A contribution to the critique of Irish sociology

Abstract

Irish society is situated within a period of epoch-defining social change. We are facing in to a short number of decades, which promise the significant re-shaping of the political and social contours of our nation. Irish sociology's disciplinary mandate is to analyse that change, yet a historical debate has found new expression – heightened by the 30th anniversary of the Irish Journal of Sociology (IJS) and the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Sociological Association of Ireland (SAI) – as to whether the discipline is utilising the appropriate means to achieve its ends. The current sociological division of labour is unevenly balanced, with empirical inquiry and sub-disciplinary focus privileged over systemic and synthesised social theorising. In the absence of such theorising, sociology runs the risk of remaining an empirical adjunct to other disciplines, as opposed to its rightful position at the centre of the constellation of social sciences. This paper acts as a contribution to the critique of Irish sociology, considering the extent of the disciplines absent centre, providing an analysis as to how we have reached our particular disciplinary juncture and offering certain proposals regarding appropriate analytical anchors for future theoretical focus.