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The journal gained notoriety in 1996 for the [[Sokal affair]], when it published a [[Nonsense|nonsensical]] article that physicist [[Alan Sokal]] had deliberately written as a hoax. The editorial board, according to Editor Andrew Ross, published the article as a good faith attempt by Sokal, a well-known physicist, to develop a social theory of his field.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Editorial |first=Board |date=1996 |title=Response to the Sokal Affair |url=https://physics.nyu.edu/sokal/SocialText_reply_LF.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=09/25/2024 |website=Physics.NYU.edu}}</ref> The editorial board asked Sokal to revise and resubmit his article, but he refused and the editors decided to publish the paper as a prominent physicist’s best attempt to develop theory.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lingua Franca |url=http://linguafranca.mirror.theinfo.org/9607/mst.html |access-date=2024-09-25 |website=linguafranca.mirror.theinfo.org}}</ref> |
The journal gained notoriety in 1996 for the [[Sokal affair]], when it published a [[Nonsense|nonsensical]] article that physicist [[Alan Sokal]] had deliberately written as a hoax. The editorial board, according to Editor Andrew Ross, published the article as a good faith attempt by Sokal, a well-known physicist, to develop a social theory of his field.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Editorial |first=Board |date=1996 |title=Response to the Sokal Affair |url=https://physics.nyu.edu/sokal/SocialText_reply_LF.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=09/25/2024 |website=Physics.NYU.edu}}</ref> The editorial board asked Sokal to revise and resubmit his article, but he refused and the editors decided to publish the paper as a prominent physicist’s best attempt to develop theory.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lingua Franca |url=http://linguafranca.mirror.theinfo.org/9607/mst.html |access-date=2024-09-25 |website=linguafranca.mirror.theinfo.org}}</ref> |
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From [https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/11/15/specials/sokal-text.html “Postmodern gravity, deconstructed, slyly,” NYT May 18, 1996]: |
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"We read it as the earnest attempt of a professional scientist to seek some sort of philosophical justification for his work," said Professor Ross, director of the American studies program at N.Y.U. "In other words, it was about the relationship between philosophy and physics." |
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Now Professor Ross says he regrets having published the article. But he said Professor Sokal misunderstood the ideas of the people he was trying to expose. "These are caricatures of complex scholarship," he said. |
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Professor Aronowitz, a sociologist and director of the Center for Cultural Studies at CUNY, said Professor Sokal seems to believe that the people he is parodying deny the existence of the real world. "They never deny the real world," Professor Aronowitz said. "They are talking about whether meaning can be derived from observation of the real world." |
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Professor Ross said it would be a shame if the hoax obscured the broader issues his journal sought to address, "that scientific knowledge is affected by social and cultural conditions and is not a version of some universal truth that is the same in all times and places."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Postmodern Gravity Deconstructed, Slyly |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/11/15/specials/sokal-text.html |access-date=2024-09-25 |website=archive.nytimes.com}}</ref> |
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The editors of the journal were awarded the 1996 [[Ig Nobel Prize]] for literature by "eagerly publishing research that they could not understand, that the author said was meaningless, and which claimed that reality does not exist".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.improbable.com/ig/winners/#ig1996|title=The 1996 Ig Nobel Prize Winners |date=August 2006 |publisher=Improbable Research |access-date= 15 April 2016}}</ref> The journal did not<ref>{{cite journal |title=Peer Review |journal=Social Text |volume=27 |issue=3 |doi=10.1215/01642472-2009-031 |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/social-text/article-abstract/27/3%20(100)/169/33667/Peer-Review |access-date=28 April 2023}}</ref> practice academic [[peer review]], and it did not submit the article for outside expert review by a physicist.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/transgress_v2/transgress_v2_singlefile.html| title = Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity| access-date=April 3, 2007| last = Sokal| first = Alan D.| date=November 28, 1994| work = Social Text #46/47 (spring/summer 1996)| publisher = [[Duke University]] Press| pages = 217–252}}</ref><ref name="MST"></ref> The Sokal article was not [[Retraction in academic publishing|retracted]] by the journal. |
