Grassroots sociology and the future of the discipline

It has become a truism to say that the sociological enterprise is in disarray. The sociological niche is neither self-evident nor safe. Given the problems facing sociology, it is imperative that the discipline begins to plan to protect is assets and to project its capabitlities into the twenty-first century. State sociological assocations could be major components of such a plan. The state sociological association is, however, a largely unknown entity. The present study presents the result of a survey of the officers of state assocations to determine the demographic makeup of their membership, concerns addressed by their associations and their strategies for dealing with these concerns. The findings suggest that state socioclogical associations are in an excellent position to build community in the discipline by breaking down the lines of stratification separating the organizational levels of the sociological enterprise and the different needs of our academic and applied endeavors. Both are past presidents of the North Carolina State Sociological Association. Harris is past president of the National Association of State Sociological Associations and Wise is its current president.     

Back to the future: Settlement sociology, 1885–1930

Between 1885 and. 1930, as sociology was becoming an academic discipline, sociology was also being practiced intelligently, innovatively, and self-consciously outside the academy in the social settlements that grew up in America’s major cities. In this paper, we first define and give a brief overview of the settlement movement in America; second, we show how the settlement workers were sociologists in their self-definition and action and in their relations with other sociologists; third, in the body of the paper, we describe the sociology done by the settlements in terms of the empirical research they undertook and the theory they created. Our argument is that settlement sociologists produced empirical studies that were both substantively significant and methodologically pioneer-ing; that they did so in terms of a coherent social theory unique in its focus on “the neighborly relation”; and that both their research and theory were part of a critical, reflexive, and activist sociology.     

Racial microaggressions: Bridging psychology and sociology and future research considerations

This article reviews racial microaggressions, specifically psychology and sociology's historical trajectory in informing existing literatures and disciplines, in its connections to meso and macro levels of systemic racism. In doing so, we contend that a sociological understanding of racial microaggressions presents opportunities to better understand the cumulative and deleterious effects of racial violence on racialized groups. Furthermore, we argue that beyond bridging the disciplines of psychology and sociology to allow for more interdisciplinary analyses of racial microaggressions will help to move conversations in ways that more meaningfully capture the monstrosity of white supremacy and its cumulative deleterious effects of daily racial terrorism at all levels of society.     

Commitment and imagination in the social sciences: A concern for the future state of sociology

This paper deals with the actual as well as possible roles of sociologists in modem societies. It is based on the experiences of a typical pragmatical Scandinavian welfare state, namely Norway, where sociology undoubtedly has reached a certain level of success, especially as a repair‐oriented applied science. Sociology thus provides an avenue for entering important political and administrative processes in society. But this development—desirable as it may be—also includes certain risks. Sociology may thus abstain from becoming a kind of critical and intellectual pursuit it could be by paying due attention to alternative ways of organizing social life. A discussion is needed about how to avoid this trap and how new roles may be created.     

The sociology of compassion: A study in the sociology of morals

Abstract

This essay analyzes the theoretical foundations of collective interest in the sufferings of strangers. Concern with the suffering of others, accompanied by the urge to help, is compassion. This study develops the social and historical conditions under which public compassion emerges. Two broad interpretations of these developments are suggested. The democratization perspective suggests that with the lessening of profoundly categorical and corporate social distinctions, compassion becomes more extensive. A second perspective is linked to the emergence of market society. By defining a universal field of others with whom contracts and exchanges can be made, market perspectives extend the sphere of moral concern as well: however unintentionally. Public compassion is part of the language of modernity. This gives compassion the possibility to be also part of a newly emerging ‘Second Modernity’.     

Engendering the sociology of expertise

This paper delineates areas of research for the emergent sociology of expertise. We review how expertise has been studied in the sociology of professions, sociology of work, and sociology of science and technology, and we show the contribution that intersectionality can make in understanding processes of gendering expertise.     

Autobiographical sociology

In autobiographical sociology a sociologist probes one or more past personal experiences as a way of identifying and analyzing something sociologically relevant. The general nature and importance of autobiographical sociology, as well as illustrations of and guidelines for it, are explored.     

Syringe sociology

In this article I consider the impact of social epistemologies for understanding the object of the syringe. My aim is to examine the process through which the syringe transforms from an injecting device to a tool of social and political inquiry. Paying particular attention to the uses of Foucault, Becker, Bourdieu, Freud and Latour in empirical studies of injecting heroin use, I examine the sociology of the syringe through the lens of habit and habitus, discourse and deviance, mourning and melancholia, attachment and agencement. In pursuing the theory behind the object my goal is to address a sociological object in the making. In so doing I show how the syringe has been significant for social research, social theory, and sociology. It is the difference the object makes that this article seeks to describe. In tracing the epistemology of the syringe I show how the object is important not just for knowledge of addiction but sociology itself.