E-Mail Policy
Students
--Students I already know who are not taking
classes with me currently
I look forward to hearing from you in whatever way you
find most convenient. If you use e-mail it may be helpful for you to
remind me of how we met if we have not conversed in awhile.
--Students I already know who are taking classes with
me currently
Please see your class notes concerning the e-mail policy
for the class you are taking.
--Local Students I do not know
Berkeley students interested in exploring taking a class,
working on a research project, or other possibilities are encouraged to
use e-mail only to arrange a face-to-face appointment.
--Non-local Students I do not know
Students of other institutions interested in contacting me
are encouraged to use the hardcopy address located on my main page, and to
send me an old-fashioned letter outlining their questions and concerns.
Please be sure to indicate a way for me to contact you.
Non-Students
--Acquaintances
Acquaintance? I look forward to receiving your note,
however you prefer to send it.
--Strangers
Acquaintance I have yet to meet? I look forward to
receiving your note, too. Please make a special effort in your e-mail to
indicate why you are contacting me especially. If that is a tough case to
make--and, I can't imagine it would be easy given the hundreds of scholars
working on exciting topics--please send your query to me via hardcopy mail
using the hardcopy mail address located on my home-page.
Explanation
E-mail is a wonderful resource. However, it is also
greatly transforming the conditions of work and non-work. Sociologists,
exposed to Weber's iron cage metaphor, certainly recognize the positive
and negative implications of technological change. But, paraphrasing Marx
(roughly, I admit), understanding is one thing, but the point is to change
it (back, in this case). I observe that many faculty suffer under an
onslaught of e-mail, and struggle to figure out how to respond. Some
simply do not respond, i.e., mail from those persons they do not already
know is simply ignored.
Although an understandable response, this is unfortunate. When I had
just graduated from college, faculty I did not personally know made
themselves available to me. I have always been grateful to William Julius
Wilson, Adam Gamoran, Dan Lortie, Bob Hauser, Nora Cate Schaeffer, Rob
Mare, Gerald Marwell, Harriet Zuckerman, and many more, who answered my
letters, opened their doors to me, and encouraged my development, simply
because I asked. The only way to even attempt to begin to re-pay their
generosity is to make myself available to others who approach me with a
question and a desire to learn. If for no other reason, then, I certainly
want to be available to students and others who seek to further explore
the social world.
However, when I sought faculty assistance the costs, especially the
time costs, of doing so were higher. One could not send, at the cost of a
few keystrokes, one hundred or one thousand or ten thousand letters all
around the nation or the world, seeking assistance. The drastic decrease
in costs both allows the number of requests to outstrip anyone's ability
to satisfy the demand, and makes it impossible for anyone to differentiate
between those persons seeking their particular counsel and those sending
the academic equivalent, well-meaning or not, of spam. The desire, of
course, is to respond to the former, and ignore the latter.
Because I want to be available, but not overwhelmed, I have drafted
this page which outlines my desires with respect to e-mail. I hope this
will help you receive the assistance you seek.
