IDEOLOGICAL CONTRADICTION AND THE PROBLEM OF CLOSURE IN THE SOCIOLOGY CAPSTONE COURSE.

This article discusses the ideological contradiction and the problem of closure in the sociology capstone course. The decline of sociology as a discipline of explicit academic value has been debated for year. Historically, American sociology responded to these debates by aligning with the modern positivist tradition of the social sciences. This response could be read as an attempt to disguise historic origins in critical and collectivist European social thought. One could interpret it as an ideological development based on the bias for acceptance as a legitimate profession. When speaking of contradiction, it refers to the broad disagreement over what is students should acquire from the study of sociology. The recommendations of the Association of American Colleges (AAC) reports cover a broad range of concerns, including ethical, technical, and theoretical issues. For example, the AAC reports stress the need for students to develop reflective, critical, and interdisciplinary abilities, opening the learning experience to the limits of perspectives and methods in each discipline. While both the interdisciplinary and the specialist approach are based on the enlightened traditions of liberal education, they assume different elements of that tradition are relevant.