This article looks at the historical origins and political contours of the Association for Humanist Sociology (AHS). In particular, I explore the impact of a radical sociological movement in the 1960s and 1970s, its institutional and disciplinary impact, and the ways in which AHS represented and expanded its visions. I conclude by proposing that the success of AHS will be in its ability to similarly embrace and further drive a revolutionary sociology steeped in a humanist critique of colonialism, racism, patriarchy and other forms of institutionalized exploitation and injustice.
AdairStephen. 2015. “The Activist Foundation of Sociology.”Humanity & Society39(1):9–21.
2.
BabbittCharles E.IIIThompsonMyron A.BurbachHarold J.1983. “Non-Handicapped College Students as Social Audience: A Study of Their Perceptions of an Interactions with Handicapped Peers.” Humanity & Society7(3):287–300.
BallardChet. 2002. “An Epistle on the Origin and Early History of the Association for Humanist Sociology.” The American Sociologist33(4):37–61.
5.
BarnettSteve. 1983. “Rifts in Afrikanerdom?”Humanity & Society7(3):238–49.
6.
BartPauline B.1984. “Lesbian Research Ethics.” Humanity & Society8(4):402–406.
7.
BassukEllen L.BreakeyWilliam R.FischerAlan A.HalpernCharles R.SmithGloriaStarkLouisaStarkNathanVladeckBruceWolfePhyllis. 1988. “Supplementary Statement on Health Care for Homeless People.” Humanity & Society12(4): 313–17.
8.
BérubéMichael. 1992. “Public Image Limited: Political Correctness and the Media’s Big Lie.” Pp. 124–49 in Debating PC: The Controversy over Political Correctness on College Campuses, edited by BermanP.New York, NY: Dell Publishing.
9.
BérubéMichael. 1994. Public Access: Literary Theory and American Cultural Politics. New York, NY: Verso.
10.
BlackClifford M.EnosRichard. 1982. “Cultural Relativity as a Counseling Paradigm in Clinical Sociology: A Theory and Case Studies.” Humanity & Society6(4):58–73.
11.
BoggsCarl. 1983. “The Intellectuals and Social-Movements-Some Reflections on Academic Marxism.” Humanities in Society6(2–3):223–39.
12.
BoggsCarl. 1997. “The Great Retreat: Decline of the Public Sphere in Late Twentieth-Century America.” Theory and Society26(6):741–80.
13.
Bonilla-SilvaEduardo. 2006. “Towards a New Radical Agenda: A Critique of Mainstreamed Sociological Radicalism.” Contemporary Sociology35(2):111–14.
14.
Bonilla-SilvaEduardoBaiocchiGianpaolo. 2001. “Anything but Racism: How Sociologists Limit the Significance of Racism.” Race and Society4(2):117–31.
15.
BreeseJeffrey R.2011. “Sociology: A Community Engagement Discipline.” Journal of Applied Social Science5(1):78–86.
16.
BrownPhil. 1998. Catskill Culture: A Mountain Rat’s Memories of the Great Jewish Resort Area. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
17.
Brown-NaginTomiko. 2005. “Elites, Social Movements, and the Law: The Case of Affirmative Action.” Columbia Law Review105:1436.
18.
BystydzienskiJill. 2001. “Connecting Humanist Sociology and Feminism: Recognizing Our Global Humanity in Its Local Diversity.” Humanity & Society25(3/4):209–218.
19.
CancelaVictor De LaGuarnacciaPeter J.CarrilloEmilio. 1986. “Psychosocial Distress among Latinos: A Critical Analysis of Ataques de Nervois.” Humanity & Society10(4):431–47.
20.
ChambersRobert. 1997. “Responsible Well-Being—A Personal Agenda for Development.” World Development25(11):1743–54.
21.
ChatterjeePiyaMairaSunaina, eds. 2014. The Imperial University: Academic Repression and Scholarly Dissent. University of Minnesota Press.
22.
ChurchillWardWallJim Vander. 2002. Agents of Repression: The FBI’s Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement. Vol. 7. South End Press.
23.
CollinsPatricia Hill. 2003. “Perspectivity and the Activist Potential of the Sociology Classroom.” Humanity & Society27(3):358–75.
24.
CollinsRandallMakowskyMichael. 1972. The Discovery of Society. New York, NY: Random House.
CunninghamDavid. 2003. “The Patterning of Repression: FBI Counterintelligence and the New Left.” Social Forces82(1):209–240.
27.
