Florida removed Principles of Sociology from the list of courses that public college students can take to fulfill their general education requirements. Many conservatives applauded the decision. Liberals, the American Sociological Association, and many in academia denounced the move. Along with other actions like defunding diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, the January decision by the Florida Board of Education was fueled by fears about liberal bias in higher education. Sociology allows us to assess the pros and cons of politicizing a discipline and the college classroom.
There is a cold war within the field of sociology. One side engages in sociology as a value-free, objective science with the goal of developing theoretical explanations of human behavior. The other side engages in humanistic, applied sociology with the goal of enacting social reforms based on a particular ideology.
Scientific sociologists are objective and apolitical. Scientific sociologists trace their epistemological roots back to early European sociologists, including Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. Durkheim advocated for a science of human behavior and pioneered modern sociological research methods. Weber, in his famous lecture “Science as a Vocation,” asserted that academics should not use their classroom as a platform to promote their own political views.
Scientific sociology advances our knowledge of human behavior. Scientific sociologists develop theories explaining why people break the law, drop out of high school, or any other behavior. Unfortunately, a lot of valuable sociological research never circulates beyond scientists’ networks of disciplinary peers. In the absence of scientists promoting their research or engaging in activism, much research on important topics isn’t put into practice and never informs public policy.
On the other hand, sociologists who do applied sociological research examine some aspect of human behavior and strive for social reforms based on their own ideological compass. These sociologists have their own intellectual grandfathers, including Karl Marx and W.E.B. Du Bois. In his “Theses on Feuerbach,” Marx wrote “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it.” Applied sociologists embrace this call for social change as a core element of their scholarship. Meanwhile, Du Bois undertook significant steps to advance sociology as a science and engaged in social activism to address racial inequalities in the U.S.
Applied sociologists are overtly political. Applied sociologists strive to apply their professional expertise outside of the classroom and often engage in activism to mitigate racism in the criminal justice system, engineer equitable outcomes in schools, or some other social reform. These efforts often aim to make the world a better place by mitigating systemic inequalities and providing a voice for marginalized groups.
Scientific activism comes at a cost; public confidence in scientists falters when science is mixed with politics.
A recent Pew Research Center report finds that people’s trust in science declines when scientists get involved in partisan politics, especially among conservatives. Politicizing the discipline of sociology has resulted in backlash like Florida’s action to remove sociology from the general education curriculum.
Sociology, as a discipline, has become less scientific and more activist in recent years. Some sociologists are distraught with the shift to progressive activism in the discipline. Conservative sociologists would prefer to see more sociology that reflects their own ideology. Conversely, scientific sociologists decry the intrusion of any politics into the discipline and promote a sociology that is free of all ideology.
In my own classroom, I teach students how to transcend an individualistic worldview and explain human behavior sociologically. Students learn to apply a sociological perspective to understand their own lives, happenings in our community, and our ever-changing world.
Additionally, I model critical thinking as I challenge students to understand the pros and cons of scientific and applied approaches to doing sociology. An introductory sociology course, taught from either a scientific or an applied perspective, provides a valuable experience for students. Skills learned in sociology can be applied in any career and foster engaged citizenship.
Roscoe Scarborough, Ph.D. is chair of the Department of Social Sciences and associate professor of sociology at College of Coastal Georgia. He is an associate scholar at the Reg Murphy Center for Economic and Policy Studies. He can be reached by email at rscarborough@ccga.edu.
Reg Murphy Center