Fillingim Angela, Rucks-Ahidiana Zawadi
Fairhaven College, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA USA.
Department of Sociology, University At Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY USA.
Am Sociol. 2021;52(2):276-303. doi: 10.1007/s12108-021-09487-z. Epub 2021 Apr 17.
Classical Theory courses in the U.S. present a history of our discipline grounded in the works of Durkheim, Marx, and Weber, defining "classic" by space and time, giving pre-World War II Europe credit for creating the foundation of contemporary sociology. While past critiques of this canon have argued for expanding the geographic bounds outside of Europe, these efforts still ground the origins of social theory in a time period of racial exclusion and segregation. We argue for a reckoning with the racial origins of the discipline in the United States in anti-Blackness and the legacies of racial exclusions. We must grapple with the histories of exclusion and segregation that continue to impact the discipline's present and futures. In this paper, we argue that the teaching of sociology's history should be through the "Foundations of Social Theory," a broad approach to teaching that rejects the ideas of both "classics" and a "canon." This approach roots theory in our history through core issues of study (e.g., the origins and consequences of capitalism) and directly addresses past racial and gendered exclusions by centering BIPOC intellectual contributions across time. By lifting the time and space restrictions, we open the doors to including voices omitted and repressed due to the exclusion of BIPOC people, especially Black women, from higher education in the U.S. This approach acknowledges the diverse histories and voices in our classrooms and profession, and highlights the relevance of social theory for our future.
美国的经典理论课程呈现了一门以涂尔干、马克思和韦伯的著作为本学科历史根基的课程，通过时空来界定“经典”，将当代社会学基础的创立归功于二战前的欧洲。尽管过去对这一经典的批评主张扩大欧洲以外的地理范围，但这些努力仍然将社会理论的起源置于一个种族排斥和隔离的时期。我们主张正视美国该学科在反黑人主义以及种族排斥遗留问题方面的种族起源。我们必须应对那些持续影响该学科现在和未来的排斥与隔离的历史。在本文中，我们认为社会学历史的教学应该通过“社会理论基础”来进行，这是一种广泛的教学方法，摒弃了“经典”和“经典著作集”的观念。这种方法通过核心研究问题（如资本主义的起源和后果）将理论扎根于我们的历史，并通过关注不同时期有色人种、原住民、黑人、有色人种的知识贡献，直接解决过去的种族和性别排斥问题。通过解除时间和空间限制，我们为纳入那些因美国高等教育排斥有色人种、原住民、黑人、有色人种，尤其是黑人女性而被遗漏和压制的声音打开了大门。这种方法承认我们课堂和专业中多样的历史和声音，并突出了社会理论对我们未来的相关性。
