Remarks at the American
Sociological Association awards ceremony, on receiving the 2017 Jessie Bernard
Award for “scholarship that has enlarged the horizons of sociology to encompass
the role of women in society”.
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| With Margaret Andersen; photo courtesy of ASA |
Science is now under threat from post-truth media, corporate
greed and authoritarian politics.
Social science is not exempt.
Our critical edge and capacity to document social reality are heartily
unwelcome to the powerful and privileged.
Yet a time of trouble is also a time of renewal. Jessie
Bernard, for whom this award is named, was one of the pioneers in a feminist
insurrection in the 1960s and 1970s that transformed sociology. As the joke goes, if you can remember
the ‘sixties, you weren’t there.
But a lot of strong women were
there, and the gender research they launched has grown in sophistication, and increasingly
links global North with global South.
Making knowledge is a collective project. My research on gender depended
ultimately on thousands of fellow-workers and students. Good understanding of society really
matters for democratic projects, so it’s vital to sustain that creative
workforce. But conditions have changed, and the new generation faces a harder
task than my generation did. I
wish you well.
Sociologists, go forth! You have nothing to lose but your Founding Fathers. You have a wide world to know.
