Suchergebnisse

In a recent essay entitled "Value‐relevant Sociology", David Gray (1983:405–416) argues that if sociology has to be socially relevant, "it is essential that sociology becomes consciously value‐relevant, not value‐free." He maintains that sociologists cannot analyse the consequences of social structure, forces, and change in a value‐free context if their works are to be relevant for social policies. He then goes on to say, "Between the extremes of value‐free, non‐relevant, sometimes trivial, sociology on the one hand, and immediate response to pressing socioeconomic problems and prevailing political winds on the other, where does the significant sociology lie?" (1983:406). For Gray, both extremes are inappropriate for a worthy academic discipline.

Comparing sociology with economics, psychology or history shows that borderlines between disciplines have become fluent and always newly oscillating. Economists, especially prominent positions awarded with Nobel prizes, are increasingly discussing items as motivation, rationality, norms or culture which belong to the domain of sociology. Sociology should acknowledge this kind of 'imperialism' and claim own competencies.

The author addresses how, as a scholar, W. E. B. Du Bois transcended disciplinary boundaries & genre by providing answers to questions of racial colonialism & enslavement, the role of theory in social change, & the role of race in the dehumanization of the African, to name only a few. Here, the author offers a critical review of Du Bois's application of sociology to the study of the African diaspora in America in The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study. The article gives an overview of Du Bois's sociological research as historical, statistical, demographic, & cultural in nature -- the type of research that Du Bois demanded, must lead to social action. 9 References. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright 2004 The American Academy of Political and Social Science.]

The author addresses how, as a scholar, W. E. B. Du Bois transcended disciplinary boundaries and genre by providing answers to questions of racial colonialism and enslavement, the role of theory in social change, and the role of race in the dehumanization of the African, to name only a few. Here, the author offers a critical review of Du Bois's application of sociology to the study of the African diaspora in America in The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study. The article gives an overview of Du Bois's sociological research as historical, statistical, demographic, and cultural in nature—the type of research that, Du Bois demanded, must lead to social action.