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.
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?