Moral Vision, Empirical Rigour

Shaped by its roots in the intellectual and political ferment of the French Revolution, sociology is popularly identified with radical ideologies, Marxism and socialism in particular. Yet sociologists are uniquely diverse in the range of research methods they use—ethnographic, historical and statistical—and are heirs to a rich tradition of creative intellectual innovation from Durkheim, Weber and Merton to expatriate Canadian Erving Goffman. Intellectually diverse and creative disciplines with a strong critical edge are destined to give rise to factional battles, and so it is with sociology. We are a contentious discipline with lower status within the university and among the general public than economics, political science, psychology and philosophy. Modern-day sociologists often feel embattled and set upon, for good reason: our scientific status is often questioned, we tend to fight among ourselves, and our ideas run against the individualistic culture and neo-liberal and...