How did we get here?

When I look at the content of  most of the British sociology journals I feel like I've landed on an alien planet (some of the American ones make me feel like an alien too, but usually in a different way). Either I don't understand what it is that  people claim to be studying and writing about or I do understand it and it is so banal or absurd that you would be ashamed to share it with an intelligent  human being. James Davis' evaluation of the situation, which is almost 20 years old, gets to the heart of the matter (though I don't agree with absolutely everything he says).

On the other hand let's try to stay positive and give three cheers for  Gary King who has put  a lot of effort effort into thinking about how we can  use social scientific knowledge and modern communications technology to improve how we teach. You can watch him on video here giving a talk to the Harvard Board of Overseers. What he is advocating is so obviously the way we should go I don't understand why we aren't doing it already.