Sociology’s Moments

What is the role of sociology when universities are under increasing political criticism? This book explores how sociology has developed through different moments of social and political change.The author traces the discipline through early ideas of social reform and the social self, the rise of the welfare state and professional social science, and the growth of new social movements that expanded democratic life and subjected sociology itself to criticism. He then turns to the present, which is shaped by neoliberal reforms on higher education, to ask what sociology can and should become in the future.Bringing together history and reflection, the book offers a clear and critical account of sociology’s changing place in democracy and public life.