Aldon Morris
Biographic Data
| ID | 3580852 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Aldon Morris |
| GIVEN NAMES | Aldon |
| FAMILY NAME | Morris |
| SIGNATURE | MORRIS A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Northwestern University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 61 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 720 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 60 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1981 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
To belong or not to belong: The Existential Predicament Perpetrated by White Supremacy
From Social Movements to Du Boisian Sociology: A 40-Year Journey Interrogating Domination and Liberation of the Oppressed
This article discusses how my lived experiences led me to become a sociologist studying the civil rights movement and the sociology of W. E. B. Du Bois. It explains my rejection of dominant movement theories and the formulation of my own social movement framework to explain the civil rights movement. It proceeds with my transition to studying the sociology of Du Bois. I cover the origins and substance of Du Boisian sociology. Finally, I conclude …
Without Struggle, There Is No Progress
Aldon Morris on a life of anti-racist activism
Why Now? Thoughts on the Du Boisian Revolution
In this editorial collection, five sociologists share their opinions on why there has been a recent proliferation of scholarship on Du Bois, and summarize their own position in relation to this intellectual area. Ranging from reflections on how they “discovered” Du Bois's works, through to assessments of American sociology's reception of Du Bois's scholarship, the idea of this brief piece is to provide an insight into some of the potential drivin…
Alternative View of Modernity: The Subaltern Speaks
This article derives from my 2021 ASA presidential address. I examine how sociologists including Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and white American sociologists have omitted key determinants of modernity in their accounts of this pivotal development in world history. Those determinants are white supremacy, western empires, racial hierarchies, colonization, slavery, Jim Crow, patriarchy, and resistance movements. This article demonstrates th…
Du Bois: A Critical Introduction
Racism, Colonialism, and Modernity: The Sociology of W.E.B. Du Bois
Introduction to the Special Issue: The Sociology of W. E. B. Du Bois
Introduction to the Special Issue: The Sociology of W. E. B. Du Bois Earl Wright, II, Earl Wright, II Rhodes College Earl Wright II may be reached at the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN 38112; [email protected]. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Aldon D Morris Aldon D Morris Northwestern University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed …
The Sociology of W.E.B. Du Bois as a Weapon of Racial Equality: Pioneering Scientific Social Research at Historically Black Colleges and Universities
W.E.B. Du Bois was a pivotal scholar of the 20th century who had a sustained global impact on sociological, literary, and political knowledge. Although he produced groundbreaking sociological scholarship in a historically black school – Atlanta University, his work was marginalized and erased due to racism and the radicalness of his scholarship. This article demonstrates that Du Bois was a founder of scientific sociology in the United States who …
Beyond the Melting Pot: An Intellectual and Racial Indictment of a Classic
Social Movement Theory: Lessons From the Sociology of W. E. B. Du Bois
This article addresses why movement scholars had no idea that the civil rights and black power movements of the 1960s and 70s were imminent. In fact, their theories led them to predict that these movements were impossible because only whites possessed history-making agency. These scholars accepted the dogma that black people, their culture, and their institutions were inferior and incapable of organizing and leading powerful movements. This artic…
O Estado Racial Da União: Compreendendo raça e desigualdade racial nos Estados Unidos da América
Este artigo investiga o papel da raça e do racismo nos Estados Unidos da América. Ele trata de raça como conceito, explorando, primordialmente, o motivo da existência de categorias raciais e da desigualdade racial. Também, nele, examinamos a atual situação da raça nos Estados Unidos ao expor suas manifestações sociais, econômicas e políticas. Após explorar a magnitude da desigualdade racial nos Estados Unidos, trabalhamos para desvendar os mecani…
A Tribute: Cedric O. Herring's Life and Legacy
The Souls of White Folk
W . E . B . D u B ois at the center: From science, civil rights movement, to B lack L ives M atter
I am honoured to present the 2016 British Journal of Sociology Annual Lecture at the London School of Economics. My lecture is based on ideas derived from my new book, The Scholar Denied : W.E.B. Du Bois and the Birth of Modern Sociology . In this essay I make three arguments. First, W.E.B. Du Bois and his Atlanta School of Sociology pioneered scientific sociology in the United States. Second, Du Bois pioneered a public sociology that creatively …
Introduction. Voices from the Margins: Inequalities in the Sociological House
Sociologists study social inequality in all aspects of life, both locally and across the globe. Yet, they seldom examine their own house. The time has come for sociologists to take a hard look in the mirror, to be reflexive about how social inequality operates within our departments, within our professional organizations, and within our discipline. Race, gender, class, and sexual orientation, for example, matter in society as well as in our disci…