CunninghamDavid. 2004. There’s Something Happening Here: The New Left, the Klan, and FBI Counterintelligence. Berkeley, CA: University of California.
28.
DaleChrisKalobDennis. 2006. “Embracing Social Activism: Sociology in the Service of Social Justice and Peace.” Humanity & Society30(2):121–52.
29.
DamrellJoseph. 1989. “Some Observations and Interpretations of the Ojibwa Treaty Rights Struggle.” Humanity & Society13(4):386–402.
30.
DankBarry M.1980. “The Social Construction and Destruction of the Homosexual.” Humanity & Society4(2):133–47.
31.
DaynesGaryLongoNicholas V.2004. “Jane Addams and the Origins of Service-Learning Practice in the United States.” Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning11(1):5–13.
32.
DeeganMary Jo. 2013. “Jane Addams, the Hull-House School of Sociology, and Social Justice, 1892 to 1935.” Humanity & Society37(3):248–58.
33.
DeeganMary Jo. 2017. “Jane Addams, Feminist Pragmatism, and Service Learning.”The Cambridge Handbook of Service Learning and Community Engagement51–63.
34.
DixonMarlene. 1976. “Professionalism in the Social Sciences: Institutionalized Repression.” Sociological Inquiry46(3/4):251–62.
35.
DixonMarleneVogelR.1975. “Letter of Resignation.” Insurgent Sociologist5(2):51–64.
36.
DoaneWoody. 2000. “Confronting Structures of Power: Toward a Humanist Sociology for the 21st Century.” Humanity & Society24(3):228–36.
37.
DolgonCorey. 1997. “The “United Colors” of Cultural Studies: The Politics of Politics in the Academy.” Humanity & Society21(4):377–96.
38.
DolgonCorey. 2001. “Revisiting the Three R’S—Reading, Writing and Revolution: The Role of Humanist Scholars and the Future of Humanity and Society.” Humanity & Society25(2):100–113.
39.
DolgonCorey. 2002. “In Search of ‘Cognitive Consonance’: Humanist Sociology and Service Learning.” Humanity & Society26(2):129–50.
40.
DuheGregory. 2002. “The FBI and Students for a Democratic Society at the University of New Orleans, 1968-1971.” Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association43(1):53–74.
41.
EhrlichHoward. 1991. “Notes from an Anarchist Sociologist: May 1989.” Pp. 233–48 in Radical Sociologists and the Movement: Experiences, Lessons, and Legacies, edited by OppenheimerM.MurrayM. J.LevineR. F.Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
42.
EmbrickDavid. 2023. “Sociology for Whom? Real Conversations and Critical Engagements in Amerikkka.” Humanity & Society47(4):424–32.
43.
ErdmansMary. 2011. “Rejoinder to ‘Feminist Sociology’.” Pp. 69-71 in Pioneers of Public Sociology: Thirty Years of Humanity and Society, edited by DolgonC.ChaykoM.New York, NY: Sloan Publishing.
44.
EwenLynda Ann. 1991. “Coming Home: A Sociological Journey.” Pp. 140–57 in Radical Sociologists and the Movement: Experiences, Lessons, and Legacies, edited by OppenheimerM.MurrayM. J.LevineR. F.Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
45.
Fals-BordaOrlando. 1987. “The Application of Participatory Action-Research in Latin America.” International Sociology2(4):329–47.
46.
FishmanWalda KatzScottJerome. 1986. “Electoral Politics and Class Struggle: Democracy under Attack in West Alabama.” Humanity & Society10(4):469–78.
47.
FlacksDick. 1988. “The Sociology Liberation Movement: Some Legacies and Lessons.” Critical Sociology15(2):9–18.
48.
FlacksRichardTurkelGerald. 1978. “Radical Sociology: The Emergence of Neo-Marxian Perspectives in US Sociology.” Annual Review of Sociology4(1):193–238.
GaventaJohn. 1991. “Toward a Knowledge Democracy: Viewpoints on Participatory Research in North America.” Pp. 121–31 in Action and Knowledge: Breaking the Monopoly with Participatory Action-Research, edited by Fals-BordaO.RahmanM. A.New York, NY: Apex Press.
51.
GelbspanRoss. 1991. Break-ins, Death Threats and the FBI: The Covert War against the Central America Movement. Boston, MA: South End Press.
52.
GirouxHenry A.1981. “Schooling and the Myth of Objectivity: Stalking the Politics of the Hidden Curriculum.” McGill Journal of Education16(3):282–304.
53.
GlickBrian. 1989. War at Home: Covert Action Against US Activists and What We can do About it. Vol. 6. South End Press.
