Jodi O'Brien

Heterosexism and Homophobia

Acceptance of homosexuality is increasing in Western cultures, but homophobic negative, fearful, or hateful attitudes and behavior toward gays, lesbians, and bisexuals are still pervasive in those same cultures. Social science studies emphasize that homophobia is deeply rooted in cultural beliefs about gender and supported by heterosexist assumptions that only heterosexual relationships are natural and normal. Homophobia is institutionalized through the actions of law enforcement, the judiciary, politicians, and religious leaders, as well as through public support for continued homophobic discrimination. Challenges to homophobic social practices are rising, but action to insure the rights of all sexual minorities remains essential.

Sociology as an Epistemology of Contradiction

Human social life is messy, and as a result the practice of sociology is filled with tension, contradiction, conflict, and ambiguity. As a discipline, sociology has generated excellent theories and methodologies for dealing with this complexity. This presidential address suggests that the impact and resonance of sociological knowledge is enhanced further when we open ourselves to the tensions and contradictions we experience personally in our work as sociologists. Critical engagement with these personal conflicts deepens our understanding of the social subject and enriches the sociological imagination. Using the method of “auto-historia,” the author describes some of her own experiences of “going deeper into the contradictions” and the significance of this process for her professional evolution.

Seldom Told Tales from the Field: Guest Editor’s Introduction to the Special Issue:

In 2008 I had the honor of serving as the president of the Pacific Sociological Association. In considering my theme for the annual meetings, I asked colleagues and students for input regarding compelling and timely topics in contemporary sociology. I was intrigued when several of them mentioned variations on a similar theme: the complexity of social life. Students in my contemporary social theories course challenged me to come up with a theme that addressed both the contradictions in social experience and how sociologists (and related social science practitioners) grapple with these contradictions. For instance, they wanted me to acknowledge the tension inherent in a discipline that simultaneously theorizes social life as socially constructed and also patterned and knowable. As one of my colleagues aptly noted, human experience is messy and social life is fraught with tension, ambiguity, and contradiction, yet we still do our best to comprehend and map this constantly shifting terrain. Accordingly, I selected “The Messiness of Human Social Life” as my theme, and in my presidential remarks I suggested that we might benefit from thinking of sociology as an “epistemology of contradiction” (O’Brien 2009). What I meant by this is that we could find it useful to acknowledge how complexity or messiness informs our scholarship. In our research we encounter contradiction, tension, and ambiguity much more than we are trained to acknowledge. The normative discourses of training in the social sciences reflect ideals whereby theoretical and methodological rigor are associated with precise conceptual frameworks, straightforward research designs, and defensible empirical findings. However, any seasoned researcher knows that the real gems of insight typically come into focus when we are mucking