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A new book from Colin Campbell, the distinguished British sociologist, asks a disquieting question: Has sociology progressed? Campbell concludes that our discipline has made little progress in the past half-century. This essay describes what Campbell means by progress, and the factors that, on his account, impede it. The discussion focuses on one such obstacle: the politicization of the university. The older current of ideological advocacy, that Campbell highlights, is today bolstered by a newer development: ideological policing. This is a posture that attacks free expression and viewpoint diversity. The fate of sociology hinges on colleagues grasping the dangers of such policing and finding ways to check it. Remedial measures are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abdelwahab Elmessiri’s intellectual journey narrates the story of modern ideologies that have led to the marginalization of divine revelation, giving rise to materialistic worldviews that promise their adherents progress, happiness, and freedom. Elmessiri, however, introduced a critical sociology that underlines the dark side of modernity, stressing that modernity has transformed humankind into a bundle of biological functions, economic needs, contractual relationships, instincts, and sexual drives. The end of utopian ideologies and the rise of globalization have radicalized the situation, which Elmessiri refers to as ‘comprehensive secularism.’ Against this background, Elmessiri experienced many moments of illumination, culminating in his advocacy of an ‘Islamic humanism’ that sees human life as complex phenomenon permeated with secrets, dualities, and diversities. This review, however, argues that Elmessiri’s Islamic humanism is ironically based on humanist Marxism and Western critical sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essay reviews three books that were published consecutively in the last three years, and argues that they represent an important shift in sociology that could potentially reconfigure the discipline and the discipline’s theoretical canon. This is because these books make the modern experience of European empires, colonialism, and, in many instances, incomplete decolonization central to sociology. They also question the discipline’s origin narratives and these narratives’ implications in colonial modernity. Thus, the books hold up a mirror reflecting back onto the discipline of sociology its own implication in European empires and colonization and demonstrate how sociology’s imperial episteme continues to shape the discipline today. This article reviews these books and focuses on how they engage in the double task of the deconstruction of sociology’s complicity in empire and the construction of a colonial critique-centered sociology. This is a sociology, the essay argues, which is invested in analyzing structural relations of power in view of the legacies of empire and colonialism. It is also one that asks questions relevant to contemporary realities for the purposes of effecting political change in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the book "Remembering Elites," edited by Mike Savage and Karel Williams.

The article reviews the book "Socialism and Modernity," by Peter Beilharz.

The article reviews the book "Sociology of Memory: Papers From the Spectrum," edited by Noel Packard.

The article reviews the book "Theorizing Emotions: Sociological Exploration and Applications," edited by Debra Hopkins, Jochen Kleres, Helmut Kuzmics and Helena Flam.

The article reviews the book "The Sociology of Intellectual Life: The Career of the Mind in and Around the Academy," by Steve Fuller.

The article reviews the book "Transatlantische Bereicherungen: Zur Erfindung der empirischen Sozialforschung" (Transatlantic Gifts: The Origins of Empirical Social Research), by Christian Fleck.

The article reviews the book "The View from Here," edited by R. DeVries, L. Turner, K. Orfali and C. L. Bosk.

The article reviews the book "L'Invetion de l'Inde: Entre ésotérisme et science," by Roland Lardinois.

The article reviews the book "Youth, Globalization, and the Law," edited by Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh and Ronald Kassimir.

The article reviews the book "The Making of Global and Local Modernities in Melanesia: Humiliation, Transformations and the Nature of Cultural Change," edited by Joel Robbins and Holly Wardlow.

The article reviews the book "Progress and Chaos: Russia as a Challenge for the Sociological Imagination," by Markku Kivinen.

The article reviews the book "Science in Society," by Matthew David.

The article reviews the book "Dissecting the Social: On the Principles of Analytical Sociology," Peter Hedström.

The article reviews the book "Shifting Boundaries of Knowledge: A View on Social Sciences, Law and Humanities in South Africa," edited by Tessa Marcus and Alexandra Hofmaenner.

The article reviews the book "The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity: A Study in Sociological Semantics and the Sociology of Science," by R. K. Merton and E. Barber.

The article reviews the book "Marginality, Power, and Social Structure: Issues in Race, Class, and Gender Analysis," edited by Dennis M. Rutledge.

The article reviews the book "Gruppo SPE: Sociologica per la persona Verso una sociologia della persona/SPE Group: Sociology for the Person, Towards a Sociology of a Person."

The article reviews the book "Sovremennoe rossiiskoe obshestvo. Sotsialnii mechanism transformatsii (Russian Society Today: Social Mechanisms of Transformation)," by Tatiana Zaslavskaia.