Deparochialising the Canon

The Case of Sociological Theory

Bibliographic Data

ID4301154
AuthorsSyed Farid Alata (0000-0003-2349-0068), Syed Farid Alatas (0000-0002-3416-1967, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume34
Issue1
Pages13-27
Publication date2021-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Historical Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0952-1909 • E-ISSN: 1467-6443
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/johs.12314
OpenAlexW3157232666
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited33

Sociological theory is not irrelevant to the South but needs to be deparochialised. The parochiality of sociological theory as it exists today can clearly be seen from the canon. The canon would have us believe that sociological theory was the sole creation of a few white men who lived in the nineteenth century. The absence of non-European thinkers in accounts of the history of sociological theory is particularly glaring in cases where non-Europeans had not only contributed to systematic thinking about the nature of society in the modern period but also influenced the development of sociology in the West. Typically, a history of social thought or a course on social thought and theory would cover theorists such as Montesquieu, Vico, Comte, Spencer, Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Simmel, Toennies, Sombart, Mannheim, Pareto, Sumner, Ward, Small, and others. Generally, both non-Western thinkers as well as women founders are excluded. Although sociology is slow to take a decolonial turn, there are now efforts to critique and rethink the canon. This article is a contribution in the direction of critiquing and expanding the canon to render it less parochial

Aesthetics · Canon · Epistemology · History of sociology · Social science · Social theory · Sociological research · Sociological theory · Sociology · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Philosophy · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory

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