American Sociology: From Pre-Disciplinary to Post-Normal [Hardcover]

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.1. Pre-academic Reformism and the Conflict between Advocacy and Objectivity Until 1920 2. The Revolution of the Twenties and the Interwar Years 3. The Postwar Boom 4. The Crisis of the Seventies and Its Long-Term Consequences 5. The Near Death Experience and Its Consequences 6. Feminization, the New University Environment, and the Quest for a Sociology for People 7. The Elite and its Power 8. Activism, Professionalism, or Condominium?

There is much to think about in Turner's diagnosis of our time. His distanced appreciation for the field gives the book a healthy remove from the everyday trivia of status contests that afflict all disciplines, and also allows him to see the future as entirely different from sociol- ogy's past. If one is concerned with 'objective science' and creativity, things do not look good; if instead one is satisfied with a field of study which imaginatively empowers the powerless and gives hope to the downtrodden, then sociology probably has a meaningful future. - Contemporary Sociology, 2015, 44(1)

Stephen Turner is Distinguished Professor at the University of South Florida, US. He is the co-author of the influential book The Impossible Science.