LET'S RETURN TO OUR ROOTS: SOCIOLOGY'S ORIGINAL PURSUIT--THE JUST SOCIETY (2001 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS).

In this address i focus on sociological relativity and our discipline's ineffectiveness in dealing with the anomie associated with high modernity, i attempt to make the case for a sociology that can empirically distinguish between tolerance and license and can posit conceptions of "social justice" and "morality" as empirically demonstrable phenomena. After briefly discussing relevant ideas associated with classical sociology and recent theoretical approaches to the question of sociocultural relativity, I suggest that any attempt to deal with the issue of social justice must involve an empirically grounded view of universal human nature as an emergent process that reveals itself time and time again within the seemingly infinite diversity of a socially constructed world. I further suggest that the path to understanding emergent human nature might include an integration of linguistic analysis, contemporary brain research, and the quest for human universals. Alter considering the practical (and impractical) implications of a successful search for emergent human nature for the discipline of sociology, I conclude the address with a real life example that illustrates the essence of human species powers even in the face of authoritarian oppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]