Utbildnings- och kultursociologi
Sociology of Education and Culture at Uppsala University
URL of this page is www.skeptron.uu.se/sec/k-21-ssh.htm
Sociology of the Social Sciences and the Humanities
PhD Course, 7.5 credits, 2021–2022
Sociology of Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Uppsala University
Start 16 March 2021, ending in Summer 2022.
Prof. Johan Heilbron in collaboration with
Tobias Dalberg, Lisa Backman, Astrid Collsiöö, Per Wisselgren, Pablo Lillo Cea
With guest lecturers from Uppsala and abroad.
Coordinator: Mikael Börjesson.
Arranged in collaboration with the centre Higher Education and Research as Research Objects (HERO), Uppsala University.
The Course is open to PhD students in sociology of education and related disciplines (history of science, political science, history of ideas, philosophy) as well as to postdocs and junior faculty members.
For registration, please send an email to Mikael Börjesson, mikael.borjesson@edu.uu.se.
Documents for downloading
Syllabus
Programme
Part 1. 16–17 March 2021. Towards a sociology of the social sciences and humanities (SSH)
Part 2. 28–29 September 2021. The SSH as a field of disciplines and the rise of transdisciplinary studies
Part 3. 23–25 November 2021. Sociology of sociology
Part 4. 22–24 March 2022. The SSH in National Academic Systems, Transnational Circulation, and Emerging Global Space
Part 5. 19–20 May 2022. Networks, circles, schools and other groupings in the SSH
Literature, Annotated General Bibliography
Literature to part 1: Towards a sociology of the social sciences and humanities (SSH)
Literature to part 2: Disciplines and interdisciplinarity in SSH
Literature to part 3: Sociology of sociology
Literature to part 4: The SSH in National Academic Systems, Transnational Circulation, and Emerging Global Space
Literature to part 5: Networks, circles, schools and other groupings in the SSH
Annotated General Bibliography <k-21-ssh-Annotated General Bibliography.pdf>.
Compiled by Johan Heilbron. Reproduced below under the heading "Literature".
This course offers a sociological perspective on the emerging field of study of the social sciences and the humanities (SSH). Similar to the area of ‘science and technology studies’ (STS), it may be referred to as ‘SSH studies.’
The course aims to explore the new domain, to critically discuss the main theoretical approaches, and to provide an in-depth analysis of central themes, in relation to empirical and historical case-studies.
After the course the graduate student is expected to be able to
Instead of the standard format of two hour meetings, the seminar will be organized in a more concentrated manner, combining seminar teaching with workshop-like meetings. Each of the five parts is a full day or more (2 to 4 sessions) consisting of lectures followed by shorter and longer presentations of work in progress by junior and senior scholars, from Uppsala and elsewhere. The five parts concern:
The Course is open to PhD students in sociology of education and related disciplines (history of science, political science, history of ideas, philosophy) as well as to postdocs and junior faculty members. For registration, please send an email to Mikael Börjesson, mikael.borjesson@edu.uu.se.
For PhD students the first part is mandatory; they are expected to choose two of the four subsequent sessions. Each part is giving 2.5 credits. Students are expected to participate actively and are required to write a final essay on a topic of their own choosing.
Coordinated with Tobias Dalberg, tobias.dalberg@edu.uu.se.
General introduction to the sociological study of the social sciences and the humanities in discussion with the most salient other approaches and methods (science studies, history of science, intellectual history). There will be four meetings: partly teaching, partly discussion with other specialists, plus a final
forum with all lecturers and two international specialists.
16 March 2021 10.15-12.00. Historical development of the sociology of science in context.
Johan Heilbron
16 March 2021 13.15-15.00.
Introduction to contemporary approaches: institutionalism, social studies of science and technology (STS) & field theory. Tobias Dalberg, Institutionalism (25 min); Daniel Normark, STS (25 min); Johan Heilbron, field theory (25 min) + comparative discussion
17 March 2021 10.15-12.00. New developments in history of science & intellectual history. Sven Widmalm, History of science (30 min); Johan Heilbron, Intellectual history (30 min) + comparative discussion
17 March 2021 14.15–16.00
Forum SSH studies: Questions, ideas, challenges
Panel discussion on Studies of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH), and general discussion.
Moderator: Mikael Börjesson, Sociology of Education, Uppsala University.
Panelists:
Yves Gingras, UQAM, Montreal
Gisèle Sapiro, CESSP, Paris
Daniel Normark, The STS Centre, Uppsala University
Sven Widmalm, History of Science and Ideas, Uppsala University
Tobias Dalberg, Sociology of Education, Uppsala University
Johan Heilbron, Sociology of Education, Uppsala University, & CESSP, Paris
Location: Uppsala University, Campus Blåsenhus, room 12:228.
Coordinated with Lisa Backman <lisa.backman@edu.uu.se> & Astrid Collsiöö <astrid.collsioo@edu.uu.se>
As ‘disciplines’ were the main units of modern higher education, the production of disciplinary knowledge, its certification and professionalization, and in recent times its critique and opposition in the name of multi-, trans- or interdisciplinarity have been the predominant principles structuring the (social) sciences and the humanities.
21 Sep 2021 13.15–15.00 Optional preparatory text seminar by and for the students
This part of the course starts with an optional preparatory text seminar on Tue 21 September, 13:15-15:00, Room 12:228, organized by and for the students, where they will present and discuss central parts of the literature in preparation for the two-day course sessions. The most significant results of the readings and discussions will be presented during the first morning session of the seminar Sep 28th.
28 Sep 2021. Day 1: Disciplines and disciplinarity in SSH.
The mornings will consist of lectures and discussion of the literature, the afternoons have a workshop character and are focused on research questions (how to construct the research object, methods, data).
Morning 09:15-12:00
9.15-10.45: Johan Heilbron: Historical background of ‘disciplines’ & theoretical perspectives
Short break
11.00-12.00: Student presentations / questions / discussions of the literature
Afternoon 13:15-16:00: How to study SSH disciplines?
