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In Praise of Sociology


What’s the relevance of sociology, or more generally, of social science?  The Canadian Review of Sociology has just published a symposium on this question, having kindly invited me to be a contributor.  I called my essay “In Praise of Sociology”, and you will find the text, open access, here:
The citation is: Connell, Raewyn. 2017. In praise of sociology.  Canadian Review of Sociology, vol. 54 no. 3, 280-296.
You will find the printed version here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cars.12150/abstract  but be warned, this version has a paywall.
Basically, I argue that sociology has only a marginal position in a world of tabloid politics and market logic – though it could survive as surveillance of the losers, or a source of entertainment.  But there are other possible futures.  Knowledge of the social world is tremendously important for democratic projects.  And all the tools of current sociology are relevant.  But the way sociological knowledge is organized, including the way it is embedded in a global economy of knowledge, is deeply problematic.  Now read on...