Civil Rights Movement
Just 50 years ago African Americans were a severely oppressed group. They did not enjoy many of the basic citizenship rights guaranteed by the US Constitution. This was especially true of the American South, where large numbers of black Americans resided. State laws explicitly denied many of these rights to black Americans, and prevailing social customs disregarded them altogether. In the South black people were controlled by an oppressive social…
The quest to overcome irrelevance in a troubled world: Can Du Boisian analyses rescue sociology
The State of Sociology: The Case for Systemic Change
A town hall meeting that discussed the state of the American Sociological Association (ASA) and sociology more generally was held during the 2016 ASA meetings in Seattle, Washington. In my remarks, I discussed a number of troubling issues confronting the Association and sociology. I argued that sociology is likely to decrease its relevancy in the coming years because of five interrelated biases: restricted leadership, elitism, internal arrogance,…
Sociology and Social Justice: Confronting Challenges of the Twentieth-first Century
This article addresses the relationship between the discipline of sociology and social change. It argues that sociology, and its professional associations, are challenged to choose between being a progressive force for change or a legitmator of the status quo. The core focus of the article is the argument that the Association of Applied and Clinical Sociology has a responsibility to assist in the liberation of the oppressed because of its mission…
Civil Rights Movement
Fifty years ago African Americans were severely oppressed. Not only were they unable to enjoy many of the basic citizenship rights guaranteed by the US Constitution but also, under Jim Crow, blacks were denied the franchise, barred from interacting with whites in public spaces, and trapped at the bottom of the economic ladder, where they were relegated to the poorest paying and least desirable jobs. The modern civil rights movement, a major socia…
Breaking Down the State: Protestors Engaged
Recent years have seen an explosion of protest movements around the world, and academic theories are racing to catch up with them. This series aims to further our understanding of the origins, dealings, decisions, and outcomes of social movements by fostering dialogue among many traditions of thought, across European nations and across continents. All theoretical perspectives are welcome. Books in the series typically combine theory with empirica…
The Scholar Denied: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Birth of Modern Sociology
In this groundbreaking book, Aldon D. Morris’s ambition is truly monumental: to help rewrite the history of sociology and to acknowledge the primacy of W. E. B. Du Bois’s work in the founding of the discipline. Calling into question the prevailing narrative of how sociology developed, Morris, a major scholar of social movements, probes the way in which the history of the discipline has traditionally given credit to Robert E. Park at the Universit…
Theorizing Ethnic and Racial Movements in the Global Age: Lessons from the Civil Rights Movement
In this essay, we reflect on the history and legacies of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and suggest avenues of future research of interest to scholars of ethnic and racial movements. First, we unpack how the Civil Rights Movement developed as a major movement utilizing both international and domestic influences. Second, we consider the central role of technology-including television and Internet communication technologies (ICTs)-in shaping contem…
State of White Supremacy: Racism, Governance, and the United States
The Scholar Denied: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Birth of Modern Sociology
In this groundbreaking book, Aldon D. Morris’s ambition is truly monumental: to help rewrite the history of sociology and to acknowledge the primacy of W. E. B. Du Bois’s work in the founding of the discipline. Calling into question the prevailing narrative of how sociology developed, Morris, a major scholar of social movements, probes the way in which the history of the discipline has traditionally given credit to Robert E. Park at the Universit…
Black Southern Student Sit-in Movement: An Analysis of Internal Organization
Birmingham Confrontation Reconsidered: An Analysis of the Dynamics and Tactics of Mobilization
A Retrospective on the Civil Rights Movement: Political and Intellectual Landmarks
This review provides an analysis of the political and intellectual contributions made by the modern civil rights movement. It argues that the civil rights movement was able to overthrow the Southern Jim Crow regime because of its successful use of mass nonviolent direct action. Because of its effectiveness and visibility, it served as a model that has been utilized by other movements both domestically and internationally. Prior to the civil right…
Alternative View of Modernity: The Subaltern Speaks
This article derives from my 2021 ASA presidential address. I examine how sociologists including Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and white American sociologists have omitted key determinants of modernity in their accounts of this pivotal development in world history. Those determinants are white supremacy, western empires, racial hierarchies, colonization, slavery, Jim Crow, patriarchy, and resistance movements. This article demonstrates th…