Christian Fleck (University of Graz): How to analyze the development of disciplines across countries and over time? (Zoom, 45 min plus discussion)
Short Break
Yann Renisio & Johan Heilbron: Indicators for a field approach to study SSH disciplines (25 min)
Tobias Dalberg: Social Sciences and Humanities in Sweden, 1945 (25 min)
Hampus Östh Gustafsson: History of the humanities (25 min)
Concluding discussion open to all participants
29 Sep 2021. Day 2: Inter-, multi-, trans- and postdisciplinary
Morning: 09:15-12:00
9.15-10.15: Johan Heilbron: Historical background and theoretical perspectives
10.15-10.45: Hannah Bradby (Department of Sociology): Why urgent human problems need interdisciplinary thinking or why epistemological pluralism matters
Short break
11.00-12.00: Workshop lead by Astrid and Lisa, departing from short introductions of their own projects and followed up with a discussion with other participants, with prepared questions. Main focus: how can we construct higher education (disciplinary/interdisciplinary) as a research object? Methods, challenges and potential avenues.
Afternoon: 13:15-15:00: What is and how to study inter- multi-, trans- and postdisciplinarity?
Yann Renisio (20–25 min), Questioning the 'hard science'/'social science' divide through relationships between disciplines
Claes-Fredrik Helgesson, Centre for Integrated Research on Culture and Society (CIRCUS), Uppsala University: Research that cross disciplinary borders at Uppsala University (20–25 min)
Ida Lidegran, Johan Boberg, Mikael Börjesson & Jennifer Waddling: Organisation of cross-disciplinary research in Sweden (20–25 min)
Concluding discussion open to all participants
Short break
15:15–16:00: Seminar: Student reflections on course days and literature, and a quick glance ahead to Part 3 of the course.
Johan Heilbron, Ricardo Xavier Cevallos Salgado, Josef Ginnerskov
Location: Uppsala University, Campus Blåsenhus, room 12:228.
Tuesday afternoon 23 November 2021
13.15-14.45: Johan Heilbron, What is ‘sociology’ & why do we need a ‘sociology of sociology’?
Short break.
15.00-16.00: student presentations: questions, comments, discussion of the literature (result of the text seminar)
Wednesday 24 November 2021
Morning 9.15-10.30
Josef Ginnerskov, Sociology’s recurring crisis - the burden of disciplinary
reflexivity
Johan Heilbron, What is reflexivity for Bourdieu?
Short break
10.45-12.00: Richard Swedberg (Guest speaker, ZOOM), Taking a seminar with Merton
Afternoon
13.15-16.00 Theme session: Sociology in Sweden from a comparative perspective
Presentations by
Kristoffer Kropp (Roskilde University),
Josef Ginnerskov (Uppsala University) and
Ricardo Cevallos (Uppsala University).
Cf. Ricardo Cevallos, Rationalizing sociology as an educational strategy. Plurality of convictions and position-takings of sociology students in Swedish higher education. Master’s thesis in Sociology of Education Nr 20, Uppsala University 2021.
Thursday 25 November 2021
Room 24:307 [please note: change of room]
9.15-10.45: Guest speaker: Rob Timans (Netherlands, ZOOM): Sociology of methods & method use
Short break
11.00-11.30: Ricardo Xavier Cevallos Salgado, Debating ‘public sociology’: Burawoy and
beyond
11.30-12.00: evaluation and brief glance ahead Parts 4 and 5 of the seminar
Organized by Johan Heilbron, Pablo Lillo Cea, Per Wisselgren
Course coordinator Mikael Börjesson
Location: Uppsala University, Campus Blåsenhus, room 12:228.
Higher learning in the modern era has been predominantly organized in national systems of education, research, funding, and publishing. National states, however, have been a predominant force not only in shaping national institutions and intellectual traditions, but also in cross-border exchanges. The international order of national states that developed in the 19th and 20th centuries has in recent decades been transformed by increasing international mobility, more frequent exchanges and more extensive, world-wide networks and institutions. The purpose of Part 4 of the seminar is to analyze these issues for the SSH and to explore research possibilities in this area.
Tuesday, March 22, 13:15-16:00, room 12:228
Johan Heilbron, Introducing the sociology of national, transnational and global arrangements in the SSH
Mikael Börjesson, André Bryntesson, Erasmus student flows in European SSH”
Students session (based on the text seminar)
Wednesday, March 23, 09:15-12:00, Room 12:228
Johan Heilbron, What are ‘national traditions’ in the SSH?
Per Wisselgren, Between internationalism and geopolitics: UNESCO and the making of international social science in the early Cold War era
Wednesday, March 23, 13:15-15:00, room 12:228
Yves Gingras, Internationalization of the sciences, social sciences and humanities
[Guest lecture to be announced for broader audience]
Johan Heilbron, The European field of social science: on transnational regionalism in Europe and beyond?
Thursday, March 24, 09:15-12:00, Room 12:228
(Per Wisselgren and Mikael Börjesson are unable to join this last session)
Case studies in progress on internationalization:
Pablo Lillo Cea, Rankings and the global space of universities
Christin Mays, Traveling scholarships and networks of Swedish-American academic exchange in 1945–1979
Corinne Platten (presentation through Zoom), The internationalization of teacher education in Sweden and France
Brief evaluation and a look ahead to Part 5 of the seminar.
Location: Uppsala University, Campus Blåsenhus, room 12:228.
The history of the social sciences and humanities is often presented as a sequence of extraordinary individuals for whom biographies are the most appropriate mode of understanding. Research in all fields, however, shows, that the most highly regarded scholarly accomplishments, including those associated with charismatic individuals, are the result of collective work and particular forms of group dynamics. How can we understand the social dynamics and the variety of these circles, networks and schools?
