Open AccessDrifting Apart? The Institutional Dynamics Awaiting Public Sociology in Canada
Author(s) -
Scott Davies
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
canadian journal of sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.357
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1710-1123
pISSN - 0318-6431
DOI - 10.29173/cjs6311
Subject(s) - mainstream , sociology , limiting , positivism , public sociology , historical sociology , social science , dynamics (music) , epistemology , political science , law , mechanical engineering , philosophy , pedagogy , engineering
Michael Burawoy offers an innovative call to re-integrate our discipline. Using Canada as an example, I argue that his proposal underestimates the extent of institutional separatism among branches of sociology. Influenced by anti-positivist currents in the humanities over the past two decades, critical sociologists are disconnecting from mainstream empirical research. Simultaneously, the mainstream is moving in a very different direction as it responds to developments in other social sciences, and largely ignores the humanities. I hypothesize that this institutional drift is limiting the possibility of mutual correction between various branches of sociology, a process that is central to Burawoy’s proposal. Possible scenarios for the future of public sociology in Canada are discussed in light of this hypothesis