Department and Discipline


Book Description

In this detailed history of the Chicago School of Sociology, Andrew Abbott investigates central topics in the emergence of modern scholarship, paying special attention to "schools of science" and how such schools reproduce themselves over time. What are the preconditions from which schools arise? Do they exist as rigid rules or as flexible structures? How do they emerge from the day-to-day activities of academic life such as editing journals and writing papers? Abbott analyzes the shifts in social scientific inquiry and discloses the intellectual rivalry and faculty politics that characterized different stages of the Chicago School. Along the way, he traces the rich history of the discipline's main journal, the American Journal of Sociology. Embedded in this analysis of the school and its practices is a broader theoretical argument, which Abbott uses to redefine social objects as a sequence of interconnected events rather than as fixed entities. Abbott's theories grow directly out of the Chicago School's insistence that social life be located in time and place, a tradition that has been at the heart of the school since its founding one hundred years ago.




Diversity Across the Disciplines


Book Description

Diversity research and scholarship has evolved over the past several decades and is now reaching a critical juncture. While the scholarship on diversity and inclusion has advanced within various disciplines and subdisciplines, there have been limited conversations and collaborations across distinct areas of research. Theories, paradigms, research models and methodologies have evolved but continue to remain locked within specific area, disciplines, or theoretical canons. This collaborative edited volume examines diversity across disciplines in higher education. Our book brings together contributions from the arts, sciences, and professional fields. In order to advance diversity and inclusion across campuses, multiple disciplinary perspectives need to be acknowledged and considered broadly. The current higher education climate necessitates multicultural and interdisciplinary collaboration. Global partnerships and technological advances require faculty, administrators, and graduate students to reach beyond their disciplinary focus to achieve successful programs and research projects. We need to become more familiar discussing diversity across disciplines. Our book investigates diversity across disciplines with attention to people, process, policies, and paradigms. The four thematic categories of people, process, policies, and paradigms describe the multidisciplinary nature of diversity and topics relevant to faculty, administrators, and students in higher education. The framework provides a structure to understand the ways in which people are impacted by diversity and the complicated process of engaging with diversity in a variety of contexts. Policies draw attention to the dynamic nature of diversity across disciplines and paradigms presents models of diversity in research and education.




In Defense of Disciplines


Book Description

Calls for closer connections among disciplines can be heard throughout the world of scholarly research, from major universities to the National Institutes of Health. In Defense of Disciplines presents a fresh and daring analysis of the argument surrounding interdisciplinarity. Challenging the belief that blurring the boundaries between traditional academic fields promotes more integrated research and effective teaching, Jerry Jacobs contends that the promise of interdisciplinarity is illusory and that critiques of established disciplines are often overstated and misplaced. Drawing on diverse sources of data, Jacobs offers a new theory of liberal arts disciplines such as biology, economics, and history that identifies the organizational sources of their dynamism and breadth. Illustrating his thesis with a wide range of case studies including the diffusion of ideas between fields, the creation of interdisciplinary scholarly journals, and the rise of new fields that spin off from existing ones, Jacobs turns many of the criticisms of disciplines on their heads to mount a powerful defense of the enduring value of liberal arts disciplines. This will become one of the anchors of the case against interdisciplinarity for years to come.




The Sociology of Deviance


Book Description

Sociology of Deviance: Differences, Tradition, and Stigma is dedicated to a sociological analysis of deviance, a term reframed to imply differences. Deviance is approached from the outset as meaning differences: differences in attitudes, behaviors, lifestyles, and values of people. The terms OC devianceOCO or OC deviant behaviorOCO are understood as labels themselves and are used sparingly, such as in the title and in Chapter 14, OC Elite and Power DevianceOCO (OC devianceOCO appears with frequency in the theory chapters since it is a term used by the theorists addressed). Part of the title of the text is OC TraditionOCO meaning traditional topics are covered such as suicide, mental disorders and physical disabilities, addictions and substance abuse and use, criminal behaviors, and sexual behaviors and differences. The book has one chapter devoted to criminal behaviors, with emphasis placed on violent and property offenses. The term OC stigmaOCO appears in the title for two reasons: it is to honor the contributions of Erving Goffman to the study of differences, and it is used to accentuate the importance of societal reaction to attitudes, behaviors, lifestyles, and values that are varied and different in a heterogeneous society. Nowhere is this more evident than in Chapter 12, OC Societal Reaction and Stigmatization: Mental Disorders and Physical Disabilities.OCO"




