Once again the season of the anti-sociologists is upon us…[a]curious admixture of illogic and sentiment…makes up the creed and canons of anti-sociology.” Those words come from Robert K Merton, writing in the New York Times in July 1961. They are a timely reminder that some bad ideas never die. They simply find new sponsors and come around again. This year, the prime US vehicle is the Wall Street Journal asking whether sociology should be liquidated…
…There is good and bad work in all sciences. .. As Merton noted, though, sociology would be a poor science if we all agreed on everything. Equally, it would be a poor democracy that chose to make itself ignorant by liquidating sociology.
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