Thursday, May 19 2022,10:15-17:00
Coordinated with Tobias Dalberg <tobias.dalberg@edu.uu.se>
10.15-10.45: Johan Heilbron, “Networks, circles, schools and other groupings in the SSH” (Intro, 30 min)
10.50-11.00: break
11.00-12.00: Ylva Hasselberg, “Networks and scientific integrity” (40 m + 20 min discussion)
12.00-13.15: Lunch
13.15-14.15: Carl-Göran Heidegren (Zoom presentation), “Constellation Research and the Sociology of Philosophy"(45 m + 15)
14.15-14.30 break
14.30 -15.10: Tobias Dalberg, “Collaborative Circles in the SSH” (25 min + 10-15 min)
15.10-15.20: break
15.20-16.20: Johan Heilbron, “Genesis and Dynamics of the Bourdieu collective” (45 min + 15 min)
Friday, May 20 2022, 09:15-15:00
Paper presentations by the students.
Compiled by Johan Heilbron.
Mandatory literature (general)
0.1 – Pierre Bourdieu, Science of Science and Reflexivity, Chicago University Press, 2004.
– Short book on the basis of Bourdieu’s last lectures at the Collège de France in which he recapitulates his views in a critical discussion of both positivist conceptions of science and their ‘relativist’ challengers.
0.2 – Frédéric Lebaron, “The Craft of Sociology: Epistemologial Preliminaries”
– A short text about the epistemological background of Bourdieu’s work, which is only briefly recalled in Science of Science and reflexivity.
0.3 – Charles Camic, Neil Gross, Michèle Lamont, ‘Introduction,’ in Id. (eds), Social Knowledge in the Making, Chicago, Chicago University Press, 2011, p. 1-40.
– One of the few programmatic proposals to create a new field: ‘social studies of social knowledge making.’
Bibliographies
In addition to the general bibliography below specific bibliographies will be circulated in advance for the five parts of the seminar. They will include mandatory as well as optional literature. As far as copy right regulations allow it, pdf’s will be made available.
The general bibliography below is intended to provide a general orientation. It lists publications that are relevant while simultaneously illustrating that most of the standard instruments for the ‘Sociology of the social sciences and the humanities’ (reference works, introductions, overviews, specialized journals, etc.) are still lacking.
Some of the more advanced work, furthermore, is in French and unavailable in English. A few publications in French have nonetheless been listed below; most have – for linguistic reasons only – been omitted. A bibliography of work in French is available upon request. For an extensive bibliography of the socalled ‘sociology of scientific knowledge’ current until the year 2000, see: https://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/students/research-guide/sociology-scientfic-knowledge
Reference Works / General Overviews
Roger Backhouse, Philip Fontaine (eds), The History of the Social Sciences Since 1945, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Roger Backhouse, Philippe Fontaine (eds), A Historiography of the Modern Social Sciences, New York, Cambridge University Press, 2014.
– The two volumes edited by Backhouse and Fontaine are recent overviews of the mainstream history and historiography of the social science disciplines. Both editors are economists, which is the discipline in which historical inquiry (be it the particular form of ‘history of economic ideas’) is more developed than in the other social science disciplines.
Rens Bod, A New History of the Humanities. The Search for Principles and Patterns From Antiquity to the Present, Oxford University Press, 2013.
Rens Bod and others (eds). The Making of the Humanities (various volumes since 2010).
– Rens Bod (University of Amsterdam) is the driving force in a recently formed international network for the history of the humanities; it includes an international association and a journal (see below).
Ulrike Felt, Rayvon Fouché, Clark A. Miller, Laurel Smith-Doerr (eds), The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies, fourth edition, MIT Press, 2017 [earlier editions: 1977, 1995, 2008).
– The voluminous standard Handbook in STS (various editions); hardly any attention for the social sciences and humanities.
Michiel Leezenberg, History and Philosophy of the Humanities, Amsterdam University Press, 2018.
– Broad and historically oriented overview of the philosophy of the humanities.
Theodore Porter, Dorothy Ross (eds), The Modern Social Sciences, Cambridge History of Science, Volume 7, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003 [print and online version].
– First large-scale encyclopedic history of science (7 volumes) in which the social sciences are included with a separate volume.
Gisèle Sapiro (dir.), Dictionnaire International Bourdieu, Comité éditorial : François Denord, Julien Duval, Mathieu Hauchecorne, Johan Heilbron, Franck Poupeau, Paris : CNRS Éditions, 2020.
– In-depth Dictionary with over 600 fairly brief entries on Bourdieu’s books, concepts, career and their context.
Richard Whatmore, Brian Young (eds), A Companion to Intellectual History, Wiley/Blackwell, 2016.
– Useful reference work in intellectual history with 29 relatively brief chapters, divided into three parts (approaches, relations to other disciplines, main themes).
Journals on the (History of the) Social and Human sciences
General
Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences (1965 -)
– Focused on psychology, psychiatry and related disciplines.
History of the Human Sciences (1988 -)
Revue d’histoire des sciences humaines (1999 - )
History of the Humanities (2016 - )
Serendipities. Journal for the Sociology and History of the Social Sciences (2016 - )
– (http://serendipities.uni-graz.at/index.php/serendipities/ )
Specialized
Aside from the general historical journals mentioned above, specialized journals exist for the history of particular disciplines:
History of Political Economy (1969 -),
(Journal of the) History of Sociology (1978-1987),
Journal of the History of Economic Thought (1979 -),
History of Political Thought (1980 -),
History of Economic Ideas (1983 -), History and Anthropology (1984),
European Journal of the History of Economic Thought (1993 -),
History of Psychology (1998 -),
Journal of Classical Sociology (2001 -).
Journals in ‘science studies’
that
may occasionally contain work on the social sciences and humanities, see
Social Studies of Science (1971),
Science, Technology, & Human Values (1976),
Science in Context (1988)
Minerva (1962).
The same applies to
journals in the history of science
such as
Isis (the flagship journal of the field since 1913, has an excellent bibliographical section) History of Science (1963).
General introductions to the Sociology of the Sciences
Good introductions, but available only in French and German
Ulrike Felt, Helga Nowotny, Klaus Taschwer, Wissenschaftsforschung. Eine Einführung, Frankfurt/New York, Campus Verlag, 1995.
Yves Gingras, Sociologie des sciences, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 2013.
Terry Shinn, Pascal Ragouet, Controverses sur la science, Paris, Raisons d’agir, 2005.
