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Feminist scholarship charged sociology and sociological theory with the neglect of the core issue of gender. Something similar might be argued in relation to disability, sexuality and ethnicity, though today much has changed in all of these areas. However, questions have been raised about yet another ‘missing revolution’ in sociology, namely the neglect of the major and continuing impact of colonialism on the development of both societies and sociology. For example, our presentation of the development of sociology in this section may be criticized for its Eurocentrism, focusing on the contribution of European (and some North American) theorists while neglecting the contribution of scholars from Asia, Africa and elsewhere in the world. Bringing the latter back into the story of sociology is one aspect of a developing postcolonial or decolonial sociology (Bhambra 2007).

Postcolonial theories are diverse, but their central concern is to explore the ways in which the legacy of European colonialism remains active in both societies and academic disciplines, long after former colonies have achieved independence. Postcolonial studies attempt to expose this continuing legacy and to transform the discipline’s core concepts and theories, which previously failed to take account of colonial and postcolonial relationships. For example, standard accounts of the origins of sociology (including that in chapter 1, ‘What is Sociology?’) list the Industrial and French revolutions as formative for sociology but give no weight to the significance of colonialism and imperialism in the shaping of modern societies. Similarly, postcolonial critics argue that, because sociology emerged as an integral part of European modernity, the sociological gaze was and still is a Eurocentric one, limited to the analysis of ‘modern’ societies, but failing to incorporate the experience of the colonized societies. Sociology and the curriculum, they say, are badly in need of ‘decolonization’ (Connell 2018).

In a parallel way, sociological theory focused on explaining the emergence of modernity and analysing its radical difference from previous societies. This is evident in the work of Marx on Western capitalism, Durkheim on mechanical and organic solidarity, and Weber’s thesis of Protestantism and the origins of capitalism. But, in doing so, early sociologists effectively characterized non-European societies as ‘pre-modern’ or in some way ‘traditional’. From the late nineteenth century, this created a disciplinary division of labour, with sociology focusing on modern, industrial societies and anthropology dealing with the non-European and non-modern world (Boatca? and Costa 2010). Anthropology was forced to acknowledge the impact of colonial regimes and, later, the postcolonial situation, but sociology sidestepped any systematic engagement with colonialism, imperialism and postcolonial relations between states.

Many postcolonial accounts seek to enable previously marginalized people and viewpoints – the subalterns – to participate on equal terms to reshape disciplines such as sociology. The problem was starkly illustrated in an early, classic postcolonial work, Edward Said’s (1978) Orientalism, which criticized Western academic studies of ‘the Orient’ or ‘the East’. Said took issue with Orientalists, scholars in the so-called Area Studies tradition of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, who analysed the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Their discussions of the Orient relied on a sharp contrast with the Occident (‘the West’), where the Orient was seen as the exotic ‘Other’ to the ‘normal’ and superior Occident. To put this another way, academics in the West produced what were perceived to be authoritative accounts of the East, but without any input from indigenous people or scholars.

Said argued that Oriental Studies operated with the assumption that Eastern societies, as a group, shared some essential similarities which enabled them to be discussed collectively, while at the same time they were very different from Western cultures. This contrast was then used to ‘explain’ the failure of the Orient to modernize. Following Foucault’s ideas on the power of discourses in society, Said saw academic Orientalism as one aspect of a societywide discourse of Western superiority, which supported the political and economic colonial regimes on the ground. Far from being an objective, politically neutral and scholarly activity, Orientalism was one way in which the West exerted its authority over the countries of the East.

You may think that contemporary sociology has moved far beyond the early Eurocentrism, as globalization has forced sociologists to take a much broader view and to study developing countries as well as the industrialized ones. However, postcolonial theorists argue that even contemporary theories remain stuck in older ways of thinking. For example, many globalization theories see the process involving capitalism and industrialism spreading outwards from the West into ‘the rest’ of the world, taking with it fundamental features of Western culture. Seen this way, sociological theorizing is then able to continue with ‘business as usual’, without revising its core concepts and theories. You will have to reach your own conclusions as to how far this conclusion is accurate.

Recent feminist and postcolonial critiques demand a rethinking of the very foundations of sociology. However, not everyone agrees that this is either possible or necessary. First, the fact that this textbook and others cover gender relations, feminist theories, disability, sexualities and ethnicity alongside global inequalities, nations and nationalism, war, and much more, shows that sociology has not been immune to social trends, developing theories and changing attitudes. Indeed, sociology is a discipline that has to change and ‘move with the times’ if it is to be relevant in the rapidly changing social world. The question is whether it moves far enough and fast enough.

Second, internal debates within feminist theory and postcolonialism mean that their critiques of sociology have also changed over time. As McLennan (2010: 119) argues, ‘it is important to be realistic, and to resist any overbearing moralism; all thought systems are inevitably ethnocentric in focus, style and available expertise. Moreover, what it even means to “decolonize” or to “postcolonialize” sociology is far from crystal clear.’ Similarly, postcolonial theory entails a critique or rejection of the central sociological concept of ‘modernity’, which aims to characterize the experience of most Western societies but also presents the associated process of modernization as spreading outwards to ‘the rest’ of the world. The perceived Eurocentrism of this position has led many sociologists to abandon the concept altogether. Yet, as Fourie (2012: 53) argues, ‘switch on a television, open a newspaper or stroll through any city and one is likely to encounter the term or its variants; clearly “modernity is in the streets more than ever” (Kaya 2004: 47), and so continues to shape our understanding of the world around us.’

The ongoing debate around modernity, modernization and alternatives such as postcolonialism shows that even sociology’s foundational concepts can still be questioned and opened up again for investigation. Yet, some key issues about how sociology can and should be practised seem to endure amid all of the critiques and change, and we look at just two of these next.