Decolonizing Humanist Sociology: Towards a Revolutionary Humanist Sociology

Both Humanist Sociology (HS) and decolonial theories center people, and humanity, in their consideration of the world. However, HS is rooted in Enlightenment rationalism that relied on dehumanizing the non-European world to justify colonization, enslavement, and exploitation. Instead, decolonial thought rejects liberal rationalism and positions the colonized as agentic knowledge producers towards their own resistance to and liberation from coloniality. This article articulates the connections between and divergences from decolonial thought, drawing specifically on decolonial scholars’ debates over the utility of humanism for their field. I interrogate the ways in which decolonial scholarship explicitly critiques humanism, and thus the theoretical foundations of Humanist Sociology, both in general and by drawing on decolonial scholars’ work. The article concludes with recent developments in Humanist Sociological thought and practice that offer possibilities for a revitalized Revolutionary Humanist Sociology centering the knowledge and actions of colonized groups, particularly through the work of scholars of color inside and outside of the US that begins to decolonize traditional Humanist Sociology.