Beyond conflict: recovering the sociology of social progress

Abstract The dominance of conflict theory in contemporary sociology has contributed to critical blind spots, including the discipline’s limited attention to social progress and the conditions that foster it. This paper traces the rise and fall of functionalism, examines current blind spots in sociology such as rising living standards and declines in racial and gender inequality, and identifies the theoretical and ideological factors that contribute to these omissions. The discipline can be better equipped to explain social progress by using a broader array of theoretical tools and embracing greater ideological and moral pluralism. Doing so would make sociology more relevant to public conversations about important social issues that will resonate with people from across the political spectrum and increase public trust in sociological teaching and research.