How Social Science Got Better


Book Description

It seems like most of what we read about the academic social sciences in the mainstream media is negative. The field is facing mounting criticism, as canonical studies fail to replicate, questionable research practices abound, and researcher social and political biases come under fire. In response to these criticisms, Matt Grossmann, in How Social Science Got Better, provides a robust defense of the current state of the social sciences. Applying insights from the philosophy, history, and sociology of science and providing new data on research trends and scholarly views, he argues that, far from crisis, social science is undergoing an unparalleled renaissance of ever-broader understanding and application. According to Grossmann, social science research today has never been more relevant, rigorous, or self-reflective because scholars have a much better idea of their blind spots and biases. He highlights how scholars now closely analyze the impact of racial, gender, geographic, methodological, political, and ideological differences on research questions; how the incentives of academia influence our research practices; and how universal human desires to avoid uncomfortable truths and easily solve problems affect our conclusions. Though misaligned incentive structures of course remain, a messy, collective deliberation across the research community has shifted us into an unprecedented age of theoretical diversity, open and connected data, and public scholarship. Grossmann's wide-ranging account of current trends will necessarily force the academy's many critics to rethink their lazy critiques and instead acknowledge the path-breaking advances occurring in the social sciences today.




The ISA Handbook of Diverse Sociological Traditions


Book Description

"A brilliant treasury of wisdom and insight drawn from leading sociologists throughout the world...It is a striking achievement, of which the International Sociological Association can be very proud, to have brought so many independent-minded scholars into so productive a dialogue." - Dennis Smith, Professor of Sociology, Loughborough University Twenty-nine chapters from prominent international contributors discuss, challenge and re-conceptualise the global discipline of sociology, evaluating the diversities within and between sociological traditions of many regions and nation-states. They assess all aspects of the discipline: ideas and theories; scholars and scholarship; practices and traditions; and ruptures and continuities through an international perspective. The Handbook argues that diversities in sociological traditions can be studied at three levels. First, they need to be studied from multiple spatial locations: within localities, within nation-states, within regions and the globe. Second, they need to be discussed in terms of their sociological moorings in distinct philosophies, epistemologies and theoretical frames, cultures of science and languages of reflection. Third, the intellectual moorings of sociological practices are extensive. The papers discuss the diverse and comparative sites of knowledge production and its transmission.




Diversity Research and Policy


Book Description

"Diversity Research and Policy: A Multidisciplinary Exploration provides insight into the role diversity plays in a wide range of academic disciplines, such as anthropology, sociology, psychology, economics, linguistics, business management, criminology,law, ecology and urban planning. Furthermore, it reflects on the implications for policymakers. The volume is a vital tool for anyone conducting research on diversity and an inspiration for practitioners in the field of diversity management and policy implementation. This book has emerged out of the collaborative Network of Excellence (noe) project funded by the European Commission, designed to strengthen excellence on 'Sustainable Development in a Diverse World' (sus.div). The Network comprises 32 Institutes from Europe and beyond. It integrates European research capabilities across disciplines and countries to provide society and polity with tools for managing cultural diversity as a key element in sustainable development. This volume has emerged out of a collaborative Network of Excellence (NoE) project funded by the European Commission. The NoE is designed to strengthen excellence on 'Sustainable Development in a Diverse World'. It integrates European research capabilities across disciplines and countries to provide society and polity with tools for managing cultural diversity as a key element of sustainable development. The Network comprises 32 institutes from Europe and beyond. It has lead to a growing realization that scholars and practitioners need to be aware of each other's intellectual inspiration when approaching the relationship between cultural diversity and sustainable development."--Publisher's website.




The ISA Handbook of Diverse Sociological Traditions


Book Description

This latest edition to the ISA handbook series actively engages with the many traditions of sociology in the world. Twenty-nine chapters from prominent international contributors discuss, challenge and re-conceptualize the global discipline of sociology; evaluating the diversities within and between sociological traditions of many regions and nation-states. They assess all aspects of the discipline: ideas and theories; scholars and scholarship; practices and traditions; ruptures and continuities through an international perspective. Its goal is to become a text for debating the contours of international sociology.




The Sociological Quest


Book Description

Starting Sociology can be daunting. This user-friendly introduction takes the reader on a quest towards a sociological understanding of the world we live in. Using contemporary examples, The Sociological Quest asks what is distinctive about the way Sociologists view society. Haydn Aarons and Evan Willis show that they are concerned with the relationships between the individual and society, and that a sociological analysis involves an approach which is historical, cultural, structural, and critical. This sixth edition has been thoroughly revised and updated and includes new material on identities, social change, social movements, populism, climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, digital interaction, and social media. Also included in the sixth edition is an expanded chapter on empirical research in Sociology and the research process, as well as a new chapter on careers in Sociology.