Sociology as a Vocation

Author(s): Michael Burawoy

Source: Contemporary Sociology , JULY 2016, Vol. 45, No. 4 (JULY 2016), pp. 379-393
Published by: American Sociological Association

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43996570

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 © American Sociological Association 2016
DOI: 10.1177/0094306116653958
http://cs.sagepub.com

FEATURED ESSAY

Sociology as a Vocation
Michael Burawoy
University of California-Berkeley
burawoy@berkeley.edu

What does it mean to live for sociology,

two spheres that must be kept apart. Weber
failed to grasp sociology's place between
today? In attempting to answer this question
I return to Max Weber's famous lectures science and politics for two reasons: first,
delivered toward the end of his life - onesociology as a discipline was still embryonic
on science as a vocation and the other on and
pol-pre-professional. It needed to be safe-
itics as a vocation. He presented "Scienceguarded
as from politics. Second, he had not
a Vocation" in November 1917 toward the developed a coherent view of civil society
populated by institutions that could ground
end of World War I and the more pessimistic
"Politics as a Vocation" in Januarya 1919
standpoint between science and politics.3
Yet, and here is the paradox, his concep-
after Germany's defeat.2 The essays them-
selves exemplify Weber's methodology tion- of sociology as an interpretive under-
standing of value-oriented social action calls
interpreting social action within the external
conditions that shape it. Weber not onlyfor its own value standpoint since sociology
explicates the meaning of "vocation" - be its own exception. As a form of
cannot
what it means to "live for" as well to "live
social action it too must be impelled by value
commitments. Weber fully understood this.
off" science and politics - but situates their
pursuit within historical and national Indeed, he was so insistent on the ethos of
contexts. He explores the possibilities of an precisely because he feared that soci-
science
"inner devotion" to science or politicsology in might be overrun by arbitrary value
Germany as compared to the United States commitments, commitments that are never-
and Britain. Yet neither here nor elsewhere theless essential to its pursuit. The tension
does Weber turn his sociology of vocation between science and politics was, therefore,
back on to sociology itself. He does complicated
not by a second tension, that
between fact and value, or more broadly
advance from sociology of vocation to sociology
as a vocation , which is the endeavor of this
between instrumental rationality and its
essay, an endeavor that draws on but leads underpinnings in value rationality. But with-
us beyond Weber. out a conception of civil society, he had no
Consonant with Weber's own life, I shall way of collectively mooring those values,
argue that sociology sits uncomfortably and so they are instead reduced to an indi-
between science and politics. Twisting vidual existential choice. The completion of
between science and politics - since he could Weber's program and the sustainability of
not marry the two - he presented them as sociology depend on its connection to civil
society.

1 This essay went through the wringer of my

dissertation group: Herbert Docena, Fidan E1-
cioglu, Zach Levenson, Josh Seim, and Ben
Shestakovsky. Thanks to them as well as Dylan
Riley, Peter Evans, Black Hawk Hancock, Ca-
therine Bolzendahl, and Erik Wright for push-
ing me in new directions.
2 For the dating of the lectures and their biogra-
phical and historical situation, see Schluchter
(1968: Chapters 1 and 2).
3 One should note, however, that in 1909 Weber
submitted a proposal for sociological research
into three areas: the press, voluntary associa-
tions, and the relations between technology
and culture, which suggests he did have an
interest in both the public sphere and civil
society, even if he didn't use such terms
(MW:420).

379 Contemporary Sociology 45, 4

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380 Featured Essay

Irreducible to economy and polity, civil have to reassert our roots in civil society.
society is the institutional birthplace and This is a moment defined by Bourdieu,
support for diverse values. It is the stand- Polanyi, and Du Bois - the first defending
point from which sociology evaluates the the autonomy of the academy and sociology
world, just as the market is the standpoint in particular, the second providing the tools
of economics and the state the standpoint to analyze the epic battle between society
of political science. Sociology arises with civ- and the market, while the third helps us
il society and dissolves when civil society place sociology in its global context.
recedes. But civil society is not some harmo- Weber's admonition to insulate science
nious antidote to the colonizing powers of from politics reflects sociology's period of
state and market. It is itself the site of divi-
inception and has to be reconsidered in sub-
sions, exclusions, and dominations, reaction-sequent periods and in other places. To reify
ary as well as progressive movements, all ofinsulation as though it has universal and
unchanging validity - a sort of sociological
which is reflected in the plurality of sociolo-
gies. Civil society grounds two types of val-"originalism" - is to contravene Weber's
ue commitments: anti-utopian sociology root- sociological method that instructs us to delin-
eate the particular context within which his
ed in a critique of the over-extension of state
(totalitarianism) and market (neoliberalism) prescriptions hold, and imaginatively recon-
and a Utopian sociology that projects a vision
struct them for the present. It is necessary to
examine how the relation between politics
of a collectively organized society. The histo-
ry of sociology can be seen as a fluctuating and science shifts and with it, sociology.
debate between its Utopian and anti-utopian Thus, I will argue with Weber against
tendencies, classically represented by Marx Weber. That is to say, the meaning of sociol-
and Weber. ogy as a vocation actually changes with the
Weber's view of sociology reflects thecontext of its pursuit: in the period of incep-
specific circumstances of the academic fieldtion it meant the defense of its autonomy; in
the second, self-confident period, it assumed
and civil society of his time. A very different
perspective emerges with the opening up ofan almost religious character; while in the
the university and the consolidation of present
a period, when sociology finds itself
conformity-producing civil society, some-
under assault, it calls for engagement. Before
proceeding to these periods, however,
times called mass society. We may say that
we
sociology's point of arrival - its golden must first define "vocation" and then
"sociology" - what it is that continues in
years - came after World War II, particularly
in the United States. As a new and optimistic
and through variation.
science it flowered with the expansion of
higher education. This was sociology's mes-
sianic moment captured, on the one side, byThe Meaning of Vocation
the Utopian structural functionalism and In Weber's view being in the modern world
modernization theory that regarded therequires us to face two inexorable condi-
tions: the advance of the division of labor
United States as the promised land and, on
the other side, by its anti-utopian critics
and a plurality of incommensurable values.
who condemned U.S. imperialism, class Durkheim's response was to reconcile these
domination, racism, and patriarchy. conditions by showing how the perfection of
Today we live in a different epoch when the division of labor calls forth and in turn
is driven by a specific collective conscious-
the university and civil society are in retreat,
assailed by neoliberal rationality (Brownness. Marx, on the other hand, demands
2015). Sociology finds itself embattled in the abolition of the division of labor as inim-
ical
ways reminiscent of the world of Max to human freedom.
Weber. It is swimming against the tide of Weber accepts neither solution: the divi-
sion of labor is debilitating, but it is here to
marketization that is flooding the university.
stay. The best we can do is imbue specialized
Retreating into a professional cocoon or ser-
occupations with some immanent meaning
vicing the new economy would falsify our
traditions of anti-utilitarianism and threaten
through passionate commitment. In other
our Utopian imagination. To survive we words, we turn it into a vocation, pursuing

