American Sociology : From Pre-Disciplinary to Post-Normal

American Sociology has changed radically since 1945. This volume traces these changes to the present, with special emphasis on the feminization of sociology and the decline of the science ideal as well as the challenges sociology faces in the new environment for universities.

American Sociology has changed radically since 1945, when the field was dominated by young lions attempting to make sociology a science. The 1968 student revolt ended much of this, leaving sociology divided and directionless. By the 1980s, enrolments had fallen and departments were closing. But sociology revived, and at both the graduate and undergraduate level the field became dominated by women. What changed and what didn''t, and why? Areas of interest, methodology, and status hierarchies were all affected by the changes, but there were also continuities. Some of the continuities reached back to the nineteenth century, when sociology was closely related to reform movements. This book focuses on the consequences of the ''near-death'' experience of sociology in the 1980s, and its slow revival and transformation, as well as the challenges it faces in the new university environments. Certain to be controversial, the book looks forward to a new kind of discipline.