General studies in the sociology of the social sciences and the humanities
Book series ‘Socio-Historical Studies of the Social and Human Sciences’Palgrave MacMillan First book series in this domain.
Johan Heilbron, Gustavo Sorá, Thibaud Boncourt (eds) The Social and Human Sciences in Global Power Relations, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
Christian Fleck, Matthias Duller, Victor Karady (eds), Shaping Human Science Disciplines. Institutional Developments in Europe and Beyond, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
Gisèle Sapiro, Marco Santoro, Patrick Baert (eds), Ideas on the move. The International Circulation of Paradigms and Theories in the Social Sciences and Humanities, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
Other general volumes
Pierre Bourdieu, Jean-Claude Chamboredon, Jean-Claude Passeron, The Craft of Sociology. Epistemological preliminaries (first edition 1968, second edition 1972), Berlin, New York : Walter de Gruyter, 1991.
– An original and forceful statement about the epistemological principles of sociology in debate with traditional philosophies of science, ‘methodology’ as well as with empiricism and positivism in social science research.
Charles Camic, Neil Gross, Michèle Lamont (eds). Social Knowledge in the Making. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2011.
– A volume edited by three American sociologists aiming to launch a field of ‘social studies’ of social science knowledge.
Yves Gingras (ed.), Controverses : Accords et désaccords en sciences humaines et sociales, Paris, Editions CNRS, 2014.
– A collection of ‘controversy studies’ as applied to the social sciences and humanities.
Johan Heilbron, Remi Lenoir & Gisèle Sapiro (dir.), Pour une histoire des sciences sociales. Hommage à Pierre Bourdieu, Paris, Fayard, 2004, 403 p.
– A volume inspired by Bourdieu’s idea that the history of the social sciences is an essential tool for reflexivity in social science.
Gisèle Sapiro (éd.), L’Espace intellectuel en Europe. De la formation des États-nations à la mondialisation XIXe-XXe siècles, Paris : La Découverte, 2009.
– A broad, historical and sociologically oriented volume on the ‘intellectual space’ in Europe, including studies on higher education, intellectuals, literature, translations, and the social and human sciences.
Peter Wagner, Carol Weiss, Björn Wittrock, Hellmut Wollmann (eds), Social Sciences and Modern States. National Experiences and Theoretical Crossroads, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1991.
– A comparative political sociology of the social sciences and social science policy expertise.
Case-studies (books)
The books listed below are written from different theoretical perspectives and have a fairly general and broad character. More specialized work will be referenced and discussed in the following sessions that will be thematic.
Andrew Abbott, Department and Discipline : Chicago Sociology at One Hundred, Chicago, UCP, 1999.
Anna Boschetti, The Intellectual Enterprise: Sartre and les Temps Modernes, Evanston, Ill.:
– Northwestern University Press, 1988.
Mark Blyth, Great Transformations: Economic Ideas and Institutional Change in the
– Twentieth Century. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Pierre Bourdieu, Homo Academicus, Cambridge: Polity Press, 1988 (or. 1984).
Pierre Bourdieu, The Political Ontology of Martin Heidegger, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1991.
James Capshew, Psychologists on the March: Science, Practice, and Professional Identity in America, 1929–1969. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Randall Collins, The Sociology of Philosophies. Cambridge (Ma.): Harvard University Press, 1998.
Jean Converse, Survey Research in the United States: Roots and Emergence, 1890–1960. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 2009.
Kurt Danziger, Constructing the Subject: Historical Origins of Psychological Research. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Alain Desrosières, The Politics of Large Numbers: A History of Statistical Reasoning. Cambridge (Ma.): Harvard University Press, 1993.
Jean-Louis Fabiani, Les Philosophes de la République, Paris, Minuit, 1988.
Christian Fleck, A Transnational History of the Social Sciences.
Robber Barons, the Third Reich and the Invention of Empirical Social Research, London: Bloomsbury, 2011
Marion Fourcade, Economists and Societies. Discipline and Profession in the United States, Britain and France, 1890s to 1990s, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2009.
Peter Hall (ed), The Political Power of Economic Ideas: Keynesianism across Nations. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1989.
Johan Heilbron, The Rise of Social Theory. Cambridge, Polity Press, 1995.
Johan Heilbron, French Sociology, Ithaca/London, Cornell University Press, 2015.
David Hollinger (ed.), The Humanities and the Dynamics of Inclusion since World War II. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.
Marc Joly, Devenir Norbert Elias. Histoire croisée d’un processus de reconnaissance scientifique : la réception française, Paris, Fayard, 2012
Martin Kusch, Psychologism: A Case Study in the Sociology of Philosophical Knowledge. London: Routledge, 1995.
Martin Kusch, Psychological Knowledge: A Social History and Philosophy. London: Routledge, 2005.
Frédéric Lebaron, La croyance économique. Les économistes entre science et politique, Paris, Seuil, 2000.
Donald MacKenzie, Statistics in Britain, 1865–1930: The Social Construction of Scientific Knowledge, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1981.
Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: Finance Theory and the Making of Markets. Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, 2006.
Wolf Lepenies, Between Literature and Science: The Rise of Sociology, trans. R. J. Hollingdale, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Louis Pinto, La vocation et le métier de philosophe. Pour une sociologie de la philosophie dans la France contemporaine, Paris, Seuil (Collection Liber), 2007.
Jennifer Platt, A History of Sociological Research Methods in America, 1920–1960. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Theodor Porter, Trust in Numbers: The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005
Dorothy Ross, The Origins of American Social Science, Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Dietrich Rueschemeyer, Theda Skocpol (eds), States, Social Knowledge, and the Origins of Modern Social Policies, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1996.
Tools
For research on the social sciences and the humanities all the usual tools of sociological research can in principle be mobilized (archival research, interviews, ethnographic observation, statistical analysis, etc.).
Actual research design depends on the specific problem raised and on the theoretical perspective on how the ‘research object’ should be constructed. For the epistemological principles of this conception of doing social science, see Pierre Bourdieu, Jean-Claude Chamboredon, Jean-Claude Passeron, The Craft of Sociology (full reference above).
