Dear Friends of Sociology,
Fall quarter always brings a new burst of energy, people, activities, ideas--and sometimes challenges. Recent economic, social, and political events have brought an even stronger call to action for social scientists. Now more than ever we need Sociology to make sense of an increasingly complex world, and identify opportunities for a safer and more equitable future.
Our society has faced many important points of inflection in recent years including dramatic shifts in climate conditions, changes in patterns of economic stratification, and the emergence of new populist movements that have heralded the rise of political regimes that would have been hard to imagine in high-income countries just a few years ago. Few would argue that these developments are easy to explain.
But a stronger understanding of this complexity is exactly what Sociology has to offer. Careful analysis and the application of what C. Wright Mills termed the “sociological imagination”--the ability to recognize the connection between the struggles of individual people (or voters!) and the social structures in which they operate--offers the opportunity to understand the factors shaping emerging social dynamics. For example:
- Sociologists have documented the growing stratification at the root of many of our political dynamics and highlighted the complex social and political forces shaping this inequality;
- Organizational sociologists provide insights into the ways that increasingly complex institutions serve, or fail to serve, the population and, in some cases, deepen disparities between groups;
- Demographers provide the research that allows us to understand shifts in the composition of our population and patterns of migration that reflect and enhance our political polarization;
- Scholars of race and gender help us to understand the roles of dominant ideologies and disparities in lived experiences in shaping voting behavior;
- Sociology helps us to explain the origins, success, and failures of social movements;
- Environmental sociologists point to social drivers of, and reactions to, climate change, as well as the uneven impact of climate change on populations around the world; and
- Political sociologists reveal the impacts of these social and economic dynamics on electoral processes and regime change.
As difficult as it can be to delve into tough problems and discussions--it is why we chose sociology as our calling--and we will continue to take on the challenging issues of our time and do our best to make sense of the things that don't always make sense in our world.
Thank you for everything that each of you does to contribute and advance the important work we do here in the UW Department of Sociology, your support is very much appreciated!
Best wishes as we approach the holidays and a new year.
Sincerely,
Blumstein-Jordan Professor of Sociology
