Writing To Be Read

Sociology has long been notorious for its use of jargon and impenetrable prose. Sociologists writing badly inspired the editor of Fowler’s Modern English Usage to coin a new word-sociologese. These bad habits have rendered scholarly articles and books mostly unreadable. In short, the monograph has become a charnel house for academic prose. Good writing, particularly in non- scholarly venues, is essential for a truly public sociology.

(Full text of George Orwell’s Why I Write and Politics and the English Language are available online.)