NORWEGIAN SOCIOLOGY SINCE 1969 - PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES

The youngest of the Norwegian sociology departments was established so me 25 years ago, thus concluding this phase in the history of the disc ipline in Norway. The anniversary provides the opportunity to examine the subsequent period. The last 25 years have seen an enormous expansi on in the amount of sociological work, not least due to the growth in demand for applied social research. However, this has not led to a con solidation of the discipline. On the contrary, the period is character ized by heated theoretical debates and continuous theoretical uncertai nties. Some of the reasons, rooted in the ambitions, orientations, and organizational structures of the preceding phase - that is, up to 197 0 - are pointed out. Furthermore, some main characteristics of the deb ates in the following years are discussed. The most important are link ed to phenomenological anti-positivism, level-of-living research, Marx ism, critical theory, and feminism. Some common weaknesses in prominen t sociological theories are pointed out: An insufficient understanding of individual participants, social norms, and social change. A concep tion of sociology as a critical theory is sketched. rf sociology is to function in a critical way, it has to (i) moderate its pretensions of building one holistic theory and accept itself as a coalition of subd isciplines, (ii) give far more weight to empirical research in the dev elopment of theoretical understanding, and (iii) further the developme nt of normative theory linked to various social arenas.