For indicators for studying the social sciences and humanities
Christian Fleck, Johan Heilbron, Victor Karady, Gisèle Sapiro, Handbook of Indicators of Institutionalization of Academic Disciplines in SSH, appended to Serendipities, Journal for the Sociology and History of the Social Sciences, 1 (1) 2016.
– https://tidsskrift.dk/Serendipities/article/view/123016/170084
Johan Heilbron, Thibaud Boncourt, Gisèle Sapiro, Gustavo Sorá, Victor Karady, Thomas Brisson, Laurent Jeanpierre, Kil-Ho Lee, “Indicators of the Internationalization of the Social Sciences and Humanities”, Serendipities, Journal for the Sociology and History of the Social Sciences 2 (1) 2017, p. 129-145.
– https://tidsskrift.dk/Serendipities/article/view/122750/169865
Mandatory readings
Institutionalism:
Joseph Ben-David, Teresa A. Sullivan, "Sociology of Science," Annual Review of Sociology, 1,
1975, p. 203–222.
Social Studies of Science perspective:
Bruno Latour, "When things strike back: a possible contribution of 'science studies' to the social sciences," The British journal of sociology, vol. 51, no. 1, 2000, p. 107-123.
Harry Collins, "We cannot live by skepticism alone," Nature (London), vol. 458, no. 7234, 2009, p. 30-31.
Field theory:
Pierre Bourdieu, "The specificity of the scientific field and the social conditions of the progress of reason," Social science information / Information sur les sciences sociales, Vol 14, no. 6, 1975, p. 19-47.
History of science:
James Secord, "Knowledge in transit," Isis, vol. 95, no. 4, (2002, p. 654–672.
Intellectual history:
Cesare Cuttica, "Intellectual History," International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2015, volume 11, p. 7605–7612.
Optional readings
Mathieu Albert, Daniel Lee Kleinman, "Bringing Pierre Bourdieu to Science and Technology Studies," Minerva , Vol. 49, No. 3, 2011, p. 263-273.
Pierre Bourdieu, "For a Socio-Analysis of Intellectuals: On ‘Homo Academicus," Interview by Loïc Wacquant, Berkeley Journal of Sociology, 34, 1989, p. 1-29.
Charles Camic, Neil Gross, "The New Sociology of Ideas," in J. R. Blau (ed.), The Blackwell Companion to Sociology, Oxford, Blackwell, 2001, p. 236-249.
Yves Gingras, "Sociological Reflexivity in Action," Social Studies of Science, 40 (4) 2010, p. 619–631.
Unless copyright restrictions prohibiting, all literature will be uploaded well in advance on: Medarbetarportalen (Uppsala University's Staff Portal),
https://mp.uu.se/group/sociology-of-the-social-sciences-and-the-humanities/docs
A. Mandatory
Rudolf Stichweh, "The Sociology of Scientific Disciplines: On the Genesis and Stability of the Disciplinary Structure of Modern Science," Science in Context, 5 (1) 1992, p. 3-15.
Rare example of a systematic reflection on disciplines and their historical significance from a neo-functionalist, systems approach by a prominent student of Niklas Luhmann.
Johan Heilbron, "A Regime of Disciplines: Toward a Historical Sociology of Disciplinary Knowledge," in Charles Camic & Hans Joas (eds), The Dialogical Turn : New Roles for Sociology in the Postdisciplinary Age, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004, p. 23-42.
Historical-sociological analysis of discipline formation (critical of Stichweh).
Stephen Turner, "What are Disciplines and how is Interdisciplinarity Different?," in: Peter Weingart & Nico Stehr (eds.), Practising Interdisciplinarity. University of Toronto Press, 2000, p. 46-65.
Sociological account of disciplines as relatively stable ‘employment cartels’ as compared to interdisciplinary centers.
Christian Fleck, Matthias Duller, Victor Karády, "Introduction: Institutionalization of the social sciences and humanities in Europe and beyond," in Christian Fleck, Matthias Duller, Victor Karady (eds), Shaping Human Science Disciplines. Institutional Developments in Europe and Beyond, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, p. 1-24.
Introductory chapter to a collective volume on the institutionalization of seven SSH disciplines (anthropology, economics, literature, philosophy, political science, psychology, and sociology in eight countries (France, UK, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Netherlands, Hungary, Argentina). The book as a whole offers a recent institutionalist perspective on SSH disciplines and is recommended.
B. Review essays & reference works
(helpful to consult as overviews and guides through the literature)
Jerry A. Jacobs & Scott Frickel, "Interdisciplinarity: A Critical Assessment," Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 35, 2009, p. 43-65.
Review essay of mainly English language literature by two American sociologists.
Lucas Monteil, Alice Romerio, "From Disciplines to 'Studies'," Revue d'anthropologie des connaissances, Vol. 113, Issue 3, 2017, p. 231-244.
Review essay of mainly French literature but in English.
Robert Frodeman (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity (2010), Oxford University Press, 2017 (2nd ed.).
Most extensive reference work in the field with 37 chapters, divided into five parts: 1) The terrain of knowledge, 2) Interdisciplinarity in the disciplines, 3) Knowledge interdisciplined, 4) Institutionalizing Interdisciplinarity, 5) Knowledge transdisciplined.
C. Optional
Christian Fleck, Johan Heilbron, Victor Karady, Gisèle Sapiro, "Handbook of Indicators of Institutionalization of Academic Disciplines in SSH," Serendipities, Journal for the Sociology and History of the Social Sciences, 1 (1) 2016,
http://serendipities.uni-graz.at/index.php/serendipities/issue/view/1
Systematic overview of indicators used in the volume below.
Christian Fleck, Matthias Duller, Victor Karady (eds), Shaping Human Science Disciplines. Institutional Developments in Europe and Beyond, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
The introduction to this collective volume, which came out of a European project, is mandatory, the volume contains eight country chapters and Concluding remarks.
Julie Klein, Mapping Interdisciplinary Studies. The Academy in Transition, Washington, DC.: Association of American Colleges and Universities, 1999.
