Anthropology vs. Sociology

This is why anthropologists don't like sociologists...

From No Doughnuts on Sunday:
A 1998 study by Purdue University sociologist Kenneth Ferraro concluded that church members were more likely to be overweight than other people.

Ferraro analyzed public records and surveys involving more than 3,600 people. Broken down by religious groups, Southern Baptists were heaviest, while Jews, Muslims and Buddhists were less likely to be overweight.

Soooo.....being a Southern Baptist, and therefore a church goer, means you'll be heavier than people in other religions? Ok. So, we're not going to bother factoring in the fact that Jews, Muslims and Buddhists go to temples on a regular basis? Oh, and we're not going to consider the difference in the biological makeup of a southern American caucasian vs. asians or middle easterners? Or how southern American caucasians eat vs. asians or middle easterners?
Yes, I'm making generalizations that people who are Jewish, Buddhist and Muslim are mostly culturally different than your average Southern Baptist...but that's certainly getting us closer to the truth than "you go to a Southern Baptist church, you'll be fatter than someone who doesn't."

Ack! They call this a science?!

Posted by Desiree on March 09, 2004 at 12:15 PM | TrackBack