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 Featured Essay 381

it as an end in itself. The prototype is the The same is true of the politician who is
Calvinist entrepreneur devoted to the driven by devotion to a cause, knowing
"irrational" pursuit of profit for profit's that "the final result of political action often,
sake. Unlike Lutherans who find it sufficient no, even regularly, stands in completely
to passively accept their calling, the Calvin- inadequate and often even paradoxical rela-
ist is consumed by the anxiety of not know-tion to its original meaning" (PV:117). So
ing whether he or she is saved or damned."passionate devotion" to a cause must be
Fate is predetermined but unknown, leading balanced by a "feeling of responsibility"
to a desperate search for signs of salvation inand "sense of proportion." Like scientists
the striving for profit and ever-increasingpoliticians have to comprehend the struc-
tures within which they act - the legislature,
profit, which is the source of the spirit of cap-
italism. The elusiveness of success does not
bureaucracy, and party organization. Com-
paring
lead to resignation but to the redoubling of the institutional configurations in
efforts. Hence the meaning of vocation the-United States, Germany, and Britain,
commitment without guarantees. Weber recognizes the limits of each: leader-
Equally, for the scientist, "passionate
ship democracy with a machine (U.S.) or
leaderless democracy ruled by professional
devotion" to the rigors of scholarly pursuit
politicians without a calling (Germany).
is a necessary but not sufficient condition
for the elusive inspiration that "depends
Weber regarded British parliamentarianism
upon destinies that are hidden from us" as offering the best chance for true leaders
(SV:136). The scientist has to be preoccupied
to emerge. If devotion to a cause, albeit mod-
with the puzzles of a research program erated
as by a certain realism, is not strong
though "the fate of his soul depends"
enough then these institutions will be
(SV:135) upon their solution, but without
corrupting. Politics, says Weber in a pessi-
mistic finale, is the "strong and slow boring
any guarantee of success and, furthermore,
of hard boards" (PV:128).
in the knowledge that whatever discovery
he or she might make will be "surpassed
We can now move from Weber's sociology
and outdated" (SV:138). of vocation - contradictory commitments
These are the internal tensions inherent to pursued under external uncertainty - to the
science, but there are external uncertainties vocation of sociology. What drives our com-
mitment to sociology? We have already
too. The aspirant scientist faces different
institutional challenges, depending on thesuggested that sociology's standpoint in civ-
context. In a prophetic analysis, Weberil society leads in two directions: an anti-
describes the U.S. academic career as driven utopian defense of civil society and a Utopian
by the pecuniary nexus while in Germany reconstruction of civil society. Starting with
academic life is still held in thrall to feudal Marx, Durkheim, and Weber and moving
hierarchy. Weber warns his audience that through if Simmel, Polanyi, Du Bois, Parsons,
they aspire to an academic career they will Bourdieu, and Hochschild, western sociolo-
have to live with the arbitrary judgements gy is marked by an abiding rejection of util-
and prejudices of students, colleagues,
itarianism, the reduction of human action to
administrators, and governments, alleconomic rationality. While the defense of
tending toward mediocrity. As a vocation liberal democracy and its freedoms has fig-
science is beset by uncertainty both inured its prominently in Soviet and even post-
external conditions as well as in the tensions Soviet societies, the animating force behind
internal to the scientific process. But these western sociology has consistently been the
very uncertainties drive the commitment.4opposition to the overextension of market
logic. In his 1895 inaugural address at Frei-
burg University, marking his assumption to
4 There is now a more general literature on the the chair of political economy at the tender
way uncertainty - as long as it is neither too
age of 31, Weber himself foresaw the dangers
great nor too little - can elicit commitment
of the rise of economics, critical of the way it
through the organization of social games that
give meaning to ostensibly meaningless work. obscured its underlying commitments to
utilitarianism. Already then he warned: "in
See, for example, Saliaz (2009), Sharone (2013),
and Snyder (2016). every sphere we find that the economic

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382 Featured Essay

TABLE 1:
Internal Tensions Defining Sociology as a Vocation
Scientific Orientation Political Orientation

