Research - Conclusion - Example

I think that one problem/difficulty in sociology is in the connection between research, conclusion and example.  The essence of sociology is scientific research about society.  Based on that research, sociologists come to conclusions.  Then, we try to exemplify those conclusions in simple terms to explain the conclusions to students.  

McIntosh's Knapsack is an example to teach the conclusion of racism that sociological research proves.  I think that the problem is that sometimes sociologists (myself included) get wrapped up in an example (like Knapsack) and we forget to teach about the scientific research behind it.  When we get wrapped up in teaching a sociological conclusion and we only use an example to teach it but not research, we run the risk of engaging in rhetorical debate that can often end up with anecdotal evidence.  This leaves us as sociology teachers (especially in the current post-factual era) at risk of engaging with students who feel free to choose their own side and debate the teacher.  There is a mistrust of institutions in general, and educational ones specifically that already undermines our intellectual authority.  It doesn't happen a lot, but I have had a steady minority of students who consistently challenge the conclusions in sociology based on the rhetorical arguments that they hear from people like Ben Shapiro.  I think that we, as teachers, need to be distinct when we teach are teaching about sociological research vs. sociological conclusions, vs. simple examples of the conclusions.  

I have seen this happen often when teaching sociological vocabulary.  In most cases, the vocabulary is a conclusion reached through sociological research.  But the intro textbooks that we use ignore the original research and jump right to the conclusions.  I think that in an era when educational institutions were valued and teachers were trusted this was fine.  But the current era of fake news, liberal education bias, and anti-political correctness leaves open the constant reality that as teachers we will be challenged and the boldfaced explanations in books will not be enough.  I think that we need to contextualize the vocabulary and concepts in a way that links it to research, conclusions or examples. 

Shapiro (and others like him, namely Jordan Peterson, Charlie Kirk and Jacob Wohl) are able to question the examples we use and provide their own examples because they are really just citing anecdotes, or in some cases cherry-picked research.  IMHO, it would be wiser as sociology teachers for us to lead students to all of the research that is available and then explain that that research can lead us to a conclusion which then can be explained through a simple example.  This is why I think that there is not a lot of literature out there by academics about thinkers like Shapiro.  Sociology academics are engaged in research while demagogues like Shapiro are engaged in more philosophy and rhetorical debate.  But because their views are about social issues, students feel like they can bring them up in sociology class.  But they are not sociologists.  Jordan Peterson has even called for the dismantling of sociology as a discipline!  So I think some sociologists don't even address them because sociologists don't see them as peers worthy of engaging.  Despite that assessment, I have seen these people come up in class so below are my thoughts specifically to address people like Shapiro when students bring them up in class.