SOCIOLOGY IN A N ERA OF FRAGMENTATION : From the Sociology of Knowledge to the Philosophy of Science , and Back Again

In this article we revisit Alvin Gouldner’s The Corning Crisis o,f Wvstern Sociology ( I 970). I n part, this article is an attempt to apply Gouldner’s own lessons about the sociology of knowledge to his own work, situating it with respcct to the dominant epistemological unconscious of late 1960s American sociology as well as thc broader historical context of a still-vibrant Fordist inode of societalization. Gouldncr’s critique of positivism was limited because he was still partially caught up within the dominant epistemological framework in American sociology at that time, a formation we call mcthodological positivism. With thirty years of hindsight, it is not surprising that contcmporary readers interestcd in following up Gouldner’s call for a reflexivc sociology of knowledgc will find certain aspccts of his own program unsatisfactory. We propose an altcrnativc sociology of knowledge based on a more explicit philosophy of scientific understanding. namely, contemporary critical realism. We also trace the vicissitudes of the trope of a “crisis in sociology” which Gouldner unleashed into the world and unpack the tensions between the “western” sociology referred to in the book’s title and Gouldner’s actual focus on the LJnited States.