Abandon canon in American sociology

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to challenge the practice of having, using and constructing any canon in sociological theory. This paper argues that the elitism of American sociology and the forms of inequality it engenders are sustained by the construction of a canon itself. Design/methodology/approach This paper adopts a conceptual approach to examine the problems of research practice, academic writing, inequality and empirical translation that canonical thinking engenders within the academy and beyond. Findings Reflecting on the problems outlined, this paper articulates a more democratic agenda for treating canon in research and education by drawing upon standards of practice in ethnography, participatory action research and Southern Theory. Originality/value This paper interrogates the relations of domination that remain at work in the discipline and that which concern the elite position of American sociology itself.

Cultural Sociology and the Politics of Canonization: An Anglo-Canadian Perspective

“…While sociologists have produced reflexive scholarship on the state of the wider discipline, little attention has been paid to the subfield of cultural sociology in Canada. This is likewise true of scholarship on canons and canonization, which has focused broadly on the sociological canon (Au, 2019; Baehr, 2017), feminist and anti-racist critiques of the canon (Lengermann and Niebrugge, 2006), and on canons/canonization in subfields such as theory (Alatas and Sinha, 2017; Guzman and Silver, 2018) and economic sociology (Wang, 2013). While some have focused on the canonization of particular scholars like Bourdieu within cultural sociology (Santoro, 2011), there has been less attention afforded to mapping a broader canon in cultural sociology.…”

A larger grain of sense. Making early non-Western sociological thought visible

“…In the last thirty years, there has been many debate around the issue of the sociological canon and how it should be approached. Some have considered abandoning it altogether (Au, 2019), modifying it (Dowd, 1991), or restoring it as Alan How (2016) would like to do in a way that is quite similar to what Jeffrey Alexander (1987) had already advocated in the late 1980s in favor of the "centrality of the classics" -this is also largely Peter Baehr's argument (2002). Some other have reflected the question of the canon in a more reflexive, historical but also more contemporary way, whether by replacing it with another term ("anthologies", "catalogue") that would more adequately reflect the current situation (Jubber, 2006).…”

Redescubriendo a Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Aportaciones precursoras para una Sociología feminista

“…Pero, sin duda, la crítica más demoledora proviene de la sombra del racismo que se proyecta en algunos de sus escritos y, concretamente, en el artículo "A suggestion on the Negro problem" de 1908 (Au, 2019), como consecuencia las derivas teóricas racistas y nativistas del evolucionismo social. Las declaraciones racistas de Gilman también son reflejo de los propios sesgos derivados de su posición social (como mujer blanca de clase media) (Hausman, 1989); y en definitiva de los problemas del feminismo de la primera ola respecto al racismo (Davis, 2004).…”