54.
GramsciAntonio. 2020. “Selections from the Prison Notebooks.” Pp. 141-142 in The Applied Theatre reader. Routledge.
55.
HarkavyIraPuckettJohn L.1994. “Lessons from Hull House for the Contemporary Urban University.” Social Service Review68(3):299–321.
56.
HayesFloyd Windom, ed. 2000. A Turbulent Voyage: Readings in African American Studies. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
57.
HershelHelena Jia. 1986. “Colonialism Reconsidered: An Analysis of Socioeconomic and Cultural Factors Affecting the Mental Health of Hawaiians.” Humanity & Society10(4):448–68.
58.
HigginbothamElizabeth. 1980. “Issues in Contemporary Sociological Work on Black Women.” Humanity & Society4(3):226–42.
59.
HoffmanDennis E.SnellJoel C.WebbVincent J.1975. “Peace Research and Radical Sociology in the United States.” Peace Research7(4):107–116.
60.
HunterMarcus Anthony. 2015. “WEB Du Bois and Black Heterogeneity: How The Philadelphia Negro Shaped American Sociology.” The American Sociologist46(2):219–33.
61.
IssermanMaurice. 1982. Which Side Were You on?: The American Communist Party during the Second World War. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
62.
ItzigsohnJosé. 2013. “Class, Race, and Emancipation: The Contributions of the Black Jacobins and Black Reconstruction in America to Historical Sociology and Social Theory.” The CLR James Journal19(1/2):177–98.
63.
JenningsPaul. 1980. “Class and National Division in South Texas: The Farmworker Strike in Raymondville.” Humanity & Society4(1):52–56.
64.
JudkinsBennett M.1990. “Workplace Democracy and Occupational Health.” Humanity & Society14(1):34–54.
65.
Katz-FishmanWalda. 1981. “Science and Society: Debunking the Myth of Scientific Purity and Autonomy.” Humanity & Society5:140–65.
KelleyRobin DG. 1999. “But a local phase of a world problem”: Black history’s global vision, 1883–1950. The Journal of American History86(3):1045–77.
68.
KeeranRoger. 1995. “National Groups and the Popular Front: The Case of the International Workers Order.” Journal of American Ethnic History14(3):23–51.
69.
KennedyElizabeth LopovskyBeinsAgatha. 2005. Women’s Studies for the Future: Foundations, Interrogations, Politics. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
70.
KraseJerome. 1979. “Community, Morality, and the Inner City Neighborhood.”Humanity & Society3(1):35–52.
71.
LafountainMark J.1989. “Native American Struggles for Survival and Dignity: Editor’s Introduction.” Humanity & Society13(4):383–85.
72.
LauterPaul. [1995]2020. “‘Political Correctness’ and the Attack on American Colleges.” Pp. 73–90 in Higher Education under Fire, Politics, Economics, and the Crisis of the Humanities, edited by BérubéM.NelsonC.New York, NY: Routledge.
73.
LeeAlfred McClung. 1954. “Sociologists in an Integrating Society: Significance and Satisfaction in Sociological Work.”Social Problems2:57.
74.
LeeAlfred McClung. 1977. “A Different Kind of Sociological Society.” Humanity and Society1(1):1–10.
75.
LeeElizabeth BriantLeeAlfred McClung. 1976. “The Society for the Study of Social Problems: Parental Recollections and Hopes.” Social Problems24(1):4–14.
76.
LengermannPatricia M.NiebruggeGillian. 2016. “Scholarship and Advocacy: Continuing the Feminist Revision of Sociology’s History.” Contemporary Sociology45(5):558–62.
77.
LittlefieldAlice. 1989. “The B.I.A. Boarding School: Theories of Resistance and Social Reproduction.” Humanity & Society13(4):428–41.
McKelveyCharles. 1988. “South Africa: Time of Agony, Time of Destiny: The Upsurge of Popular Protest.” Humanity & Society12(2):211–15.
80.
MarableManning. 2015. WEB Du Bois: Black Radical Democrat. New York, NY: Routledge.
81.
MarableManningPopescuAdinaJonesKharyLespinassePatricia. 2015. New Black Renaissance: The Souls Anthology of Critical African-American Studies. New York, NY: Routledge.
82.
MartinRandy. 1986. “Sowing the Threads of Resistance: Worker Resistance and Managerial Control in a Paint and Garment Factory.” Humanity & Society10(3):259–75.
83.
