Here’s a fun post by Arnold Kling where geniuses have maintained word recognition and influence. Quote:
Sociology (Erving Goffman, Talcott Parsons, Robert Nisbet, Charles Murray, Matt Granovetter, Robert Trivers, EO Wilson, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Jay Gould)
Isn’t there a good case to be made that we live in Erving Goffman’s world? I think he coined the term “impression management,” and certainly with the advent of social media that is now a big part of our lives. But he is a Faller. Perhaps if you read him now, you would dismiss him as giving Blind Eyes to the Obvious. Parsons and Nisbet are also Fallers.
Murray is still divisive, but less well-known than in the 20th century. So he’s a Faller, but more of another.
Granovetter is a Riser, right? Social media is a big thing now, and he is known for his work on them.
I place the opponents of sociobiology in the category of sociology, as society does not care about insects or peacocks. I would say that Gould’s battle against evolution has failed, so he seems to be a Faller. Dawkins and Trivers are seen as Risers, but Wilson was more popular, and controversial, in his prime.
Keynes, Tolkien, and Rand are among the risers (sometimes comparatively), so what does that tell us about the world today?
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