Seeing the Strings: Sociological Theory and the Epistemic Break

• In Event: 2162 - History of Sociology/Social Thought: The Problematic Influence of the American Canon

Abstract

The notion of the epistemic break, the exceptionality of sociological thought relative to lay understandings of the social world, lies at the core of our disciplinary identity. Much of our rhetoric around the epistemic break is the product of instrumental and circular, self-justificatory logics, however—though it is indeed possible under particular structural circumstances. The performative and maladaptive element of this discourse is enabled in part by a facile approach to classical sociological theory. Altering our relationship to the exegesis of classic texts is thus a necessary step for the advancement of the discipline

Author

• Shadrick Andrew Small, UC Berkeley