Instrumental Rationality PROFESSIONAL POLICY

Value Rationality CRITICAL ^

way of looking women and feminist sociology

at pushed thing the
(FA: 17). discipline toward engagement, leading the
Alongside and in tension with sociology's recovery from the doldrums of the 1980s.
anti-utopian moment is its Utopian These tensions are inherent to the practice
moment - sociology's commitment to the of sociology, so we should wrestle with them
reconstruction of civil society, whether it be rather than bury them. As I have argued
Marx's communism, Durkheim's guild elsewhere, we should recognize how these
socialism, Polanyi's communitarian social- internal tensions have led to four divergent
ism, Parsons' social system, Habermas's types of sociology: professional sociology
redemption of the life-world and undistort-that recoils from politics and represses value
ed communication, or De Beauvoir 's mutual commitments; critical sociology that inter-
recognition. Even Weber, who largely fought rogates and explicates the value foundations
on the anti-utopian front, with his insistentof science; policy sociology, committed to
critique of rationalization, could neverthe- deploying science in the service of solving
less write: "man would not have attained social problems; and, finally, public sociolo-
the possible unless time and again he gy had
that enters into a conversation with wider
reached out for the impossible" (PV:128). publics about alternative orders informed by
These, then, are the presuppositions of The tensions inherent to sociology
science.
sociology - what it most fears in thereveal worldthemselves in struggles among these
and what it most desires. positions within the academic field, strug-
Given its critical stance our science has to gles that are further influenced by external
continually guard against the normative conditions as they vary over space and
foundations that impel it and threatentime. to In the remainder of this essay I trace
overwhelm it. But we can overreact to this changes in the vocation of sociology by
threat. As Alvin Gouldner (1962, 1968) examining the articulation of these four
argued many years ago, the long-standingtypes of sociology in three historical
mythology of "value-free science" needs tomoments: inception, arrival, and engagement.
be replaced by a value-committed science.
More broadly, we can say that sociology
Moment of Inception: Defending
has historically had to weather the antago-
nistic interdependence between instrumen-
Sociology
tal rationality and value rationality. This ten-At the end of the nineteenth century sociolo-
sion is cross-cut by a second one betweengy barely existed as an academic discipline.
a scientific orientation and a political orien- It faced the challenges of birth. First, there
tation, between understanding the worldwas the contempt of other disciplines for
and the desire to change it. Sociology'sthis upstart dancing on the fence between
value stance - its Utopian and anti-utopianscience and humanities, between explana-
dispositions - easily morphs into a politicaltion and interpretation. Weber after all
project, just as political projects inform the came to sociology from political economy.
science we conduct. Stephen Turner (2014)Second, its substance was not esoteric but
has shown how U.S. sociology has swung challenged common sense, drawing defen-
between these antitheses - professionalismsive reactions and accusations of dilettant-
and reform - and how the presence ofism. Weber himself repeatedly entered the

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 Featured Essay 383

public domain on such issues as labor poli- well that should be so. But there comes
cies and the new constitution after Worlda time when that atmosphere changes.
War I, but his expertise carried doubtfulThe significance of the unreflectively
legitimacy. utilized viewpoints becomes uncertain
and the road is lost in the twilight.
Sociology also faced challenges stemming
from its distinctive character as a social sci- The light of the great cultural problems
ence. For Weber all science depended onmoves on. Then science too prepares to
simplifying the infinite manifold that is thechange its standpoint and its analytical
empirical world. In his view the natural
apparatus and to view the streams of
sciences simplified by searching for regular-events from the heights of thought. It
ities, a largely inductive enterprise. By con- follows those stars which alone are
trast the cultural sciences simplify the worldable to give meaning and direction to
through the adoption of values that focusits labors. (OSS: 112, emphasis added)
our orientation to research. At the same
time, those values, while necessary,Ashould
clearer statement of the value foundations
not distort the scientific enterprise - aof social science one cannot find, but what
diffi-
cult tension to navigate. Weber used the missing is any sense of the communi-
remains
notion of ideal type to weld together ty value
of scientists, whether working together or
commitment and empirical analysis.in"Sub-
opposition to one another, to support or
overthrow
stantively, this construct in itself is like a uto- this or that research program.
True to his methodological individualism,
pia which has been arrived at by analytical
accentuation of certain elements of Weber
reality conceives of science and scholarship
as an individual accomplishment.
. . . An ideal type is formed by the one-sided
accentuation of one or more points ofFurthermore,
view if values are foundational to
sociology - not just as an object of investiga-
and by the synthesis of a great many diffuse,
discrete, more or less present and occasion-
tion but as a necessary underpinning of the
investigation itself - then science edges
ally absent concrete individual phenomena,
which are arranged according to those one-
toward politics. Value relevance stems from
sidedly emphasized viewpoints intovalue
a uni-
commitments that can make sociology
fied analytical construct ( Gedankenbild )"
vulnerable to politicization and, thus, pro-
(OSS:90, emphasis in the original). voke state interference. In Germany the uni-
Today we might extend the idea of theversity
ide- was subject to keen oversight by the
Minister of Education who had the final
al type to the scientific paradigm (following
Thomas Kuhn), or a research program say on all academic appointments, leading
(fol-
lowing Imre Lakatos). In either case science
Weber to publicly defend the autonomy of
advances by putting on blinders - wrestling
the university and the threatened careers of
with a specific set of puzzles or anomalies
its budding sociologists - Michels, Sombart,
and Simmel among them (Shils 1974). With-
defined by a taken-for-granted framework,
in the academic world itself, Weber's posi-
including a taken-for-granted set of values.
Weber himself offers a premonitiontion was controversial as he faced utopian-
of the
scientific paradigm and its revolutions: ism from both left and right, both of which
called for the politicization of the university
All research in the cultural sciences in (Ringer 2004).
an age of specialization, once it is ori- In contrast to Durkheim, Weber was ada-
ented towards a given subject mattermant that while social science rested on
through particular settings of problems values it could not determine what those
and has established its methodological values should be. What science might tell
principles, will consider the analysis ofus are the appropriate means to pursue a giv-
data as an end in itself. It will discon- en end and with what consequences. There
tinue assessing the value of the individ- is, therefore, a place for policy sociology,
ual facts in terms of their relationships advising government as to how it might pur-
to ultimate value-ideas. Indeed, it will sue given goals, but its role is not to define
lose its awareness of its ultimate rooted- the goals themselves. Sociology can clarify
ness in value-ideas in general. And it is the implications of adopting a particular

