An Overview of Sociologists' Contribution to Social Action Systems.

The contribution of sociologists to social action programs has been notable for being unnotable, with a few important exceptions. Yet the future and survival of sociology lies in moving sociology more obviously from the classroom to the world outside. Sociologists suffer from a restricted vision of what their discipline can do, which causes them to be preoccupied with theorizing and allows them to think of problems as potential journal articles. One reason for the failure of sociologists to have an impact on social action is that applied research, the generation of new information helpful in problem solving, as opposed to theoretical research, the testing of new theories, is lacking. Theory is useless without concrete knowledge of a community with which to work. Another reason is that sociologists are not really professionally competent; they are unable to identify concrete manifestations in patterned social interaction. The fault is in the training which relies, for instance, on abstract definitions and descriptive accounts rather than use of the community as a laboratory. The emerging sub-discipline, the sociology of development, is one step, however, toward bringing about more effective sociologists for the good of the entire discipline. (Author/JH)