Abstract
Sociology’s tendency to branch into applied scientific disciplines is regularly debated. This debate focuses either on the organisation of sociology in academic institutions or on how the content of sociologically informed interdisciplinary research diverges from disciplinary sociology. This article bridges these debates in a study of the sociology of food in Sweden. The aim is to analyse how Swedish food sociology reflects the tension between disciplinary sociology and interdisciplinary research. The data comprise the doctoral dissertations and post-PhD career paths of Swedish sociologists whose dissertations are about food. The article finds that these dissertations treat food either as an inherently social phenomenon or as a social lens (i.e. a social phenomenon viewed as instrumental for analysing something else). Second, it is found that sociologists whose dissertations treated food as an inherently social phenomenon were more likely to pursue careers in food sociology but also to hold affiliations outside of sociology departments. The article concludes that the academic locus of Swedish food sociology is organised outside sociology departments but that its approaches are not necessarily any less sociological. Thus, the analysis questions the basis for arguments that interdisciplinary research represents a threat to the critical and analytical core of sociology.
Highlights
Studies of the organisation of sociology in academia have shown that the discipline tends to penetrate into various applied sciences, such as criminology and business administration (Holmwood, 2011; Scott, 2020; cf. Dobbelaere, 2000)
The article’s aim is to analyse how Swedish food sociology reflects the tension between disciplinary sociology and interdisciplinary research
Our study of how Swedish food sociology reflects the tension between disciplinary sociology and interdisciplinary research has three main findings
Summary
Studies of the organisation of sociology in academia have shown that the discipline tends to penetrate into various applied sciences, such as criminology and business administration (Holmwood, 2011; Scott, 2020; cf. Dobbelaere, 2000). This tendency has, predictably, resulted in debates about the relation between interdisciplinary uses of sociology and sociology’s disciplinary core. Others have argued that such worries are uncalled for and potentially denigrate the merits of specialised sociologies (Savage, 2010; Scott, 2020). Lyle (2017) takes the middle ground in this debate, arguing that the quality of sociological enquiry in interdisciplinary research depends on whether or not it engages with social issues
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