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384 Featured Essay

TABLE 2:
Parallel Tensions within Weber's Science and Politics

SCIENCE POLITICS

Instrumental Rationality Research Ethic of Responsibility

Value Rationality Values Ethic of Absolute Ends

value stance, whatever it man

may- a man
be who can have the 'calling for
- socialism,
liberalism, anarchism - but still cannot polities'" (PV:127). Here the sociologist
determine that choice. The best we can do
enters, calibrating the consequences of and
is engage in rational discussion about strategies
the for political intervention. The
implications, clarity, and justification oftask
our of the social scientist qua policy scientist
values. is to develop a sense of what is possible and
There were occasions in which Weber impossible in any given political situation.
engaged in such value discussion, Just
mostas Weber had little to say about the
famously in his Freiburg address institutional
of 1895 basis of value discussion within
when he attacked economists for obscuring
the academic sphere, so he was equally reti-
the value foundations of their science by the discussion and crystallization
cent about
claiming value neutrality. His essay on
of "The
values in the wider society. He was suspi-
cious of political leaders who could easily
Meaning of 'Ethical Neutrality'" also remon-
manipulate
strated against inferring what ought to be the "irrational sentiments" of
from what is, attacking the hiddenthe value
"inarticulate mass." He was fearful of
assumptions behind the idea of "progress."
civil society - the fount of public values -
that was
For the most part, however, Weber sought to blossoming with social movements,
alongside the rise of the social democratic
keep value discussion under wraps, focusing
on the methodology and pursuit of the party and trade unions. Weber sought to
social
protect
sciences rather than their destabilizing value the university from the encroach-
foundations. He fought many battles mentwithinof civil society.
the newly created German Sociological ForAsso-Weber the idea of public sociology was
ciation for fear it would be overrun byan values
oxymoron since, as far as he was
at the expense of research - a mark ofconcerned,
sociol- there was no genuine public.
"The
ogy's youth. Once science established fate of our times is characterized by
itself,
rationalization and intellectualization and,
however, it became important to restore
open discussion through what we may abovecall
all, by the 'disenchantment of the
a critical sociology, a dialogue betweenworld.'
its Uto- Precisely the ultimate and most sub-
pian and anti-utopian moments. lime values have retreated from public life
The dependence of research oneither value into the transcendental realm of mys-
tic life in
commitments finds its parallel in politics or into the brotherliness of direct and
personal human relations" (SV:155). Yet, in
the relation between an "ethic of responsibil-
ity" and an "ethic of absolute ends."his
On the
own practice he often addressed publics
on sociological
one hand, the politician has to be driven by matters - the students who
a cause, an ethic of absolute ends grounded
listened to his great lectures on science and
in unshakable goals and compelling politics,
visions. the Austro-Hungarian officers who
On the other hand, a true politician, listened
mindful to him dissect the dangers of social-
of the cause, must follow an ethic ofism, the readers of his numerous contribu-
respon-
tions
sibility, that is, temper the pursuit of to newspapers, including his five
a cause
with a sense of realism that weighsessaysup and on the New Political Order, published
takes into account the consequencesinof thethat
Frankfurter Zeitung in 1917.
pursuit. These two ethics are not "absolute
His practice here was ahead of his theory.
contrasts but rather supplements,The which
concept of public sociology - public dis-
only in unison constitute the genuine
cussion of ends informed by the study of

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 Featured Essay 385

value-oriented action - could not appear individual person is appreciated, in

without the simultaneous recognition of civ- which there is a concern for his well-
il society, a realm separate from economy being - not just in a veterinary sense,
and polity. Civil society is the substratum but as a moral personality. The humani-
that facilitates debates about values, goals, tarianism of the present age, which
and aspirations of the collective, what we extends beyond the boundaries of
now call, following Arendt and Habermas, national societies; the growing acknowl-
the public sphere. edgement as well as demand for the
moral equality of races; the welfare poli-
Moment of Arrival: Messianic cies and dreams of states; the very desire
to please; the greater concern for the
Sociology claims of the living than for the claims
Weber was writing in a period when sociol- of the dead - all these features of con-
ogy was just emerging and the university temporary Western, and increasingly of
was under threat from a burgeoning civil the modern sector of non-Western, socie-
society as well as an encroaching state. Crit-
ties disclose a concern with happiness of
the individual human being and an
ical and public sociologies had yet to be con-
solidated. For this we would have to wait appreciation of the moral dignity of his
until the middle of the twentieth century -
interior life. (Shils 1961a:1410)
sociology's golden decades after World
This was sociology's Durkheimian
War II with an epicenter in the United States
marked by the euphoria of victory over fas- when it saw itself as the expression
moment
cism and the targeting of the cold warand educator of the collective consciousness.
ene-
my, the Soviet Union, and its ruling ideology.
Sociology comes to fruition, Shils avers,
At the heart of sociology's renaissance,
with its focus on "civil society" and the
nationally and globally, were Talcott Parsons
social problems that had arisen in connec-
and his colleagues at Harvard. In their vision
tion with urbanization and immigration.
the United States was the lead society, a claim
that underpinned their modernization theo- In order to prove their rights to exis-
ry, according to which the rest of the worldtence, sociologists sought to find
should follow in the tracks of the United a sphere of events left untouched by
States. This imperial vision was expressed inthe already accredited social sciences.
numerous works, not least in the encyclopedicThe inherited distinction between the
volume on the history of social theory, edited
state and civil society fitted this need
by Parsons, Naegele, Pitts, and Shils (1961), very well. (Shils 1961a:1434)
that sought to demonstrate that Parsonsian
structural functionalism was the culmination
Thus, in the vision of the leading political
of western social and political thought. sociologist of the time - Seymour Martin
The epilogue to this volume was a long Lipset - political sociology focused on the
essay, subsequently published as a separate social bases of liberal democracy and how
book, by the erudite and influential Edward
these may be threatened by "extremist" pol-
Shils, entitled "The Calling of Sociology"itics whether of the right or the left.
(1961a). According to Shils, Talcott Parsons'Sociologists could express the virtues of
The Structure of Social Action (1937) "brought
civil society because, Shils claimed, they
the greatest of partial traditions into a mea-
were inside the world they studied. "The
sure of unity" (1961a:1406), an arrival that
theory of action sees itself as part of what it
coincided with the rise of the consensualis trying to understand. Thus, sociological
society. theory is not just a theory like any other the-
ory; it is a social relationship between the
Modern society, especially in its latest theorist and the subject matter of his theory.
phase, is characteristically a consensual It is a relationship formed by the sense of
society; it is a society in which personal affinity" (1961a:1420). The relation between
attachments play a greater part than in sociologists and the people they study exem-
most societies in the past, in which the plifies Parsons' (1951) "complementary role

