Sociology. Anthony Giddens
is not something that all sociologists would support.
For Burawoy and others, public sociology still depends on professional sociology, but the two exist in a relationship of ‘antagonistic interdependence’. Scientific sociology produces research methods, empirical evidence and theories which are necessary for public sociology’s engagement with non-academic audiences. But, unlike professional sociology, the public version opens up a dialogue with those audiences, allowing the discipline itself to be partly shaped by the concerns of non-sociologists.
Critics point out that this is a very stark dividing line. In practice, much of today’s professional sociology already tries hard to engage with participants and outside audiences. There is also much more overlap between the four types described (Calhoun 2005; Ericson 2005). Many feminist studies, for instance, are not simply critiques of scientific sociology but are empirical themselves, using research methods and questionnaires and contributing to professional sociology. Critics also argue that there is a danger that the discipline will become subordinated to the political motives of social movements and activist groups. If the image and reputation of professional sociology is tainted, then it may, paradoxically, have serious consequences for public support for the discipline. And if public sociology really is dependent on the hard-won scientific credibility of professional sociology, it too could suffer.
Nonetheless, in spite of such criticisms, the basic argument that professional sociology has not done enough to engage with public concerns has been quite widely welcomed. The lack of a public presence for sociology is seen as damaging to the public awareness of sociological theories and evidence, which leaves a gap to be filled by other disciplines such as political science, history or psychology. Professional associations, such as the British Sociological Association, have taken steps to encourage their members to develop more of a media presence as an initial move towards raising the profile of sociology in society, and we can probably expect this trend to continue.
Sociology has developed as a discipline in which we set aside our personal view of the world in order to look more carefully at the influences that shape our lives and those of others. Sociology emerged as a distinct intellectual endeavour with the development of modern societies, and the study of such societies remains a central concern. However, in an increasingly interconnected global world, sociologists must take a similarly global view of their subject matter if they are properly to understand and explain it. During the founding period of sociology, society’s central problems included social class conflict, wealth distribution, the alleviation of poverty, and the question of where the process of modernization was headed.
In the contemporary period most of these issues remain, but it may be argued that sociology’s central problems are shifting. Today there are also other issues such as rapid globalization, international terrorism, health pandemics, environmental damage, global risks with potentially grave consequences, multiculturalism and gender inequality. This means that sociologists have to question whether the theories designed to grasp problems of an earlier period still have any purchase on the new issues of today. If not, then we will need to design new theories that are better able to perceive what Karl Mannheim once called ‘the secret of these new times’. The ongoing debate about the status and continuing relevance of the classical sociological theories runs throughout this book.
Sociology is not just an abstract intellectual field but has practical implications for people’s lives, and learning to become a sociologist should not be a dull or tedious endeavour. The best way to make sure it does not become so is to approach the subject in an imaginative way and to relate sociological ideas and findings to situations in your own life. In that way, you should learn important things about yourself as well as better understanding social life, societies and the wider human world.
1 What aspects mark out the sociological imagination as different from the perspective of the individual person? What is sociology’s main subject matter?
2 What were the social, economic and political problems that the early sociologists sought to understand and solve?
3 List the main contributions made to the founding of sociology by Auguste Comte, Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. What assumptions about societies are shared by all four and in what ways do their perspectives diverge?
4 Theoretical disputes are difficult to resolve even in the natural sciences, but what makes them peculiarly problematic in sociology?
5 Outline the three central theoretical traditions in Euro-American sociological theory. Is it fair to suggest that sociology needs all three if it is to be successful, or does one tradition have a better grasp of social reality? What issues have risen to prominence since the latter part of the twentieth century that none of the three traditions has adequately incorporated?
6 Using examples of ethnicity or gender, explain how micro and macro levels of social life are connected. What is meant by the meso level of social reality?
7 What are the practical implications and applications of sociological research? List the ways in which sociology can make a valuable contribution to improving social life.
8 Should sociologists become more involved in political debates in order to influence policies or should they just get on with their research and let others decide how their findings should be used? Can you think of any reason why sociologists might withhold their findings for political reasons? Should they?
We have seen that the concept of emotional labour was developed initially by Arlie Hochschild from within the symbolic interactionist tradition. Workers who engage in emotional labour often say that it is exhausting. But why is this the case? Sechelski and Story (2018) look into this issue in relation to academic advisors in the USA.
Read their article online and try the questions that follow:
Sechelski, A. N., and Story, C. V. (2018) ‘So This is Why I’m Exhausted: Emotional Labor Explained’, Academic Advising Today, 41(2); www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Academic-Advising-Today/View-Articles/So-This-Is-Why-Im-Exhausted-Emotional-Labor-Explained.aspx.
1 What kind of research is this? Where do the researchers gather their evidence from?
2 In relation to emotional labour, what is meant by ‘surface acting’ and ‘deep acting’?
3 Why do the authors say the deep acting is less exhausting than surface acting?
4 What can the advisors do to avoid exhaustion and ‘burnout’? Do you agree with the authors’ conclusions?
Sociological theories have long been distinguished from each other by their focus primarily on social structure or human agency or the extent to which people are shaped by their society, or vice versa. Anthony Giddens suggests that the process of structuration helps us to avoid focusing on either structure or agency. Examples we provide in the chapter are the way that communist regimes collapsed in the late 1980s and the 1990s and popular uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa in 2011–12