Challenging the sociological canon: An analysis of theoretical practices in Norwegian sociology

In recent years, the sociological canon has come under scrutiny from various perspectives advocating for greater theoretical diversity, including calls to demasculinize and decolonize the discipline’s theoretical repertoire, and urging for an updated and more relevant theoretical toolbox to understand contemporary societies. This article critically examines the canon and its role within the discipline by mapping out all entries in sociology reading lists (N = 2623/120) at Norwegian higher education institutions in 2019, a material providing unique insights into the dominant trends of which theorists and theories contemporary sociologists consider most relevant. The results indicate a persistent dominance of traditional theoretical frameworks and strives to upkeep the canon’s enduring significance. There is also evidence of a plurality of theoretical practices working to reconstruct or (tacitly) reject the canon. However, the article also advocates for a more radical reorientation of sociological theory and training; not necessarily by doing away with classical and modern ‘canonized’ theorists and theories but depriving them of their hegemonic role in the shaping of sociological thought. Instead, sociology professors and students should develop more flexible theorizing capabilities that are better suited to analysis of contemporary social phenomena and where no text or author enjoys unquestioned ‘free passes’.