MarxGary T.1974. “Thoughts on a Neglected Category of Social Movement Participant: The Agent Provocateur and the Informant.” American Journal of Sociology80(2):402–442.
84.
Messer-DavidowEllen. 1993. “Manufacturing the Attack on Liberalized Higher Education.” Social Text36:40–80.
85.
MickelsonRoslyn Arlin. 1987. “Education and the Struggle against Race, Class and Gender Inequality.” Humanity & Society11(4):440–64.
86.
MishlerPaul C.1999. “Raising Reds: The Young Pioneers, Radical Summer Camps, and Communist Political Culture” in the United States. Columbia University Press.
87.
MortonMavisDolgonCoreyMaherTimothyPennellJames. 2012. “Civic Engagement and Public Sociology: Two ‘Movements’ in Search of a Mission.” Journal of Applied Social Science6(1):5–30.
88.
MorrisAldon. 2017. The Scholar Denied: WEB Du Bois and the Birth of Modern Sociology. University of California Press.
89.
MurrayPaul T.1988. “The Struggle for Political Power in a Black Bell County.” Humanity & Society12(3):239–53.
90.
MurrayMartin J.LevineRhonda F.OppenheimerMartin, eds. 1991. Radical Sociologists and the Movement: Experiences, Lessons, and Legacies. Temple University Press.
91.
NagerNorma. 1984. “Whose Side Are We on: Issue of Race, Sex and Class in Academe.” Humanity & Society8(1):53–58.
92.
New York Parks Department. 2021. “Official Website of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.” Herman Dolgon Playground: NYC Parks. Retrieved (nycgovparks.org).
93.
NewkirkAnthony B.2020. “Notes on the Struggle for “Real Fraternity”: The American Youth Congress, 1934–1941.” American Communist History19(1–2):107–131.
94.
NienhulsNancy E.ZamboTammy J.1990. “Lifetime Commitment: A Portrait of Karen Thompson.” Humanity & Society14(2):196–200.
95.
NydenPhilip W.2010. “Social Problems or Social Solutions? The Role of Public Sociology in Addressing Contemporary Crises.” Michigan Sociological Review24:5–18.
96.
ParentiMichael. 1995. “The Myth of the Liberal Campus.” The Humanist55(5):20.
97.
PennellJames R.2010. “Doing Change Work: The Many Paths That Come Together as AHS.” Humanity & Society34(4):301–316.
98.
PetonitoGina. 2008. “Nourishing Our Roots: Voices from Ahs’s First Five Years.” Humanity & Society32(2):105–130.
99.
PfohlStephen. 1990. “Re-forming the SSSP: Questions of “Praxis”.” The American Sociologist21(4):331–36.
100.
QueenStuart A.1981. “Seventy-Five Years of American Sociology in Relation to Social Work.” American Sociologist16(1):34–37.
101.
RawickGeorge Philip. 1957. The New Deal and Youth: The Civilian Conservation Corps, the National Youth Administration, and the American Youth Congress. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin-Madison.
102.
ReedLittle Rock. 1989. “The American Indian in the White Man’s Prisons: A Story of Genocide.” Humanity & Society13(4):403–420.
103.
ReeseEllen. 2001. “Deepening Our Commitment, Hitting the Streets: A Call to Action.” Social Problems48:152.
104.
RhoadsRobert A.SaenzVictorCarducciRozana. 2005. “Higher Education Reform as a Social Movement: The Case of Affirmative Action.” The Review of Higher Education28(2):191–220.
RiveraJulius. 1978. “Power and Symbol in the Chicano Movement.” Humanity & Society2(1):1–18.
107.
RomeroMary. 1988. “Sisterhood and Domestic Service: Race, Class and Gender in the Mistress-Maid Relationship.” Humanity & Society12(4):318–46.
108.
RomeroMary. 2020. “Sociology Engaged in Social Justice.” American Sociological Review85(1):1–30.
109.
RosenfeldSeth. 2012. Subversives: The FBI’s War on Student Radicals, and Reagan’s Rise to Power. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
110.
SabinArthur J.1999. Red Scare in Court: New York versus the International Workers Order. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
111.
SallDialikaKhanShamus. 2017. “What Elite Theory Should Have Learned, and Can Still Learn, from W.E.B. DuBois.” Ethnic & Racial Studies40(3):512–14.
112.
SchneiderhanErik. 2011. “Pragmatism and Empirical Sociology: The Case of Jane Addams and Hull-House, 1889-1895.” Theory and Society40(6):589–617.
113.
