Opinion: Sociology is taking it on the chin. Here's how we can preserve this critical field of study.

"After the dreadful year 2025, I've decided to parse my anger. It's a good time to specialize so as not to wear out one's psyche. There are so many reasons to be mad; the mostly baseless and endless attacks on higher education, the dismantling of life-saving research, ICE, the subverting of policy that redresses shameful social harms. But the main focus of my anger, at least right now, is because my discipline is taking it on the chin. And I've decided to take it personally."

"My field is being portrayed as one of the more woke read ideological disciplines. We sociologists infamously inculcate our innocent students with communist ideals. As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' commissioner of higher education, Manny Diaz, posted in 2023, sociology has been hijacked by left-wing activists and no longer serves its intended purpose as a general knowledge course for students. This, to justify excluding sociology classes as meeting core requirements, now the status quo for all state universities in Florida."

"Framed as disposable Sociology is often framed as disposable in ways that history or English never would be, even as the future of the humanities is being endlessly debated. Sociology departments are among the first to go when budgets are cut, consolidations occur, or faculty are too political, too fractious, or too whatever. Administrators report that many students are now afraid of having sociology classes on their transcripts, as this may put off potential employers."

Sociology is under sustained political and social attack, being labeled ideologically 'woke' and accused of indoctrinating students. State officials and policies have removed sociology from core requirements and attempted to reshape curricula to align with partisan preferences. Departments suffer disproportionate cuts, consolidations, and stigma that deter students and worry administrators about employability. The discipline's strengths—teaching rigorous thinking, focusing on inequality, synthesizing across fields, and interrogating values and power—make it a target. Legal pushback has sometimes halted reforms, but ongoing threats endanger research, pedagogy, and the presence of sociology in higher education.

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