Is Sociology Dead?: Social Theory and Social Praxis in a Post-Modern Age

Sociology was in serious trouble in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Harvard University was down to only 67 students majoring in sociology in 1992. Yale's department faced a 40% cut in faculty and near extinction. In the last decade, Washington University (St. Louis, MO) and the University of Rochester shut down their departments. George Washington University (Washington, D.C.) regrouped in order to stave off further cuts. However, in the past decade, sociology has surged back and become more important than ever to policy makers and pundits. Why? Is Sociology Dead? covers three areas of Dr. Jack Nusan Porter's work: the role of sociological theory in society; the image of sociology in the media; and what he calls the "creative praxis," (the application of social theory to real life problems). The theoretical section of the book covers such areas as conflict theory; situational and small group theory; and what could be termed as post-9/11 approaches as chaos, postmodern, and rational choice theory that address the questions of random murder, terrorism, and genocide. The second section deals with an overview of sociology's image in the U.S. media and covers in detail how sociology was treated in radical textbooks in the 1960s. The final section applies new theoretical approaches to a host of contemporary political, business, technological, and urban issues.