Reflections on Social Movement Theory: Criticisms and Proposals
The arrival of a new century and a new millennium are attention-grabbing symbolic markers. They provide a convenient opportunity for me to reflect critically on the current status of social movement theory. Because of space limitations, it is impossible to provide a comprehensive review and critique of this burgeoning field. I focus here on what I contend are serious blind spots within current social movement theory. I argue that these theories c…
Theorizing Ethnic and Racial Movements in the Global Age: Lessons from the Civil Rights Movement
In this essay, we reflect on the history and legacies of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and suggest avenues of future research of interest to scholars of ethnic and racial movements. First, we unpack how the Civil Rights Movement developed as a major movement utilizing both international and domestic influences. Second, we consider the central role of technology-including television and Internet communication technologies (ICTs)-in shaping contem…
DuBoisian Sociology: A Watershed of Professional and Public Sociology
W. E. B. Du Bois was a sociologist a century ahead of his discipline. From the turn of the 20th century he advanced sociological principles that broke radically fromthose embraced by mainstream soc
The State of Sociology: The Case for Systemic Change
A town hall meeting that discussed the state of the American Sociological Association (ASA) and sociology more generally was held during the 2016 ASA meetings in Seattle, Washington. In my remarks, I discussed a number of troubling issues confronting the Association and sociology. I argued that sociology is likely to decrease its relevancy in the coming years because of five interrelated biases: restricted leadership, elitism, internal arrogance,…
Naked Power and The Civil Sphere
The Civil Sphere offers a bold and original thesis about the critically important role that civil societies play in Western democracies. Although I will challenge Alexander’s thesis, it is important to state at the outset that The Civil Sphere is a valuable book packed with rich social histories, lively engagements with ancient and contemporary theories, and novel interpretations. There is much to be learned here about the historic and sociologic…
State of White Supremacy: Racism, Governance, and the United States
Building Blocks of Social Inequality: A Critique of Durable Inequality
Durable Inequality is an important and insightful book. In this work, Charles Tilly links organizational needs to the production and reproduction of social inequality. For some time now, organizational theorists have demonstrated that formal organizations are central actors in modern society, and that the significant environment of formal organizations are other formal organizations. Durable Inequality demonstrates how social inequality is direct…
Social Movement Theory: Lessons From the Sociology of W. E. B. Du Bois
This article addresses why movement scholars had no idea that the civil rights and black power movements of the 1960s and 70s were imminent. In fact, their theories led them to predict that these movements were impossible because only whites possessed history-making agency. These scholars accepted the dogma that black people, their culture, and their institutions were inferior and incapable of organizing and leading powerful movements. This artic…
Introduction to the Special Issue: The Sociology of W. E. B. Du Bois
Introduction to the Special Issue: The Sociology of W. E. B. Du Bois Earl Wright, II, Earl Wright, II Rhodes College Earl Wright II may be reached at the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN 38112; [email protected]. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Aldon D Morris Aldon D Morris Northwestern University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed …
Why Now? Thoughts on the Du Boisian Revolution
In this editorial collection, five sociologists share their opinions on why there has been a recent proliferation of scholarship on Du Bois, and summarize their own position in relation to this intellectual area. Ranging from reflections on how they “discovered” Du Bois's works, through to assessments of American sociology's reception of Du Bois's scholarship, the idea of this brief piece is to provide an insight into some of the potential drivin…
O Estado Racial Da União: Compreendendo raça e desigualdade racial nos Estados Unidos da América
Este artigo investiga o papel da raça e do racismo nos Estados Unidos da América. Ele trata de raça como conceito, explorando, primordialmente, o motivo da existência de categorias raciais e da desigualdade racial. Também, nele, examinamos a atual situação da raça nos Estados Unidos ao expor suas manifestações sociais, econômicas e políticas. Após explorar a magnitude da desigualdade racial nos Estados Unidos, trabalhamos para desvendar os mecani…
The Souls of White Folk
God and Government in the Ghetto: The Politics of Church-State Collaboration in Black America
What's Race Got To Do With It
Frontiers in Social Movement Theory
Social protest movements such as the civil rights movement and the gay rights movement mobilize and sustain themselves in ways that have long been of interest to social scientists. In this book some of the most distinguished scholars in the area of collective action present new theories about this process, fashioning a rich and conceptually sophisticated social psychology of social movements that goes beyond theories currently in use. The book in…