Katri Huutoniemi, Julie Thompson Klein, Henrik Bruun, and Janne Hukkinen. 2010. "Analyzing interdisciplinarity: Typology and indicators," Research Policy 39 (1):79-88.
Vincent Larivière, Yves Gingras, "Measuring Interdisciplinarity," in B. Cronin & C. R. Sugimoto (eds), Beyond Bibliometrics: Harnessing Multidimensional Indicators of Scholarly Impact, Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 2014 p. 187-200.
Yves Gingras & Johan Heilbron (éd.), "Espace des disciplines et pratiques interdisciplinaires," Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, no. 210, 2015,
open access : https://www.cairn.info/revue-actes-de-la-recherche-en-sciences-sociales-2015-5.htm
Special issue of the Bourdieusian journal on the ‘space of disciplines’ and interdisciplinary practices (in French).
Bernard Convert, Johan Heilbron, "Where Did the New Economic Sociology Come From ?," Theory and Society, 36 (1) 2007, p. 31-54.
Case-study of, and plea for a field analysis of the making of a sub-discipline (combining both textual and contextual material with network analysis).
A. Mandatory
Pierre Bourdieu, “Why the social sciences should take themselves as their object”, in: id., Science of Science and Reflexivity, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2004, p. 85-114.
[this book is mandatory for the course as a whole]
On reflexivity as a necessary component of social scientific practice and an instrument for scientific progress.
Richard Swedberg, “Taking a Seminar with Merton” (unpublished paper)
On Robert Merton’s practice of teaching to theorize
Patrik Aspers, Jukka Gronow, Lars Bo Kaspersen, Lars Mjøset, Guðbjörg Linda Rafnsdóttir, Aino Sinnemäki, “Nordic sociology,” in Sokratis Koniordos & Alexandros-Andreas Kyrtsis (eds), Routledge Handbook of European Sociology, London: Routledge, 2014.
An attempt at describing the development of Nordic sociology by looking at the shared and diverse characteristics of sociology in five countries through the lens of a descriptive scheme of phases of sociology. Based on the typology of Allardt (see B-4)
Rob Timans, Paul Wouters, Johan Heilbron, “Mixed Methods Research: What it is, what it could be,” Theory and Society , 48 (2) 2019, p. 193-216.
Empirical analysis of the recent emergence and spread of ‘MMR’ in the field of American social science, and a brief outline of an alternative, ‘reflexive’ view on methods and method use.
Michael Burawoy, “For Public Sociology”, American Sociological Review, 70 (1) 2005, p. 4-28.
Influential plea for ‘public sociology’ as a distinct sociological practice aside from professional, critical, and policy sociology.
B. Review essays & reference works
Since this is hardly an established research domain, relatively few review essays and reference works deal explicitly with the sociology of sociology.
Christian Fleck, Christian Daye, “Methodology of the History of the Social and Behavioral Sciences”, James D. Wright (editor-in-chief), International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2nd edition, Oxford: Elsevier, 2015, Vol. 15, p. 319-325.
Distinguishing five units of analysis (actors, ideas, instruments, institutions, and contexts), the authors provide an overview of historical studies of sociology and other social sciences.
Erin Leahey, “Methodological Memes and Mores: Toward a Sociology of Social Research,” Annual Review of Sociology, 34, 2008, p. 33-53.
Review of empirical North American studies on the ‘sociology of social research’
Richard Swedberg, “Theorizing in Sociological Research: a New Perspective, a new Departure,” Annual Review of Sociology, 43, 2017, p. 189-206.
Review essay on ‘theorizing’ as an object of sociological reflection
Erik Allardt, “Recent developments in Scandinavian sociology”, Annual Review of Sociology, 15, 1989, p. 31-45.
An attempt at describing the development of Scandinavian sociology by looking at their shared historical developments and research themes.
C. Optional
Although sociology of sociology is not a recognized research specialty, there is a considerable literature on aspects of sociology (biographical, historical, intellectual, institutional, funding, professional organization, teaching, etc), which to a varying degrees can be considered relevant.
Wolf Lepenies, Between Literature and Science: The Rise of Sociology, trans. R. J. Hollingdale, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Historical sketch of sociology as a ‘third culture,’ i.e. as an intellectual enterprise uncomfortably situated between literature and science (France, Britain, Germany).
Kristoffer Kropp, A Historical Account of Danish Sociology: A Troubled Sociology,
Palgrave MacMillan, 2015.
An account of the history of Danish sociology, from the late 19th century to the present, inspired by Bourdieu’s view of disciplines as social spaces. Focusing on the discipline's struggle for recognition, it is a case study of how ‘sociological knowledge has entered into ever-changing coalitions with welfare state bureaucracies’.
Anna Larsson, Per Wisselgren, “The historiography of Swedish sociology and the bounding of disciplinary identity”, Journal of the History of Behavioral Sciences, 42 (2) 2006, p.159–176.
Focused on the reception of Gustaf Steffen, Sweden’s first professional sociologist, it is argued that Steffen’s marginalized role in the traditional historical accounts should be understood not only with reference to his supposed theoretical shortcomings, but also in the historical context of the early postwar reestablishment of sociology as an academic discipline and its prevalent need for a new disciplinary identity, strategically adjusted to the contemporary institutional and political settings.
James Moody, Ryan Light, “A View from Above: The Evolving Sociological Landscape,” The American Sociologist, Summer, 2006, Vol. 37, No. 2 (Summer, 2006), pp. 67- 86.
Network analysis of sociology papers to map sociology's position in the wider social sciences and identify changes in the most prominent research fronts in the discipline.
Dan Clawson, R. Zussman, J. Misra, N. Gerstel, R. Stokes, D. Anderton, and M. Burawoy, Public sociology: fifteen eminent sociologists debate politics and the profession in the twenty-first century, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.
Debate sparked by Burawoy’s plea for public sociology.
Raymond Boudon, “Sociology that Really Matters,” European Sociological Review, 18 (3) 2002, p. 371–378.
A plea for ‘cognitive sociology’ against the three other types distinguished (applied, critical and expressive sociology).