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386 Featured Essay

TABLE 3:
Shils' Calling of Sociology
Scientific Orientation Political Orientation

Instrumental Rationality PROFESSIONAL POLICY

(Research and Theory) (Manipulative Sociology)
Value Rationality CRITICAL PUBLIC
(Alienated Sociology) (Consensual Sociology)

expectations" - a relation of reciprocalreview

sym- of C. Wright Mills' The Sociological
pathy and understanding. By contrast,Imagination
Shils (1959). Mills had written a troika
regards policy sociology with suspicion.of It
books
is - The New Men of Power (1948),
White
a sociology with manipulative intent thatCollar (1951), and The Power Elite
denies the "mutuality inherent in the (1956)
theory- that saw the United States as domi-
of action," an instrumental relation that nated by an unaccountable power elite that
subverts "the identity of the theorist and
suppressed society's deep internal divisions.
the subject of theory" (1961a:1420). The tech- The labor movement had been co-opted, the
nological application of sociology is at odds middle classes absorbed, and intellectuals
with the democratic society that respects the had become auxiliaries of a cohesive ruling
dignity of the individual. It should never beclass with uncontested power. This anti-uto-
a tool for technocrats to rule society. pian vision of the United States was an alter-
But Shils reserves the greatest contempt native to the one celebrated by Parsons et al.
for critical theory, or what he calls "alienat-whose work Mills (1959) attacked as vacuous
ed" sociology, with its Hobbesian view of"grand theory" aided by a bureaucratically
society, centering on conflict and elite compromised "abstracted empiricism." Shils,
manipulation of the masses. In this connec- in turn, would subject Mills to withering
tion he devotes a special section to Marxism,contempt - an obstinately alienated intellec-
which he says has failed to hold "the imagi- tual, out of touch with society and with soci-
nation of morally sensitive and intelligent ology. Indeed, according to Shils, Mills was as
young people because its political implica- removed from society as were the derogated
tions became too rigid and simplistic" servants of power. The following decades
(1961a:1423). Sociology is displacing Marx- would demonstrate that Mills was far more
ism as a result of the latter 's association in touch with U.S. society than Shils, and
with tyranny as well as its intellectual his inad-popularity would soar as the influence
equacy. By contrast sociology holds of structural functionalism declined.
a far
greater critical potential. "It appeals more Curiously, Shils did find something valu-
to the mind of the contemporary intellectual able in the sociological imagination, namely
by the freedom of experience it permits; theitidea that sociology can and should
allows a man to make his own personal reach con- and educate public opinion. For Shils
sociology
tact with reality, to test it by his own experi- was fast becoming an "act of
ence, and to criticize it in a way thatcommunion
does between object and subject"
(1961a:1411). No less than Mills, Shils was
more justice, as he sees it, to that experience"
(1961a:1423^4). In The Structure of Socialcommitted to public sociology: "The proper
Action, Parsons had relegated Marx to of sociology today is the illumination
calling
a form of utilitarian individualism, and in of opinion. Having its point of departure in
1965 he could still speak of Karl Marx as the opinion of the human beings who
"probably the greatest social theorist whose make up the society, it is its task to return to
work lies entirely within the nineteenth cen- opinion, clarified and deepened by dispas-
tury" (Parsons 1967:135). This obituary of sionate study and systematic reflection"
Marxism is ironic in the light of its resur- (1961a:1441). It was a strange, illusory public
gence just a few years later. sociology - a spontaneous, unobstructed con-
Shils (1961b) made his views on critical versation between the academic world and
sociology widely known with an acrimonious its publics with a strong anti-communist bent.

