Voice of the Public
“My friend works for the District Attorney and jokes that if you want to be dismissed from jury duty, say that you’re a sociologist. They never support the police and never convict an (alleged) criminal.” (Letter to NY Times, January 2024)
“My Dad was an economist. He often commented that sociology was pure BS. I think the enmity between these two fields goes back a long way”. (Distinguished Professor of Chemistry)
“I really loathe how the entire sociology section of the bookstore is literally just race baiting Marxist propaganda. Literally 100 percent of the time in the most shameless way possible. This field is almost all propaganda” (Whatifalhist on X)
“Sociology in universities and colleges is so deeply biased that they can’t see what they are doing anymore. I got a Ph.D at a university, and I work in higher ed, and they still talk about all the usual issues (gender studies, defund the police, white supremacy, modern slavery in the prisons) as if everyone agrees with them…It means you can’t trust their ‘research’ or almost anything they say in papers, presentations and classrooms.” (My Chigan, NY Times. August 2026)
“Sociology is a real science Chat GPT said so…” (JohnChr07417950 on X. 2026)
“I see--various criticisms of the current state of the discipline of sociology. For part of my career, I did get to know the sociology faculty fairly well, but they struck me as "old school" in the sense of working with very old methods. And more than trendy theories or violent irresponsible activism, I had the impression that they were much more involved in ethnography in the manner of anthropology. They all seemed to be experts in the social structures and habits of the local people of Oceania, and this included a lot of expertise in local languages and geography. When I got my first university degree a couple decades ago, I do remember talk among my conservative-leaning friends in philosophy (and theology) that the sociology program in our university was quite Left-leaning. In time, rumors entered my ear over the years that the Left-orientation just got more radicalized and that the department lost its moral grounding. I had been thinking, perhaps it's just that one department of my alma mater, but I have heard rumors that it is many sociology departments and the feeling is that something intrinsic to the ideology of contemporary sociology may be pathological. I have often retreated to my scholarly cave, where I read voices from the past. A so-called "father of sociology" George H. Mead has been part of my readings and I have really enjoyed reading him--his insights about the structure of human thought were insightful for me. But he died 100 years ago. I suppose the discipline is different today. The very concepts investigated by sociology--structure of the family, class structure, environment and economics, etc--seem like they are worthy of careful study. I have studied such topics but within other disciplines like history, economics, philosophy, literary traditions, and so on. I've just never gotten to know anyone in the field of sociology today. Indeed, the departments I have worked in (Philosophy, East Asian Studies, Religious Studies) have not had a real relationship with the sociology department. And Japan--where I have spent a lot of my career--does not have the same woke virus as much as universities of the West. (I am very critical of "woke ideas," from naive equity to dismantling of the family, to the destruction of tradition, to replacing rigorous empirical investigation with volatile emotions, to a failure to learn from history, etc etc. Good luck to you on promoting careful thinking and responsible administration!” (Professor of Philosophy, Japan. 2026)
“The very problem with activists in fields like sociology is that they aren’t interested in thinking critically about the opinions they have already internalized. I’ve witnessed this many times in reviews of academic proposals from sociology. Research proposals state outright that their research ‘will prove that Group X is suffering inequity Y.’ In my field you never set out to prove anything - you hypothesize and then confirm or disconfirm. Many (but certainly not all) sociologists engage in reinforcement of their confirmation bias rather than research”. (Swazi, NY Times August 2026)
“Sociology is the poster child of academic junk science. At best, it belongs in journalism.” (VW Comment to NY Times)
“Sociology as a discipline is now social and political advocacy dressed in the regalia of the academy”. (Ray Rodrigues, Chancellor of the State University of Florida. 2026)
“Sociology and its offspring - African American Studies, Urban Studies and Women Studies and etc. - while interesting subjects, should be relegated to a few classes not actual majors. The curriculum content of these majors are laughable compared to STEM and Business majors. Maybe Sociology is needed, however, because Physical Education is actually too rigorous for most football and basketball players.” (Charley in Dallas. 2024)