Johan Heilbron, “The Emergence of Social Theory,” in: P. Kivisto (ed), The Cambridge Handbook of Social Theory. Volume one: A Contested Canon, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2021, pp. 1-23, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316677445.002
Analysis of the emergence of ‘social theory’ as a modern and distinct intellectual genre in France and Scotland (1750-1850) as a precondition for the formation of sociology. Update of the more extended analysis of the ‘predisciplinary history’ of sociology’ presented in The Rise of Social Theory, Cambridge, Polity Press, 1995.
Johan Heilbron, French Sociology, Ithaca/London: Cornell University Press, 2015.
Historical-sociological analysis of the long-term development of sociology in France (early 19th century to 2000) from a field theoretical perspective.
A. SSH in national academic fields
Pierre Bourdieu, Homo Academicus (or. 1984], Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1988. Mandatory are the ‘Preface to the English edition’ and Chapters 2 and 3; the other chapters are optional.
This is the classic study in the sociology of academic fields, their structure, and the dynamics of the 1968 crisis. Relevant questions are: how is the ‘academic field’ conceived and constructed? What are the indicators and methods used? What are the consequences of such a field analysis for understanding the SSH? What are the main changes in the academic field since 1968? And how does the French case compare to other national fields?
Christian Fleck, Matthias Duller, Victor Karady (eds), Shaping Human Science Disciplines. Institutional Developments in Europe and Beyond, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019 [Optional].
The volume offers a recent, institutionalist perspective on seven SSH disciplines (anthropology, economics, literature, philosophy, political science, psychology, and sociology) in eight countries (France, UK, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Netherlands, Hungary, Argentina). Relevant from a general perspective are in particular the Introduction and the Concluding remarks. For the book as a whole questions pertain to the indicators and methods used, to ‘institutional analysis’ as compared to Bourdieusian field theory, and to comparative issues: how and why do the SSH vary across national context?
B. International circulation, cross-border flows, and transnational fields
Pierre Bourdieu, “The Social Conditions of the International Circulation of Ideas.” In: Richard Shusterman, ed., Bourdieu. A Critical Reader. Oxford: Blackwell, 1999, p. 220-228 (Mandatory)
Programmatic essay about how to study the international circulation of ideas and other cultural goods.
Johan Heilbron, Nicolas Guilhot & Laurent Jeanpierre, “Toward a transnational history of the social sciences”, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 44 (2) 2008, p. 146–160 (Mandatory)
Programmatic outline of how a transnational history of the SSH can be conceived.
Case studies (optional)
The following four case studies primarily use quantitative data to find patterns in transnational mobility, collaboration and the reception of foreign scholarly work, and assess their underlying structures. They can be read for the methods used, the approach chosen as well as for the results obtained.
Mikael Börjesson (2017), “The global space of international students in 2010,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43 (8) 2017, p. 1256-1275
Sébastien Mosbah-Natanson & Yves Gingras, “The globalization of social sciences? Evidence from a quantitative analysis of 30 years of production, collaboration and citations in the social sciences (1980–2009)”, Current Sociology, 62 (5) 2014, p. 626–646.
Johan Heilbron & Yves Gingras, “The Globalization of European Research in the Social Sciences and Humanities (1980-2014): A Bibliometric Study ». in J. Heilbron et al. The Social and Human Sciences in Global Power Relations. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018, p. 29-58.
Étienne Ollion & Andrew Abbott, “French Connections: The Reception of French Sociologists in the USA (1970-2012) ». European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie, 57 (2) 2016, p. 331-372
C. Tools (optional)
Johan Heilbron, Thibaud Boncourt, Gisèle Sapiro, Gustavo Sorá, Victor Karady, Thomas Brisson, Laurent Jeanpierre, Kil-Ho Lee, “Indicators of the Internationalization of the Social Sciences and Humanities”, Serendipities, Journal for the Sociology and History of the Social Sciences, 2 (1) 2017, p. 129-145. http://serendipities.uni-graz.at/index.php/serendipities/issue/view/5
Systematic overview of possible indicators for studying the internationalization of the SSH.
D. Debate and controversy (optional)
Piotr Sztompka & Mikael Burawoy, “Debate on International sociology,” Contemporary Sociology, 40 (4) 2 2011, p. 388-404.
In their debate Sztompka and Burawoy present radically different conceptions of what ‘international sociology’ is and should be.
Raewyn Connell, “Decolonizing Sociology,” Contemporary Sociology, 47 (4) 2018, p. 399-407.
On the basis of various contributions, Connell presents an agenda for ‘decolonizing’ sociology.
Suggestions for further reading (optional)
Christian Fleck, A Transatlantic History of the Social Sciences: Robber Barons, the Third Reich and the Invention of Empirical Social Research. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2011.
Study on the emergence of empirical social research in the US, as promoted by American philanthropic Foundations (Ford, Rockefeller) and stimulated by European scholars in exile.
Johan Heilbron, Gustavo Sorá, Thibaud Boncourt (eds.), The Social and Human Sciences in Global Power Relations, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
On the development of transnational connections and international exchange during the past decades in a broad range of disciplines (anthropology, sociology, economics, literature, political science, philosophy). Arguing against the complacent assumption that science is ‘international by nature,’ it is demonstrated that the increasing cross-border circulation of scholars and ideas is a complex, contradictory and contested process. Arranged thematically, the chapters present an in-depth exploration of patterns of transnationalization, South-North and East-West exchanges, and processes of transnational regionalization in Europe and Latin America. Based on empirical material ranging from ethnographic observations to quantitative indicators of citation patterns and translation flows, the book offers insights into topics like the hegemony of American social science, the trajectories of the social sciences in Eastern Europe and Asia, and the conditions of research in postcolonial contexts.
