Sociology’s marginality to public discussion of the crisis stems partly from naïveté about the sociology of its own knowledge, in particular about its interlocutors’ interests. Historically, sociology has repeatedly re-established its intellectual relevance through its dialogue with movements for social change; this article argues that another such dialogue is overdue. Starting from existing di...

110. S. M. Lipset and E. C. Ladd, Jr., "The Politics of American Sociologists," in Robert K. Merton et al. (eds.), Varieties of Political Expression in Sociology ( Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972), p. 95. 111. M. Popovich, "What American Sociologists Think about Their Science and Its Problems," American Sociologist 1 (May 1966): 135. 112. Alvin W. Gouldner and J. T. Sprehe, "Sociolog...

The intellectual organization of the sciences cannot be appreciated sufficiently unless the cognitive dimension is considered as an independent source of variance. Cognitive structures interact and co-construct the organization of scholars and discourses into research programs, specialties, and disciplines. In the sociology of scientific knowledge and the sociology of translation, these heterog...

Natural cataclysms like tsunamis and epidemics raise criti cal questions concerning how best to allocate resources to research and action in order to avoid foreseeable recurrences. Th is pair of news items, following the 26 December 2004 tsunami off the coast of Sumatra that killed 230,000 people in 14 countries, shows contrasting knowledge systems brought to bear in comprehending and construct...

Growing number of scholars in sociology has come to terms that sociology, like everything else, is a product of particular historical conditions. As there is sociology of everything. You can turn on your sociological eye no matter where you are or what you are doing, taking for example, the latent reasoning usually adopted by sociologist in viewing issues as against some others who ignorantly e...