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Sociology and its publics: the forms and fates of disciplinaryorganization / edited by Terence C. Halliday and Morris janowitz. - Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. - P.137-195.
No discipline has contributed more to interdisciplinary social science than sociology, and no discipline has suffered more from the poor showing of that enterprise. Sociology, according to August Comte, was to be "queen of the sciences"; more recent sociologists have generally aspired only to be the most synthetically encompassing of the social sciences. Nonetheless, as Rigney and Barnes put it, "for better or worse, contemporary sociology has inherited a dual identity. In principle it has been a synthetic discipline; more often in practice it has served as an interstitial discipline, filling in gaps among the other social sciences and working along their borders" (1980:116).
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r The Forms and Fates of Disciplinary Organization Edited by TERENCE C. HALLIDAY and MORRIS JAN 0 WITZ THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS Chicago and London ~I~~} ~ - d\:~~;. TerenceC. Halliday is researchfellow at the American Bar Foundation and Visiting associateprofessor of sociology at the University of Chicago. He is the author of Beyond Monopoly: Lawyers, State Crises,and ProfessioMI Empowennent, published by the University of Chicago Pressin 1987. Morris Janowitz (1919-1988) taught sociology at the University of Chicago for rwenry-sixyears. He was founder and generaleditor of the Heritage of Sociologyseries. Among his books published by the University of Chicago Pressare The.Last HalfCentury (1978) and The Reconstructionof Patriotism j1983). The University of Chicago Press,Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press,Ltd., London () 1992 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved.Published 1992 Printed in the United Statesof America 00 99 98 9796 95 94 93 92 54321 ISBN (cloth): 0-226-31379-4 ISBN (paper): 0-226-31380-8 Library of CongressCataloging-in-Publication Data Sociologyand its publics: the forms and fatesof disciplinary organizationI edited by TerenceC. Halliday and Morris janowitz. p. cm. -(The Heritage of sociology) Includesbibliographical referencesand index. 1. Sociology-:-United States. I. Halliday, TerenceC. (Terence Charles). 11.janowitz, Morris. Ill. Series. HM22.USSS741992 301'.O973-dc20 91-38024 CIP @The paper used in this publication meetsthe minimum requirementSof the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanenceof Paperfor Printedlibrary Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. 4 Sociology, Other Disciplines, and the Project of a General Understanding of Social Life CRAIG CALHOUN No discipline has contributed more to interdisciplinary social science than sociology, and no discipline has suffered more from the poor showing of that enterprise. Sociology, according to August Comte, was to be "queen of the sciences"; more recent sociologistshave generally aspired only to be the most synthetically encompassingof the social sciences.Nonetheless,as Rigney and Barnes put it, "for better or worse, contemporary sociology has inherited a dual identity. In principle it has been a synthetic discipline; more often in practice it has servedas an interstitial discipline, filling in gaps among the other social sciencesand working along their borders" (1980:116). Even sociologistswho would claim a central and not an interstitial place for their discipline often argue for a discrete division of labor among the social sciences.Durkheim beganthe tradition with his determination to distinguish sociology from psychology. Though psychology remains the field most cited by sociologists (seeTables 1 and 2), this has not prevented many leading members of the discip