British sociology in crisis
Mar. 25th, 2008 09:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylThis weekend sees the annual British Sociological Association conference at Warwick. But events have been thrown into turmoil after a conflict between the organising committee and the BSA executive.
Concerned at the brutal cull of economists, sociologists etc, implemented by Keele, the organising committee added a session to discuss the impact of the sackings on sociology. Something you might expect would be in tune with the BSA's mission statements to enhance, "...the identity of the discipline and its practioners/scholars" and "...the context for the pursuit of sociology". But you'd be wrong. The organisers were slapped down by the president who, not entirely coincidentally, happens to be Dean of Humanities at Keele, on the grounds that the sackings were actually a trade union matter.
This contrasts very strongly with the actions of the Royal Economic Society, which held its annual conference at Warwick last week. RES, not usually a hotbed of militancy not only voted to condemn the actions of Keele but also decided to move its 2009 annual conference from Keele to Surrey.
Although it looks like the sociologists are going to get their discussion, it is now going to be carried out under the aegises of Warwick and not the BSA itself. Not really a terribly satisfactory result for sociology in general, although for those currently casting about for a reason not to to renew their (terribly expensive) membership of the organisation, this has come as a godsend...
Concerned at the brutal cull of economists, sociologists etc, implemented by Keele, the organising committee added a session to discuss the impact of the sackings on sociology. Something you might expect would be in tune with the BSA's mission statements to enhance, "...the identity of the discipline and its practioners/scholars" and "...the context for the pursuit of sociology". But you'd be wrong. The organisers were slapped down by the president who, not entirely coincidentally, happens to be Dean of Humanities at Keele, on the grounds that the sackings were actually a trade union matter.
This contrasts very strongly with the actions of the Royal Economic Society, which held its annual conference at Warwick last week. RES, not usually a hotbed of militancy not only voted to condemn the actions of Keele but also decided to move its 2009 annual conference from Keele to Surrey.
Although it looks like the sociologists are going to get their discussion, it is now going to be carried out under the aegises of Warwick and not the BSA itself. Not really a terribly satisfactory result for sociology in general, although for those currently casting about for a reason not to to renew their (terribly expensive) membership of the organisation, this has come as a godsend...
