Middle East Sociology Working Group

1. What Is Middle East Sociology?

The concept of the "Middle East" was popularized in the early 20th century to denote the regions of Asia between the Near East and the Far East. It came to have its present meanings several decades later (see works by Davison 1960, Keddie 1973, Koppes 1976, Adelson 1995, and Kurzman 2007). "Sociology" was coined in the 1820s by Auguste Comte, who later also founded the "religion of humanity," and became a university discipline in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries. Rather than define either term, our working group is open to all who consider themselves sociologists and who consider their subject of study to involve the Middle East.

The working group grows out the recognition that -- using conventional definitions -- sociologists are underrepresented among Middle East specialists, and Middle East specialists are underrepresented among sociologists. The working group is intended to consolidate this field of study and to increase scholarly training and collaboration.

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Nilgün Çelebi, "Sociology Associations in Turkey: Continuity Behind Discontinuity," International Sociology, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 253-267, June 2002. (SAGE Journals Online)

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Devorah Kalekin-Fishman, "Making Sense of Constant Change: Israeli Sociology Between Apologetics and Radical Critique." Current Sociology, Vol. 54, No. 1, January 2006, pp. 63-76. (SAGE Journals Online)

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C. A. O. Van Nieuwenhuijze, Sociology of the Middle East: A Stocktaking and Interpretation (Leiden: Brill, 1971). (Worldcat OCLC: 288421)

Abdelkader Zghal, Ahmed Iadh Ouederni, María Luz Morán, editors, Questions from Arab Societies: Proceedings of the ISA Arab Regional Conference, Hammamet, Tunisia, 16-18 May 1997 (Montréal: Service de l'information et des relations publiques de l'UQAM, 1998). (Worldcat OCLC: 41069213)