Sociology and the Crisis of the Present (2007 Presidential Address)

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2154694
AutoresCarl L Bankston (Tulane University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2008
Volumen28
Número4
Páginas319-337
Fecha de publicación2008-05-20
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSociological Spectrum (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0273-2173 • E-ISSN: 1521-0707
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02732170802032344
OpenAlexW1989701839
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas40

This essay attempts to take a broad view of the historical forces that have shaped the discipline of sociology and continue to shape it. It is organized around the concept of crisis, arguing that sociology has been produced by crises and that it has been defined by its responses to crises. It identifies an ethic of control and manipulation as a chief product of 19th century responses. It suggests that we have once again entered a period of disruption and rapid change, and that the current challenge of sociology is to situate ourselves, reflexively, within a dense web of philosophical, psychological, social, biological, and environmental linkages, recognizing that we can never see the network in its entirety because we ourselves are nodes within it. However, the ethic of control and manipulation that we have inherited from earlier sociological responses often prevents sociologists from developing an immanent, reflexive, and ecological approach to the crisis of the present that would enable us to place ourselves within this web

Criminology · Political science · Politics · Presidential address · Presidential system · Social science · Sociology · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Law · Public Administration · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Capital and Networks