I’ve just received an email from the University of Chicago that refers to the current “economic climate.” Why do social scientist talk about “economic climate” instead of “economic crisis”? In an experiment conducted by economists at the University of Maryland, voters were asked to listen the same political discourse. The same candidate delivered the discourse, but in one case he refered to the “economic climate” and in the other to the “economic crisis.” When asked how important they thought the crisis was (not very important to extremely important), 60 percent of the voters who listened the “climate” discourse said it was important, while 97 percent of those who listened the “crisis” discourse said it was extremely important.
It seems that we just don’t like crisis, do we? It really doesn’t matter that crisis provide us with opportunities (for what exactly?), we just like nice and sunny weather. And, during this winter, I wish I was living in Malibu and not in the Loop.
Here is the email and my complete and utter dissapointment for not being able to receive my printed Dialogo, which of course I immediately read from cover to cover.
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Dear social sciences alumni and friends of the Division
As mentioned in the last edition of Dialogo, the current economic climate has necessitated some changes to how you will receive our social sciences newsletter, at least for the immediate future.
In order to save on print and mailing costs, the current Fall/Winter edition is available in electronic form only. For the Spring/Summer edition, we are planning an online version as well as a print edition, which will be mailed to all alumni. It will also be available on campus during Alumni Weekend, June 3-6, 2010.