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 Featured Essay 387

Shils subscribes to the same four-fold divi- research, conducted in the trenches of the
academy, advancing Marxist theories of
sion of sociology - professional (sociological
research and theory), policy (manipulative class exploitation, the labor process, the
sociology), critical (alienated sociology), state, social movements, patriarchy, racial
and public (consensual sociology) - but indomination, imperialism, and so forth. This
a messianic vein. In his imagination and in critical theory, however, was no less messi-
the imagination of structural functionalismanic than the structural functionalism it
more generally, sociology could claim to be
was replacing, having a similar idealist pre-
the civil religion of liberal America, sumption that intellectuals, especially sociol-
reflecting and promoting its defining collec- ogists, expressed the latent aspirations of
tive consciousness. It was the counterpart to a broad unnamed public, often of Third
and sworn enemy of Soviet Marxism that World provenance - an illusion largely
similarly claimed to represent a collective sustained and promoted by their isolation
consciousness, that of the Soviet people from society.
and by extension the rest of the world. Uto- The euphoria of sociology - whether it
pian though it was, Shils' public sociology spoke in the name of a universal collective
also had its darker side. As a leading figure consciousness or that of a particular race,
in the Congress of Cultural Freedom, an class, or gender - was encouraged by the
international anti-communist front spon- rapid expansion of higher education in gen-
sored by the CIA, he was deeply involved eral and of sociology in particular. Parsons'
in Cold War politics, destabilizing radical- sociology was the new science of the era,
ism, especially in the "New Nations" of the seeking to subsume the neighboring disci-
Third World, and promoting conservatism plines of anthropology, psychology, political
through such magazines as Encounter. science, and even economics under its
It was not long, however, before history expansive mantle. With the upsurge of pro-
caught up with structural functionalism. test movements, sociology turned from a Uto-
Alvin Gouldner's The Coming Crisis of West- pian endorsement of the United States to its
ern Sociology (1970) indicted structural func- anti-utopian critic. The legitimacy and the
tionalism (and indeed Soviet Marxism) as influence of the university were taken for
being out of touch with the societies they granted, encouraging on the part of its
claimed to represent. In the United States, scholars an exaggerated sense of their
Gouldner's critique of the domain assump- importance. Sociologists assumed that their
tions of mainstream sociology mirrored the ideas would insinuate themselves into the
rising civil rights movement, anti- war move- wider society and there inspire social
ment, student movement, and Third World change. There was no anticipation of the
movement. These movements exposed the subsequent assault on the idea of the univer-
dominant sociology as projecting a particular sity or its reduction to market forces. Nor
ideological vision of society, belying its was there any intimation of the marginaliza-
claims to value neutrality. tion of sociology that would accompany the
Still, despite Gouldner's warning, sociolo- neoliberal offensive against civil society.
gy did not die, but continued its ascent as the
critical theory he advocated - that now
Moment of Engagement: Sociology as
included feminism, Marxism, and critical
race theory - became widely adopted, a Combat Sport
inspired by the social movements of the The 1960s and 1970s were golden years for
sociology - it captured the imagination of
era. The classic of the Marxist renaissance
came from Barrington Moore, a Soviet the epoch, first the post- World War II eupho-
spe-
ria and then the sixties' social movements.
cialist reemerging as a comparative historian
To live
and author of the magisterial Social Origins of for sociology in this period was to
indulge in a certain illusory optimism of
Dictatorship and Democracy (1966). Together
the
with E. P. Thompson's The Making of power of ideas that makes little sense
the
today. It was a time of the expanding univer-
English Working Class (1963), he reinvented
sity, flush with public funding, and its occu-
the meaning of class in historical perspec-
tive. This was followed by a wide rangepants
ofreflected this in their missionary zeal

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388 Featured Essay

TABLE 4:
Sociology as a Bourdieusian Field
Autonomy Heteronomy
Consecrated PROFESSIONAL POLICY
Challengers CRITICAL PUBLIC

for a better world. a relation Weof domination

live between
intypes a ofver
world in which rationality, between instrumental and value
the university is in
it becomes a capitalist institution
rationality. Such a relation of internal domina- d
market forces. tion Our
is integral to era belongs
any field, but what disfigures n
Weber, Durkheim, nor Marx but to Pierre the field are forces of "heteronomy," encroach-
Bourdieu, Karl Polanyi, and W.E.B. Du Bois. ments from without, whether they come from
Sociology can take an instrumental turn: commodification or "mediatization."
either retreating into its professional shell The astonishing rise of Bourdieu, national-
in the hope that the storm will dissipate or ly and globally, followed and deepened his
competing in the market by selling its exper- critique of neoliberalism. Early in his career
tise in policy research. But such a move may he was committed to the development of
come at the expense of its value stances, soci- a professional sociology, defined as a sharp
ology's critical and public impulses. Indeed, break from common sense and applied soci-
Max Weber himself feared such a process of ology (Bourdieu [1968]1991). This was
"rationalization" in which a logic of means Weber's knowledge for knowledge's sake.
and efficiency dominated the discussion of As he became a more prominent figure,
ends. A similar fear lay at the heart of the especially with his ascent to Professor in
Frankfurt School from Horkheimer and the Collège de France in 1981, Bourdieu
Adorno to Marcuse and Habermas. repudiated his earlier hostility to "reform
A more recent representative is Pierre sociology" and took up policy research,
especially with regard to higher education.
Bourdieu, who defines sociology as a combat
sport in which public engagement becomes During his last decade, hostile to the French
a defense of the profession. His positiongovernment's adoption of neoliberal auster-
stems from a broader concern to uphold ity measures, he took sociology to the streets
(Bourdieu 1998). This public turn was a des-
the autonomy of cultural and scientific fields
perate move, contradicting his theory of
against the corrosive influence of markets.
Even though Bourdieu does not applysymbolichis domination - his anti-utopian
field analysis to sociology, were he to sociology
do so - that claimed that the dominated
cannot understand their own subjuga-
he might arrive at the same internal tensions
as we have found in Weber and Shils. Bour-
tion. He attacked outside pretenders - the
doxosophers - who distorted sociology
dieu' s analysis of fields also works along
two dimensions: relations of dependence from without as well as the "opportunists"
(autonomy vs. heteronomy) and relations who subverted it from within (Bourdieu
[1996] 1999). Facing enemies on all sides he
of domination (consecrated vs. challengers),
struck
giving rise to the same array of sociologies - alliances wherever he could, especial-
professional, policy, public, and critical.5
ly with social movements fighting the effects
Note that the distinction between the conse- of neoliberalism (Bourdieu [2001]2003). He
became the most renowned and influential
crated and their challengers is a social rela-
tion of domination among individuals hold- public sociologist of our era, but, like Weber,
his theory lagged behind his practice - he
ing different positions in the field rather than
could not explain how people could grasp
the conditions of their own subjugation
5 Most pertinent for our purposes is Bourdieu's
and contest marketization.
treatment of the scientific field (1975), the liter-
ary field ([1992]1996), and symbolic domina-
Bourdieu attacked the "tyranny of the
tion and scholastic fallacies ([1997]2000). market" but without an adequate theory of