SchreckerEllen. 2010. The Lost Soul of Higher Education: Corporatization, the Assault on Academic Freedom, and the End of the American University. New York, NY: The New Press.
114.
ScottDebra Leigh. 2012. “How The American University Was Killed in Five Easy Steps.” The Homeless Adjunct, August12. Retrieved (wordpress.com).
115.
ShostakArt. 1980. “Blue-Collar Stress: An Analysis of the Stress Resolution Profile of 75 White Male Blue-Collarites, and Related Reform Recommendations.” Humanity & Society4(4):283–96.
116.
SkuraBarry. 1976. “Constraints on a Reform Movement: Relationships between SSSP and ASA, 1951-1970.” Social Problems24(1):15–36.
117.
SmithDorothy E.1984. “The Deep Structure of Gender Antitheses: Another View of Capitalism and Patriarchy.” Humanity & Society8(4):395–402.
118.
StaggenborgSuzanneTaylorVerta. 2005. “Whatever Happened to the Women’s Movement?”Mobilization10(1):37–52.
119.
StanfieldJohn H.2010. “Du Bois on Citizenship: Revising the ‘Du Bois as Sociologist’ Canon.” Journal of Classical Sociology10(3):171–88.
120.
StarobinJoseph R.2013. American Communism in Crisis, 1943-1957. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
121.
StarrJerold M.2002. “The Association for Humanist Sociology: A Personal Celebration.” The American Sociologist33(4):62–65.
122.
StoutKateDelloBuonoRichard. 1987. “Political Prisoners in the U.S.: A Call to Action for Humanists.” Humanity & Society11(4):533–39.
123.
StulbergLisa M.ChenAnthony S.2014. “The Origins of Race-Conscious Affirmative Action in Undergraduate Admissions: A Comparative Analysis of Institutional Change in Higher Education.” Sociology of Education87(1):36–52.
124.
SwanJim. 1989. “Sacred Sites: Cultural Values and Management Issues.” Humanity & Society13(4):442–56.
125.
TaylorRupert. 1990. “The Narrow Ground: Critical Intellectual Work on South Africa under Apartheid.” Humanity & Society14(3):224–43.
126.
ThunderhorseIron. 1989. “The Thunderbird Alliance: Reclaiming the Legacy of Tribal Democracy.” Humanity & Society13(4):421–27.
127.
TreviñoA. Javier. 2012. “Presidential Address: The Challenge of Service Sociology.” Social Problems59(1):2–20.
128.
WashburnJennifer. 2006. University, Inc.: The Corporate Corruption of American Higher Education. New York, NY: Basic Books.
129.
WeinerMelissa F.2018. “Decolonial Sociology: WEB Du Bois’s Foundational Theoretical and Methodological Contributions.”Sociology Compass12(8):e12601.
130.
WeinerMelissa F.2026. “Decolonizing Humanist Sociology: Towards a Revolutionary Humanist Sociology.”Humanity & Society DOI: 10.1177/01605976261420166.
131.
WeissingerSandra E.2009. “Gender Matters. So Do Race and Class: Experiences of Gendered Racism on the Wal-Mart Shop Floor.” Humanity & Society33(4):341–62.
132.
WestCornel. 1993. Keeping Faith: Philosophy and Race in America. New York, NY: Routledge.
133.
WhismanVera. 1984. “Lesbianism, Feminism, and Social Science.” Humanity & Society8(4):453–60.
134.
WienerJonathan M.1989. “Radical Historians and the Crisis in American History, 1959-1980.” The Journal of American History76(2):399–434.
135.
WilliamsCobretti D.2019. “The Personal is Apolitical: Neoliberalism and Academic Capitalism in US Women’s Studies Programs.” Women’s Studies International Forum74:1–8.
136.
WilliamsJohnny E.2023. “Power, Politics, People, and Knowledge.”Humanity & Society47(4):433–40.
137.
WilliamsLinda F.1984. “On the Ethics of Research on the Tripple Oppression of Black American Women.” Humanity & Society8(4):506–513.
138.
WolfPaulBoyleRobertBrownBobBurghardtTomChomskyNoamChurchillWardCleaverKathleen, et al. 2001. “COINTELPRO: The Untold American Story.” Presented to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, at the World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa by the members of the Congressional Black Caucus September 1.
139.
WrightEarlII. 2017. The First American School of Sociology: WEB Du Bois and the Atlanta Sociological Laboratory. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
140.
Yellow BirdRik. 1990. “Position Paper on Native Education.” Humanity & Society14(3):297–301.
