What We Were, What We Are, and What We Should Be: The Racial Problem of American Sociology

Extract

Professor Aldon Morris asked us to address five questions dealing with how sociologists and sociology examine matters of inequality inside and outside our sociological house. Although I will answer each of his questions at the end of this essay and address inequality in general, I focus this essay on race matters in sociology as that is my area of expertise. However, I must begin by addressing a burning matter in the minds of some readers: “How can I, after been elected president of the American Sociological Association (ASA), be talking about the salience of race in our business? Isn’t my election proof positive that race is ‘declining in significance’ (Wilson 1978)?” As someone who has been in the sociology business since 1984,¹ I contend that racial affairs are as bad today as they were since I began my professional career and, perhaps, like in the country at large, may be worsening (Cashin 2004; Shapiro, Meschede, and Osoro 2013). Despite talk of a “post-racial” moment and the election of our first black president, race remains a central axis of social division, action, and feeling in our nation.