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 Featured Essay 389

marketization. Here the theoretical baton is

he sets the terms of a sociological research
program emanating from a critique of his
passed on to Polanyi (1944) - now a canoni-
cal figure in economic sociology - who ideas. His view of society as a harmonious
examined the devastation that comes with and resilient force capable of resisting com-
the commodification of labor, money,modification
and has to be replaced by the notion
nature, so-called fictitious commodities. of a precarious and contested civil society.
His analysis resonates with the sociology ofHis reduction of state to society has to be
today: the commodification of labor that replaced by a complex array of relations
has left a defenseless precariat in its wake, that vary over time and between countries.
the commodification of money that has led His counter-movement has to be replaced
to the rule of finance and the ruin of national by theories of social movements as
economies, the commodification of nature responses to marketization and how they
that has led to the destruction of water may lead in the direction of greater freedom
(socialism) or lesser freedom (fascism).
supplies, the spoliation of land, and climate
change. Together they threaten human There
sur-is no shortage of professional sociolo-
gy working within such a framework,
vival on the planet. Polanyi did not anticipate
another (third) wave of marketization - he self-consciously Polanyian or not.
whether
thought humanity would never make Indeed,
the the expansion of our subdisci-
same mistake again - because he did notplines - reflected in the last half-century of
devel-
growth
op a theory of capitalist accumulation that in the sections of the American
Sociological Association - reflects the plural-
would explain the forces behind marketization.
Nor did Polanyi foresee the commodifica-
ity of standpoints to be found in civil society,
tion of knowledge: how the university each a potential arena of resistance to the ris-
would itself become subject to the ingsame
tide of commodification, each a flour-
distorting market forces. The university is of research.
ishing area
Critical
fast losing its public character. With the dis- sociology has conventionally
served
appearance of the funding it once took forto interrogate the assumptions of
professional sociology, especially its claims
granted, it has had to sell itself by charging
to value neutrality. We will always have
students rising fees, begging for contribu-
tions from donors and alumni, seekingneed
cor-of sociologists who query the founda-
tions of our research and compel us to be
porate investment, creating public-private
partnerships, speculating on its real more reflective about who we are and what
estate,
and turning the university into a hedge
we do, especially in an era of the commodi-
fund by leveraging its "brand." fication
Such of knowledge. But critical sociology
revenue-raising is supplemented with costalso direct its focus outward, placing
should
value
cutting through online education and cutscommitments front and center of
in wages, salaries, and benefits for its
explorations of alternatives to the existing
world.
employees, and by replacing expensive ten- The power of market society makes
ured faculty with much cheaper contingent
the existing world appear natural and inevi-
faculty. With commodification comes table,
dis- and sociology's historic task is both
possession. The university has been increas-
anti-utopian, explaining how we get trapped
ingly hijacked by a class of "spiralists" -
by domination, and Utopian, exploring alter-
circulating administrators and their manage-
native visions. To make those visions plausi-
ment consultants, concerned more with ble it is important to work from the concrete,
finance than education and research, who from the actually existing, to tease out prin-
thereby threaten the very functions they are ciples behind institutions that challenge
hired to protect. We can no longer take the uni- marketization. Exemplary here is Erik
versity for granted - it has to become an objectWright's (2010) work on real utopias -
of investigation as well as a launching pad for participatory budgeting, cooperatives, uni-
investigation. versal guaranteed income - all of which con-
Polanyi's anti-utopian project that test the supremacy of market forces driven
analyzes the forces of marketization gives by the exigencies of capitalism.
rise to a Utopian project - the societal Subservient to the logic of the market and
counter-movement to marketization. Here losing the trappings of welfare, the state is

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390 Featured Essay

less inclined to strike an alliance with sociol- and Bernie Sanders to condemn market-
induced inequality, one might suspect that
ogy than it was in the Keynesian era. Policy
the balance is tilting back to sociology. For
sociology, therefore, has to seek out partners
all the controversy they sometimes raise,
in the world of progressive foundations,
ready to support programs that critically
recent ethnographic work shows how effec-
examine the corrosive effects of the market tive they can be in raising public awareness.
For example, Matt Desmond's Evicted
such as the Program for Environmental
and Regional Equity and the Center for describes
the in pain-inducing detail the conse-
quences of an unregulated housing market,
Study of Immigrant Integration at the Uni-
drawing attention to the exploitative relation
versity of Southern California or the Center
between rentiers and tenants.
for Urban Research and Learning at Loyola
University, Chicago. Ruth Milkman and Alongside traditional public sociology,
there is an "organic" public sociology,
Eileen Appelbaum (2013) pioneered the
involving an unmediated face-to-face
investigation of new California legislation
relation of sociologists with publics such as
for paid family leave, encouraging the adop-
trade unions, religious organizations, or
tion of similar legislation in other states. Yet,
neighborhood associations. This subterra-
at the same time, they hold on to a critical
nean form of public sociology is often more
perspective that sees the outcome of legisla-
effective and longer lasting. With the effer-
tion as largely reproducing social inequality.
Theda Skocpol's Scholar's Strategy Network vescence
is of civil society, registered in such
a more ambitious and wide-ranging effortsocial
at movements as the Occupy movement,
policy advocacy and critique. Black Lives Matter, or the Dreamers or in the
rise
Finally, there is public sociology, not of social movements hostile to the
regulatory state, sociology's public face can
always easy to distinguish from policy soci-
gain more prominence. But the populist
ology, especially when the latter is unwel-
come in the corridors of power. The goal of upsurge - in Europe and not just North
public sociology is to develop a conversationAmerica - can assume a reactionary as well
between sociologists and publics about the as a progressive character, and here too pub-
lic sociology has a battle to join. We have
direction of society. Shils' "calling" had pub-
thought too little about the challenge of
lic sociology at its core - sociology spontane-
ously expressed a singular collective con-addressing publics that are hostile to our
sciousness. Subsequent history showed justvalues.
how illusory this public sociology was - the Undoubtedly the most effective public
collective consciousness proved to be far sociology has been feminist inspired.
Whether this concerns the domestic sphere
more divided and far less open to sociology
than Shils claimed. To sustain a presenceorinthe labor market, whether education or
the public sphere, sociology has to compete
politics, whether patterns of divorce or dat-
ing, whether adoption or abortion, sexual
with corporate interests and powerful media
violence or transgender relations, feminist
hostile to its message as well as with other
sociology has made inroads into public con-
disciplines, notably economics, political sci-
sciousness, by way of both sympathy and
ence, and psychology, that are far more con-
sonant with the reigning common sense. The reaction. No less important is the silent rev-
olution within sociology that the feminism
situation requires a distinction between two
types of public sociology. movement has wrought, leaving no area
In its "traditional" form public sociology
untouched. Beyond the inclusion of gender,
and along with critical race theory, feminism
catalyzes public discussion through the writ-
has compelled the recognition of "stand-
ing of books and contributions to the official
media (radio, television, newspapers) or point"
the and the fact that we are never outside
ever-expanding blogosphere and digital the world we study. In short, we should not
forget that public sociology carries a two-
media. What headway can a sociology criti-
way influence, from publics to sociology as
cal of the market make in a public sphere col-
well as sociology to publics.
onized by powerful market forces? When
economists such as Joseph Stiglitz andAs the market invades and transforms the
university, there is one arena over which we
Thomas Piketty join forces with Pope Francis

