Explores how government acceptance of junk social science can lend it a false appearance of legitimacy.
Preface Bibliography Index
SUSAN KISS SARNOFF is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Ohio University. She specializes in teaching Social Policy and in analyzing government bureaucracies, public and private benefits, and criminal justice policy. She is the author of Paying for Crime: The Policies and Possibilities of Crime Victim Reimbursement (Praeger, 1996), and is currently conducting research on social work regulation and ethics.
"[T]his volume promises to be the most controversial and must-read
book since Specht and Courtney's Unfaithful Angels: How Social Work
Has Lost Its Mission hit the shelves. No, this is not your typical
academic book, it is original, dynamic and very
thought-provoking.... Sanctified Snake Oil is a compelling and
fascinating work which would make an excellent addition to any
graduate research or women's studies course or book club discussion
group."-Katherine van Wormer Professor of Social Work University of
Northern Iowa Coauthor of Women and the Criminal Justice System
"The snake oil deal with in the private sphere is bad enough, but
when the government endorses junk sciences, and not just in the
court of public opinion but in actual courts of law, we need to
stand up and fight back, as Susan Sarnoff has done in this
brilliant tour de force of skeptical analysis. Sanctified Snake Oil
should be read by every member of congress, as well as law makers
throughout the land."-Michael Shermer Publisher Skeptics Society
and Skeptic Magazine
"Thomas Sowell says that social' is an adjective whose function is
to negate the noun it modifies, and too much social science' seems
to confirm that insight. Susan Sarnoff has compiled a frightening
dossier of junk social science, with even more disturbing evidence
about the role of government and the media in supporting junk
science. Few readers will comfortably accept Sarnoff's argument in
every case, but anyone concerned with social science and public
policy should think carefully about the evidence she
presents."-David Boaz Executive Vice President Cato Institute
Author of Libertarianism: A Primer
.,."this work raises valid questions regarding the accuracy and
validity of the data and research on which policy decisions are
often based. Recommended for upper-division undergraduates and
above."-Choice
?...this work raises valid questions regarding the accuracy and
validity of the data and research on which policy decisions are
often based. Recommended for upper-division undergraduates and
above.?-Choice
..."this work raises valid questions regarding the accuracy and
validity of the data and research on which policy decisions are
often based. Recommended for upper-division undergraduates and
above."-Choice
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