The editors of the journal were awarded the 1996 [[Ig Nobel Prize]] for literature by "eagerly publishing research that they could not understand, that the author said was meaningless, and which claimed that reality does not exist".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.improbable.com/ig/winners/#ig1996|title=The 1996 Ig Nobel Prize Winners |date=August 2006 |publisher=Improbable Research |access-date= 15 April 2016}}</ref> The journal did not<ref>{{cite journal |title=Peer Review |journal=Social Text |volume=27 |issue=3 |doi=10.1215/01642472-2009-031 |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/social-text/article-abstract/27/3%20(100)/169/33667/Peer-Review |access-date=28 April 2023}}</ref> practice academic [[peer review]], and it did not submit the article for outside expert review by a physicist.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/transgress_v2/transgress_v2_singlefile.html| title = Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity| access-date=April 3, 2007| last = Sokal| first = Alan D.| date=November 28, 1994| work = Social Text #46/47 (spring/summer 1996)| publisher = [[Duke University]] Press| pages = 217–252}}</ref><ref name="MST"></ref> The Sokal article was not [[Retraction in academic publishing|retracted]] by the journal. |
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Revision as of 19:00, 25 September 2024
 | |
| Discipline | Cultural studies |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Edited by | Jonathan Beller, Jayna Brown, David Sartorius |
| Publication details | |
| History | 1979–present |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (United States) |
| Frequency | Quarterly |
| Standard abbreviations | |
| ISO 4 | Soc. Text |
| Indexing | |
| ISSN | 0164-2472 (print) 1527-1951 (web) |
| LCCN | 79644624 |
| JSTOR | 01642472 |
| OCLC no. | 423561805 |
| Links | |
Social Text is a peer-reviewed[1] academic journal published by Duke University Press. Since its inception by an independent editorial collective in 1979, Social Text has addressed a wide range of social and cultural phenomena, covering questions of gender, sexuality, race, and the environment. Each issue covers subjects in the debates around feminism, Marxism, neoliberalism, postcolonialism, postmodernism, queer theory, and popular culture. The journal has since been run by different collectives over the years, mostly based at New York City universities. It has maintained an avowedly progressive political orientation and scholarship over these years, if also a less Marxist one. Since 1992, it is published by Duke University Press.[2]
The journal gained notoriety in 1996 for the Sokal affair, when it published a nonsensical article that physicist Alan Sokal had deliberately written as a hoax. The editorial board, according to Editor Andrew Ross, published the article as a good faith attempt by Sokal, a well-known physicist, to develop a social theory of his field.[3] The editorial board asked Sokal to revise and resubmit his article, but he refused and the editors decided to publish the paper as a prominent physicist’s best attempt to develop theory.[4]
The editors of the journal were awarded the 1996 Ig Nobel Prize for literature by "eagerly publishing research that they could not understand, that the author said was meaningless, and which claimed that reality does not exist".[5] The journal did not[6] practice academic peer review, and it did not submit the article for outside expert review by a physicist.[7][2] The Sokal article was not retracted by the journal.
See also
References
- ^ "About the Journal". Social Text. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
- ^ a b "Mystery Science Theater". Lingua Franca. Retrieved 2014-12-10.
- ^ Editorial, Board (1996). "Response to the Sokal Affair" (PDF). Physics.NYU.edu. Retrieved 09/25/2024.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help)CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Lingua Franca". linguafranca.mirror.theinfo.org. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
- ^ "The 1996 Ig Nobel Prize Winners". Improbable Research. August 2006. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
- ^ "Peer Review". Social Text. 27 (3). doi:10.1215/01642472-2009-031. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
- ^ Sokal, Alan D. (November 28, 1994). "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity". Social Text #46/47 (spring/summer 1996). Duke University Press. pp. 217–252. Retrieved April 3, 2007.
External links
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