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Review: [untitled]
Author(s): Patricia Hill Collins
Reviewed work(s):
Liberation Sociology by Joe R. Feagin ; Hernán Vera
Source: The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 107, No. 4 (Jan., 2002), pp. 1097-1098
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3081254
Accessed: 14/01/2010 12:56
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Book Reviews
LiberationSociology.By Joe R. Feagin and Hernan Vera. Boulder, Colo.:
Westview, 2001. Pp. ix+308. $28.00 (paper).
Patricia Hill Collins
Universityof Cincinnati
Through eight highly readable chapters, LiberationSociologyby Joe R.
Feagin and Hernan Vera explores the unresolved relationship among the
origins, recent history, and potential future of American sociology. Its goal
is not to criticize, but rather to heal the fractures between these three
sociological narratives. By documenting the rich history that initially
framed American sociology as well as painstakingly analyzing the increasing impoverishment of the field under its dominant paradigms, Feagin and Vera unearth a liberation sociology that is extant yet unrecognized.
Some sociologists will feel threatened by the very title of this volume,
yet Feagin and Vera's definition of liberation sociology reclaims ethical
and activist dimensions of sociology present since its inception. Chapter
1, "What Is Liberation Sociology?" sketches out basic definitions: "The
point of liberation sociology is not just to research the social world but
to change it in the direction of democracy and social justice" (p. 1).
Through research agendas that are relevant to everyday human problems,
liberation sociology aims to eliminate social oppressions and to create
societies that are more just and egalitarian.
In developing a more robust reading of the sociological record, Liberation Sociologyrevisits some familiar names. Chapter 2 reassesses selected classical sociological theorists, giving new readings of the works of
Auguste Comte, Harriet Martineau, Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, Karl
Marx, and Herbert Mead. Despite considerable differences among these
figures, LiberationSociologyargues that the earliest European and American sociologists viewed sociology as generating knowledge useful for
building better societies. LiberationSociologyalso recovers the work of
Jane Addams, urban sociologist Saul Alinsky, and W. E. B. Du Bois,
lesser-known American sociologists whose contributions have largely been
excised from the sociological record. By examining the works of female
sociologists in the settlement house movement, the authors suggest that
the vibrancy and vitality of early sociology stemmed in large part from
its connections to social action.
LiberationSociologydoes not tiptoe around a basic domain assumption
that has long framed U. S. sociology, that liberation sociology constitutes
a lesser form of sociology. Because it seems to overemphasize politics and
advocacy, liberation sociology can never be good science. In refuting this
Permissionto reprinta book review printed in this section may be obtainedonly from
the review author.
AJS Volume 107 Number 4
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AmericanJournalof Sociology
view, the authorsprovidethe exampleof existingpatternsin American
collegesand universitiesthat offer numerouscourseson social problems
but very few on social solutions."Tomap and analyzethe dimensionsof
social problems-crime, inequities,racism,corporatecontrol,and environmentalhazards-is seen as scientificresearch.To discussand describe
alternativepracticesand developsolutionsis seen as movingtowardpolitics and advocacy-areas that are perceivedas a threatto the objectivity
of research"(p. 193). Feagin and Vera reject this view, arguinginstead
that good sociology,and this powerfulscientificresearch,has and can
continueto encompassboth.
In exploringthis synergisticrelationshiplinkingscienceand social action, Liberation Sociology presentsseveral case studies of sociological
researchmethodologiesthat reflectpraxis.Chapter6's discussionof Columbian sociologistOrlandoFels-Borda'sparticipatoryaction research
(PAR)model constitutesan exemplarycase of how traditionalmethodologicalapproachescan be transformedfor liberatorypurposes.Via this
exampleof "DoingLiberationSocial Science,"the authorsshow how, in
traditionalacademic research,participantobservationhas meant that
sociologicalresearchersobservebut do not get involved in the processes
observed.In contrast,Fels-Bordadevelopedthe conceptof commitment,
the idea that participatorysocial scientistsshouldwork to transforman
intolerablesocietyinto a humaneone. Chapter6 surveysa varietyof PAR
projects,fromsociologicaltraditionsin Chile,to a projectstudyingstreet
childrenin Tanzania,to African-Americans
engagedin opposingenvironmentalracismin the United States, to projectsin Norway and Germany.Ethicsare at the coreof liberationsociology,with the toolsof social
science, both qualitative and quantitative,placed in service of social
justice.
I came away fromLiberation Sociology with a sense of renewedhope
for the field. Throughoutmy career,I have routinelyencouragedundergraduatesto enter sociologyand graduatestudentsto persistby looking
beyond their disenchantmentwith the careerpolitics that characterize
sociologyas an academicdiscipline.Few studentsaspire to becomesociologistsfor purelycareeristconcerns-the majorityentersociologyprecisely because of its promiseto make a better society.Until Liberation
Sociology, I found few well-written, cogently presented, and wellresearchedargumentssuitablefor the next generationof sociologists.This
volumeaddressesthis lack. For everyundergraduatestudentconsidering
enteringsociology,for everygraduatestudentwonderingabouthis or her
choice,as well as for currentsociologistswho wonderwhetherthey have
lost their way, Liberation Sociology might prove to be a breathof fresh
air.
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