Du Bois: A Critical Introduction
Beyond the Melting Pot: An Intellectual and Racial Indictment of a Classic
A Tribute: Cedric O. Herring's Life and Legacy
Introduction. Voices from the Margins: Inequalities in the Sociological House
Sociologists study social inequality in all aspects of life, both locally and across the globe. Yet, they seldom examine their own house. The time has come for sociologists to take a hard look in the mirror, to be reflexive about how social inequality operates within our departments, within our professional organizations, and within our discipline. Race, gender, class, and sexual orientation, for example, matter in society as well as in our disci…
The quest to overcome irrelevance in a troubled world: Can Du Boisian analyses rescue sociology
Black Southern Student Sit-in Movement: An Analysis of Internal Organization
Perspectives on the American South: An Annual Review of Society, Politics and Culture, Vol. 1
The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement: Black Communities Organizing for Change
This important and provocative book reflects a trend in recent scholarship concerning the modern struggles for black advancement. Scholars have increasingly moved from a national to a local perspective in their effort to understand the momentous changes in American racial relations since 1954. The newer scholarship has begun to examine the distinctive qualities of the local black movements that both grew out of and spurred the campaign for nation…
Politics and Society in Israel
Paradoxes of Protest: Black Student Activism in a White University
Stirring the Masses: Indigenous Roots of the Civil Rights Movement
Black Politics and Urban Crisis in Britain. Brian D. Jacobs
Jesse Jackson and the Politics of Charisma: The Rise and Fall of the Push/Excel Program
Black Political Mobilization: Leadership, Power and Mass Behavior. Minion K. C. Morrison
Challenges of Racial Inequality versus Balanced Scholarship
Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967-1975.Alice Echols
Minds Stayed on Freedom: The Civil Rights Struggle in the Rural South-An Oral History.Youth of the Rural Organizing and Cultural Center
The Dispossessed: America's Underclasses from the Civil War to the Present
Frontiers in Social Movement Theory
Social protest movements such as the civil rights movement and the gay rights movement mobilize and sustain themselves in ways that have long been of interest to social scientists. In this book some of the most distinguished scholars in the area of collective action present new theories about this process, fashioning a rich and conceptually sophisticated social psychology of social movements that goes beyond theories currently in use. The book in…
Birmingham Confrontation Reconsidered: An Analysis of the Dynamics and Tactics of Mobilization
Lessons of Struggle: South African Internal Opposition, 1960-1990. Anthony W. Marx
Frontiers in Social Movement Theory
Shantytown Protest in Pinochet's Chile
What's Race Got To Do With It
But for the Grace of Birth, There Go I
A Retrospective on the Civil Rights Movement: Political and Intellectual Landmarks
This review provides an analysis of the political and intellectual contributions made by the modern civil rights movement. It argues that the civil rights movement was able to overthrow the Southern Jim Crow regime because of its successful use of mass nonviolent direct action. Because of its effectiveness and visibility, it served as a model that has been utilized by other movements both domestically and internationally. Prior to the civil right…
Reflections on Social Movement Theory: Criticisms and Proposals
The arrival of a new century and a new millennium are attention-grabbing symbolic markers. They provide a convenient opportunity for me to reflect critically on the current status of social movement theory. Because of space limitations, it is impossible to provide a comprehensive review and critique of this burgeoning field. I focus here on what I contend are serious blind spots within current social movement theory. I argue that these theories c…
Building Blocks of Social Inequality: A Critique of Durable Inequality
Durable Inequality is an important and insightful book. In this work, Charles Tilly links organizational needs to the production and reproduction of social inequality. For some time now, organizational theorists have demonstrated that formal organizations are central actors in modern society, and that the significant environment of formal organizations are other formal organizations. Durable Inequality demonstrates how social inequality is direct…
Oppositional Consciousness: The Subjective Roots of Social Protest
How can human beings be induced to sacrifice their lives - even one minute of their lives - for the sake of the group? This question, central to understanding the dynamics of social movements, is at the heart of this collection of essays. The book conceptualizes and illustrates the complex patterns of negotiation, struggle, borrowing, and crafting that characterize what the editors term - an empowering mental state that prepares members of an opp…
International Politics and Civil Rights Policies in the United States, 1941-1960
Political science (44 works) · Sociology (43 works) · Law (37 works) · Law (27 works) · Race, History, and American Society (24 works) · Politics (21 works) · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice (16 works) · Social and Cultural Dynamics (16 works) · Art (13 works) · Gender Studies (13 works)