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 Featured Essay 391

still have a measure of control. That is teach-can build allies within the university, but no
ing. Max Weber had an instrumental view ofless important it needs to recognize that the
teaching in which students are passive recep-university cannot stand apart from society; it
tacles, susceptible to political manipulation.must be accountable to society if it is to win
The lecturer, therefore, has to keep his valuesback legitimacy as a public institution.
to himself and focus on the transmission of But our discipline has also to be broad-
specialist knowledge. This is how many stillened in another way. If sociology is to treat
think about teaching, whether it be convey- the causes and consequences of corn-
modification of labor, nature, money, and
ing the basic ideas and discoveries of our dis-
cipline, often formulated in textbooks, or knowledge,
by it has to deal with migration
developing special vocational programs and in precarity, environmental degradation,
such topics as criminology or health. You finance capital, and intellectual property as
might say that the former is a professionalglobal phenomena. Sociology has to become
approach to teaching whereas the latterglobal is not only in its product but also in its
production. Weber's sociology was pano-
a policy approach to teaching. A critical
approach teaches our students to interrogate
ramic but ultimately rooted in German soci-
the foundations of our discipline, pointing
ety, while structural functionalism believed
to new foundations accompanied by alterna-in its own spurious universalism. Today we
tive visions. Here we highlight the value
have to be more humble and recognize our
fraught position within a globalizing world
premises of the material we teach, deliberate-
ly chosen to reveal the plurality of value
with a plurality of sociologies, each with
premises even within our own discipline. their own national or regional base, located
in a very unequal and hierarchical global
But there is also teaching as public sociol-
ogy in which students are themselves consti-field composed of universities gaming
tuted as a public. In this mode, teachingworld
is rankings, searching out fee-paying
a three-level dialogue: a first dialogue students, and creating networks of global
between teacher and students that takes campuses. Increasingly, competition for
that very pedagogical relationship as"world
pointclass" status divides higher educa-
of departure with a view to exploringtion the
into two worlds - elite and non-elite -
each rapidly
lived experience of students, enriching it receding from the other.
with sociological studies; a second dialogue
Playing in the global field of higher educa-
among students in which they learn tion undoubtedly has its down side for the
about
themselves through engaging one another;
subordinate players who have to follow in
and a third dialogue of students with the tracks of northern "distinction," trying
publics
to publish in northern journals run by
beyond the university. Deepening students'
northern
understanding of their changing relation to academics, drawing them away
their own institution by placing that from their own national and local publics.
rela-
On the other hand, their presence - if
tionship front and center of sociological
organized - can bring pressure to bear on
analysis might also enlist them in a common
project of defending the university and sociologists to shed their provin-
northern
advancing sociology. cialism and work toward a global communi-
The university will be overrunty
and
of critical thinkers. Postcolonial thought,
destroyed by market forces if there orissouthern
no theory, as Raewyn Connell
resistance. Sociology is well-positioned
(2007)tocalls it, demands that we both recog-
partake in such resistance, but it cannot
nize and transcend our own limited perspec-
accomplish this by itself. The counter-
tives. This will be necessary if we are to tack-
movement to the rationalization of the uni-
le the global challenges of today.
versity requires not only the reassertion ofBut for such a sociology to take root we
values in its midst and thus the building will
of need a civil society of global dimen-
alliances across disciplines and across sions, something that neither Polanyi nor
schools, but also the building of collabora- Bourdieu could imagine, notwithstanding
tions with publics outside the university - the former's grasp of the internationaliza-
publics tied to institutions that are suffering tion of capitalism and the latter 's promotion
a similar fate to the university itself. Sociology of an "international of intellectuals." In this

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392 Featured Essay

regard, if there is one sociologist whose trail not living in the nineteenth century; the pas-
we might follow it is W.E.B. Du Bois, who sage of the twentieth century has not been in
began by studying the world market in slav- vain. With all its regressions, at least in the
ery, created the first laboratory of scientific north, it did create a thriving university
sociology, and wrote a brilliant comparative and an expansive civil society - a legacy
history of reconstruction in the American now under threat but far from dissolved.
South. Discriminated against in the academ- From the messianic period sociology
ic field, he took his sociology to wider inherited aspirations for a better world that
publics, developing a critical stance toward holds state and market in check.
the U.S. state, becoming a communist and In this context, therefore, the sociological
a Pan-Africanist, and living his last years in tradition must not be abandoned but revital-
postcolonial Ghana. In recovering his ized. It will be a sociology without guaran-
pioneering role in the formation of U.S. soci- tees, summoning up the courage to contest
ology, Aldon Morris (2015) opens the door to this latest wave of marketization that
viewing Du Bois as also the most contempo- threatens to overwhelm not just ourselves
rary of sociologists, his colonized status at but the human race. Weber's "polar night
home leading to an expansive global vision of icy darkness and hardness" (PV:128)
we so badly need today. may lie ahead, but that possibility only
makes the ongoing commitment to sociology
more imperative.
Conclusion: Sociology without
Guarantees
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