SOCIAL-PROBLEMS - PATHWAYS FOR TRANSCENDING EXCLUSIVE SOCIOLOGY

In this paper we juxtapose assimilationist and diversity arguments fou nd in recent metatheoretical discussions about a crisis in North Ameri can sociology. Each argument identifies a very different crisis, yet t he remedies proposed appear similar in certain instances. We suggest t hat the assimilationist response to the crisis reproduces it, because this response requires exclusivity in sociological inquiry. Diversity reasoning acknowledges different forms of inquiry, largely as represen ting situated actors in different relations of domination. In doing so , diversity reasoning points towards how to transcend exclusivity beca use it implicitly focuses on issues related to the question ''sociolog y for whom?'' (Lee 1976). In the last part of this paper, we offer one possible way to elaborate further the potential for this transcendenc e: making social problems the explicit focus of sociological knowledge and incorporating nonacademic communities into sociological projects.