Featured Book
- The Future of Sociology: Ideology or Objective Social Science? This book explores the shift in sociology away from the shared aspiration of the classical transition, of transcending partiality through the construction of a "science of society", in the face of challenges to the notion of objectivity. With the increasing subjugation of sociology to political ideologies and a growing emphasis on "policy", which casts sociology in the role of a provider of intellectual content for political programs, this volume asks whether the situation is the result of an exhaustion of ideas or might perhaps be rooted in the failure in the very program of establishing sociology as a science. Taking seriously the challenges to the classical aspiration of constructing theories that both explain and are grounded in empirical reality, The Future of Sociology asks whether the core idea of transcending ideology is still worth pursuing, and whether there remains scope for making sociology scientific.
Featured Podcast
- The Sociology Show: Studying Sociology for the First Time Are you studying Sociology for the first time? Do you want to know a little bit more about what Sociology is, what you will study and what you can do with a Sociology qualification? In this episode, Matthew talks to fellow teacher Ben Hewitson about some of the common questions students have when studying the subject for the first time.
Related Guides
- AA207 / SO207: Sociology of Race and Ethnicity (Spring/Fall 2023)
- AA404 / SO404 / AA804 / SO804: Seminar on Sociology of Families (Fall 2023)
- AA408 / SO408 / AA808 / SO808: Ethnic, Race and Minority Relations (Fall 2023)
- Alcohol Use and Abuse
- American Studies
- AN461: Ethnography and Anthropological Theory 1 (Fall 2023)
- Anthropology of Development Theory & Practice
- Boston Data & Statistics
- City Planning & Urban Affairs
- Death Studies
- Drugs and Drug Abuse
- Gerontology
- HI227: Living in the City
- How to Use ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research)
- HUB CC164: Community Changemaking in Boston: How to Get Started Pursuing Local Social Causes (Spring 2023)
- Immigration
- Maps and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
- MET CJ305: Violence in the Family (Spring 2023)
- MET CJ520 / MET PS520: Violence & Trauma
- MET CJ625: Victimology
- MET CJ631: Youth Crime Problems
- MET CJ720 (Online): Trauma and Crisis Intervention (Summer/Fall 2023)
- MET ML716 (Online): Sociology of Taste (Fall 2023)
- Race & Ethnicity in Africa
- SO100 / SO100 (Online): Principles in Sociology (Spring/Summer/Fall 2023)
- SO201: Sociological Methods (Spring/Fall 2023)
- SO203: Introduction to Sociological Theories (Spring/Summer/Fall 2023)
- SO205: American Families (Spring/Fall 2023)
- SO215: Sociology of Health Care (Spring/Summer/Fall 2023)
- SO225: Law & Society (Fall 2023)
- SO240 / WS240: Sexuality & Social Life (Summer/Fall 2023)
- SO250: Introduction to the Sociology of Religion
- SO253: Sociology of Popular Culture (Spring 2023)
- SO303: Substantive Themes in Sociological Theory (Spring/Fall 2023)
- SO306: Boston's People and Neighborhoods (Fall 2023)
- SO313: Economic Sociology (Fall 2023)
- SO317 / WS317: Gender and Crime (Spring/Fall 2023)
- SO318: Sociology of Childhood and Youth (Spring 2023)
- SO320: Political Sociology (Spring 2023)
- SO334: Sociology of Mental Illness (Spring/Fall 2023)
- SO352 / WS352: American Masculinities (Fall 2023)
- SO400: Advanced Research Practicum (Spring/Fall 2023)
- SO431 / SO631 / WS431: Genders, Sexualities, and Youth Cultures (Fall 2023)
- SO442: Urban Inequality in the Americas (Spring/Fall 2023)
- SO459 / SO859: Deviance and Social Control
- SO490 / SO890: The Politics of Global Health (Fall 2023)
- Sociology
- Systematic Reviews in the Social Sciences
- WR151: Solving the Problem of Cornerville? Street Corner Society, Gentrification and Boston's North End (Spring 2023)
- WR151: Ethics of Immigration
- WR152: Anatomy of Identity
- WR152: Family Politics
- WR152: Holidays, Diasporas and U.S. Culture
- WR152: Sex in Space: Communities of Sexualities (Spring 2023)
- WS328 / CGS IN300: Madonnas, Martyrs, and MILFs: Gender and Motherhood
About Sociology
This guide provides selected library resources on Sociology
Featured Article
- Decolonizing Sociology: Epistemic Inequality and Sociological Thought (Social Thought, Oxford) It is hardly disputable there is inequality and marginalization within our discipline along the lines of ethnicity, gender, race, sexuality, and socioeconomic status among other vectors. What more can be said about it? For my part, I would like to pose two issues to consider.
See also:
- Decolonizing Sociology (Contemporary Sociology, SAGE) The idea of decolonizing the curriculum is now under discussion in universities in many parts of the world. Behind this lies the question of decolonizing the knowledge economy as a whole, and the disciplines and domains within it. In this paper I outline what is involved in decolonizing the discipline of sociology. This is not actually a new issue: there is a whole back-story of social critiques of empire. We need to access this history as well as understand how contemporary sociology is shaped
- Decolonizing Sociology: The Significance of W.E.B. Du Bois (Critical Sociology, SAGE) Sociology should come into its own as the inequalities that we have been studying for decades have become not only transparent but also magnified by Covid-19. Everyone has become a sociologist. In fighting for a place in the sun, should we bend to immediate pressures and suspend interest in the classics or is this a time to reassert their importance?
Librarian
This guide was originally authored by Chris Smith, April, 2023.