This satirical class syllabus perfectly captures academia's silliness

Duke University sociologist Kieran Healy is, at least in my opinion, one of the funniest academics on Twitter. Maybe that's not a high bar, but his mock syllabus for a graduate seminar in social theory is still pretty hilarious:

If my imaginary Soc 101 is not to your taste, consider taking Soc 710: Social Theory Through Complaining, instead. pic.twitter.com/5wyneVwDxO

— Kieran Healy (@kjhealy) August 25, 2014

The syllabus is mostly a jab at academic cliches, of which there are many. But what's really fun about Healy's fake syllabus, especially for those of us who went to grad school in social science, is that he makes fun of the different feuding camps inside the academy. Math nerds, postmodern priests ("If Everything is Socially Constructed, Then Nothing IS"), and identity politics mavens all get poked.

And that's deserved. I'm pretty sure I've heard someone offer every one Healy's parody course titles, essentially verbatim, as a nominally constructive contribution to one seminar or another.

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