act with honesty
> and integrity; and avoid
> untrue, deceptive, or undocumented statements in
> undertaking work-related
> functions or activities"(Ethical Standards, Section
> 2.a.)   The resolution
> also violates current ASA policy that states that
> the organization should
> take official positions on public policy only when
> there is "a solid
> foundation of sociological knowledge as well as
> widespread agreement on its
> policy implications" (Executive Officer's Column,
> ASA Footnotes, April
> 2003).
> 
> Statements in the resolution such as "we believe"
> that the war will "bring
> more harm than good to the Iraqi people" and "could
> serve as the spark for
> multiple attacks for years to come" are opinions
> ("undocumented
> statements"), not supported social scientific
> evidence.  Has sociology
> reached a level of scientific and theoretical
> precision that allows it to
> forecast the future of terrorism and other
> international behavior (or any
> form of human behavior for that matter)?   Certainly
> not, and to claim
> otherwise is dishonest. Furthermore, most
> sociologists are not specialists
> in terrorism, war, and international relations, and
> are therefore not
> professionally qualified to take a position on the
> issues addressed in the
> resolution.  This too is unethical and an abuse of
> professional authority.
> 
> More generally, the call for an immediate end to the
> war is a moral position
> that lies beyond the jurisdiction of sociology as a
> science, regardless of
> the validity of the predictions about the effects of
> the war.  As any
> philosopher of science knows, moral positions cannot
> be deduced from
> science itself, meaning sociological theory and
> research, no matter how
> advanced, cannot tell us whether any particular
> social policy (such as the
> decision to go to war) is desirable or undesirable. 
> The morality of war is
> therefore a matter that is beyond the purview of a
> scientific organization.
> So when the ASA takes a position on the war, it
> ventures into a realm of
> moral questions that it is unequipped to handle. 
> For example, the
> resolution endorses a position that the morality of
> international behavior
> (i.e., war) is determined by a majority vote of
> nations, a position that,
> among other things, would have upheld colonialism
> and slavery.
> 
> The ASA failed to protect the profession from those
> who are willing to use
> it to advance moral and political causes.  Indeed,
> the ASA itself has
> become a party to this serious breach of
> professional ethics.
> 
> Respectfully submitted,
> James Tucker
> Deborah Abowitz
> Julia Adams
> Paul Allison
> Stephen J. Bahr
> M. P. Baumgartner
> Stephen D. Berkowitz
> Joan Biddle
> Donald Black
> Robert L. Boyd
> Bradley Campbell
> Mark Cooney
> Edward Crenshaw
> Timothy Crippen
> Thomas Cushman
> Mathieu Deflem
> Gordon J. DiRenzo
> Amitai Etzioni
> Thomas J. Fararo
> Richard Featherstone
> Melvyn L. Fein
> Roger Finke
> Kimberly Folse
> Tracie Gardner
> Jack P. Gibbs
> David Gibson
> Norval Glenn
> Ellis Godard
> Ted Goertzel
> Elisabeth Harkins
> Robert M. Hauser
> Louis Hicks
> Paul Higgins
> Rosemary L. Hopcroft
> Allan V. Horwitz
> Jonathan Imber
> Mark Iutcovich
> Howard L. Kaye
> Satoshi Kanazawa
> Joseph J. Lawrence
> John Allen Logan
> Frank Lechner
> Barry Markovsky
> Troy A. McGinnis
> Joseph H. Michalski
> Stephen L. Morgan
> Thomas H. Moore
> François Nielsen
> Steven L. Nock
> Patrick D. Nolan
> Kent R. Olney
> Ann Shola Orloff
> Scott Phillips
> John C. Pock
> David Popenoe
> Christopher Porto
> Peter H. Rossi
> Joachim Savelsberg
> David Sciulli
> Guy L. Siebold
> Roberta Senechal de la Roche
> Matthew Silberman
> Lawrence W. Sherman
> Christian Smith
> Rodney Stark
> Jean Stockard
> Thomas Stone
> Jeffery D. Tatum
> Shane Thye
> William Weston
> Harrison White
> Jeff Weintraub
> Dennis Wrong
> Robert Wuthnow
> Linda Yellin
> Lynne Zucker
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ---------- End Forwarded Message ----------rr
> 
> 
> 
> 


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