Johan Heilbron, Rob Timans, Thibaud Boncourt (eds), “Understanding the Social Sciences and Humanities in Europe”, Serendipities. Journal for the Sociology and History of the Social Sciences, 2 (1) 2017, http://serendipities.uni-graz.at/index.php/serendipities/issue/view/5
A collection of open access articles on various aspects of the social sciences on the European level (EU science policy, funding, European institutions, European journals)
Gisèle Sapiro, Marco Santoro, Patrick Baert (eds), Ideas on the Move in the Social Sciences and Humanities. The International Circulation of Paradigms and Theorists, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
After the Introduction, Part 1 deals with the circulation of paradigms and theories (structuralism, the Frankfurt School and critical theory, cultural studies, public economics), Part 2 with the international reception of key-thinkers (Hannah Arendt, Bourdieu, Foucault, Gramsci, Said, Spivak). tive.
Mandatory [available on course site]
Carl-Göran Heidegren, “Prospects of the Sociology of Philosophy,” Analyse & Kritik, 41(1) 2019, p. 117–123.
Michael Farrell, “Ch 1: Collaborative Circles and Creative Work,” in Michael Farrell, Collaborative Circles. Friendship Dynamics & Creative Work, Chicaho/London: Chicago University Press, p. 7-26.
Reference articles & research tools (optional) [available on course site]
Christian Dayé, “Schools in the Social and Behavioral Sciences: Concepts and Historical Relevance,” International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2nd ed., 2015, vol. 21, p. 128-133.
Christophe Charle, “Prosopography (collective biography)”, in N. J. Smelser & B. Baltes (eds.), International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2001, vol 18, p. 12236-12241 (reprinted in 2015 edition)
Other optional literature
Natural sciences:
Gerald Geison, “Scientific Change, Emerging Specialties, and Research Schools.” History of Science, 19 (43) 1981, pp. 20–40.
‘Research schools’ in the natural sciences, often laboratory based, have been defined by Gerald Geison as "small groups of mature scientists pursuing a reasonably coherent program of research side-by-side with advanced students in the same institutional context and engaging in direct, continuous social and intellectual interaction." (Geison 1981, 23)
G.L. Geison and F.L. Holmes (eds), “Research Schools: Historical Reappraisals”, Osiris. A Research Journal Devoted to the History of science and its cultural influences, vol 8, 1993.
Humanities and human sciences:
Olga Amsterdamska, Schools of Thought: The development of Linguistics from Bopp to Saussure, Dordrecht: Reidel 1987.
‘A school of thought is a group of scholars or scientists united in their common divergence, both cognitive and social, from other schools in their discipline or specialty or from the discipline or specialty as a whole.” (p. 9)
Marina Grishakova and Silvi Salupere (eds), Theoretical Schools and Circles in the Twentieth-Century Humanities. Literary Theory, History, Philosophy., Routledge, 2015.
Social and human sciences:
Randall Collins, The Sociology of Philosophies. Cambridge (Ma.): Harvard University Press, 1998, 1098 pag.
Monumental study of networks of philosophers in world history using his model of social network dynamics based on ‘interaction ritual chains’.
Randall Collins, "The Sociology of Philosophies: A Précis," Philosophy of the Social Sciences 30(2) 2000, p. 157-201.
Useful overview of his massive book previously mentioned [available on course site]
Diana Crane, Invisible Colleges: Diffusion of Knowledge in Scientific Communities, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972.
Informal communication patterns among the most productive scientists in two disciplines (sociology and mathematics)
Joachim Fischer & Stephan Moebius (Hrsg.), Soziologische Denkschulen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Wiesbaden, Springer VS, 2019.
Collective volume on various ‘schools of thought’ in German sociology after 1945.
Scott Frickel, Neil Gross, “A General Theory of Scientific/Intellectual Movements,” American Sociological Review, 70, 2025, p. 204-232.
Theoretical essay on scholarly innovation as the work of intellectual movements understood by using the tools of ‘social movement theory.’ [available on course site]
“Intellectual Communities in the History of Economics”, Theme issue of History of Political Economy, 43 (1) 2011.
Like in other disciplines classical histories of economics are about individual great men, but in passing mention has been made of some 28 “communities” (circles, groups, schools). This theme issue explores some of these communities (the 18th century physiocrats, the Bloomsbury group, interwar Vienna, the Harvard ‘Pareto circle,’ the Keynesian revolution, the Virginia school of ‘public choice’ economics)
Case-studies of specific groups:
Philippe Besnard (ed.), The Sociological Domain. The Durkheimians and the founding of French sociology, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press / Paris, Éditions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, 1983.
Pioneering volume on the history of the ‘Durkheim school’, its actual diversity and functioning.
Anna Boschetti, The Intellectual Enterprise: Sartre and les Temps Modernes, Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1988.
Excellent sociological study of the Parisian ‘existentialists’ and their position in the French intellectual field.
Martin Bulmer, The Chicago School of Sociology: Institutionalization, Diversity, and the Rise of Sociological Research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.
Pioneering study that gave rise to a debate whether there was something like a ‘Chicago school’ of sociology at all, see L. Harvey, Myths of the Chicago School of Sociology (1987) and Andrew Abbott, Department and Discipline: Chicago Sociology at One Hundred (1999).
Julien Duval, Johan Heilbron, Pernelle Issenhuth (dir.), Pierre Bourdieu et l’art de l’invention scientifique. Enquêter au Centre de sociologie européenne (1959-1969), Paris : Classiques Garnier (Bibliothèque des sciences sociales), 2022.
Collective, mainly archival study of the collective research endeavors that Pierre Bourdieu initiated and (co-)directed during the first decade of his career (1959-1969).
Robert van Horn, Philip Mirowski, Thomas Stapleford (eds), Building Chicago Economics: New Perspectives on the History of America’s Most Powerful Economics Program, Cambridge, 2011.
Well researched volume on the internal workings of the Chicago school and its opposition to rival centers on the east coast (Harvard, MIT)
Lars Jonung (ed.), The Stockholm school of economics Revisited, in series Historical perspectives on modern economics (Duke UP), 1991, reprinted online 2013.
Philip Mirowski, D. Plehwe (eds), The Road From Mont Pèlerin, Cambridge MA, Harcard University Press, 2009.
Friedrich Stadler, The Vienna Circle: Studies in the Origins, Development, and Influence of Logical Empiricism, Wien/New York, Springer, 2001, abridged and revised edition 2015.
Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History, Theories, and Political Significance. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1994.