Sociology in Crisis--or Sociology Amidst Crisis?--Sociology versus the Florida Board of Education

• In Event: 40406 - Debating the Place for Value-Commitments in Sociology

Abstract

This paper studies the history of the Florida Board of Governors (BOG) of the Department of Education action of January 17, 2024 that removed Principles of Sociology as an option for meeting the core curriculum general education standard in social science for college and university students. The paper is an attempt to meet the frequently called for need for history of sociology to offer studies that bring together a consideration of sociology as a discipline, sociology as a profession, and sociology as a collective actor in American society. The paper also studies the action of the BOG toward sociology as part of a larger analysis of the components of the current crisis, frequently defined as extreme polarization along political lines, in the United States today, as of February 2025. This national crisis is understood herein as an “organic crisis” emerging simultaneously in various parts of the social system. This paper captures one moment of such emergence. The argument is developed in 3 parts. Part One offers as a frame an overview of the relationship of sociology and national crises in the US from the founding of the American Social Science Association in 1865 to the present. Part Two focuses on a history of the conflict with the Florida Board of Education and Part Three concludes with a question about where sociology stands in terms of the organic crisis currently facing the US.

Authors

• Gillian (Jill) Niebrugge-Brantley, George Washington University

• Patricia Madoo Lengermann, George Washington University