“I’m a Ph.D sociologist who largely went the applied sociology route. I had actual skills, even if it wasn’t easy, and towards non-profits. Liberal. And I think the field has been captured, with no emphasis on objectivity. And crazy enough, the best oldest sociology of Durkheim, Weber, Simmel and the gang (yes, mostly men then) - quiet activists in their ways, describing the world as it radically changed - is utterly relevant today - and nobody cares. It’s all heartbreaking”. (Sarah V, NY Times. August 2026)
“Sociology has become captured by feminist intersectionality and the writings of Michel Foucault. Ideas and works laden with sloppy research, cherry-picked framings, false attributions, false comparisons, made-up facts, and constantly changing to fit a utopian worldview that can be directly traced to his writing, identity politics and radical militant feminism. Sociology departments in academia are 77 percent female and trending higher as men age out.” (Icarus, NY Times August 2026)
“I tried to date a sociologist. Never again. He was the most abusive POS in the world. Whenever I did something, he found characteristic of mine, he would claim that on my culture or origins. I couldn't talk about money or the neighborhood I grew up in, with him, because he said I was classist and racist. He was the worst person (after my father) I have ever talked to and I will never in my life befriend a woke person again. They can rot in hell. I told him to stop it, because I felt uncomfortable and he told me that I should be thankful, because he would only point out faults at friends and then stopped talking.” (Anonymous on Reddit, 2024)
“When sociology departments uniformly channel Michel Foucault and teach that power is at the root of all social interaction- which they do- they go from the empirical to the ideological. When all society is viewed through the lens of power and racial oppression, we get the intersectional travesty of Jews being designated as the White colonial settler oppressor. Sociology departments are at the root of this corruption of academia, and I, as a Democrat, feel no contradiction in believing as I do.” (Matthew Wodicka, San Francisco)
“Don't tell anyone. I try to avoid political issues, But sociology has too many regressions and statistics and not enough logic, reason, or diversity of political ideologies” (Technology Consultant and Professor of Engineering)
“Sociology degrees are a red flag. Sociologists don’t have enough knowledge to think critically about a subject, but enough to weaponize the information. It is the degree most often behind ineffective social workers and therapists without a psychology background. Sociology certainly doesn’t apply scientifically sound analysis to a subject matter.” (Anatonia Ferguson, 2024).
“Sociologists have spent the recent decades giving conservatives something to be right about. I'm a solid liberal and my experience with sociologists in college and after is defined by a grotesque contradiction. On one side is a passionate and sincere commitment to equity. On the other: for people that don't fit into non-white, non-female, etc. categories that field is barren, save for a witch-hunt that sees racism etc. everywhere and prioritizes any aspect of it over poverty, abuse history, etc. These people can barely spell "class." (Letter to NY Times from Dan. January 2024)
“One of the unfortunate consequences of the Jason Arday debacle is that it has thrown the entire discipline of sociology into disrepute. In the minds of many, his shoddy scholarship, lazy methods and recourse to obfuscating jargon are not an aberration, but reflect the dubious standing of a social science which has always had unjust pretentions to an actual science…We would be better off studying the great sociologists of the past rather than deploring the imposters of the present”. (Patrick West, Journalist. Spectator 2026)
“Sociology used to be primarily about the scientific study of society: families, groups, money, artifacts, etc. It is only in recent years that it has become political. When a discipline takes as its assumption that white people/white males are a fundamental problem, we've moved away from sociology as a tool for getting students to think about basic questions to turning the classroom into a place for political indoctrination. The institution where I teach has a large number of courses in social justice. The premise here is always that men/white people are the perpetrators of all that is wrong in the world. This is an unquestioned assumption. In exchange, the old line liberal arts courses--history, philosophy, literature that believed in open inquiry, have been largely abandoned, with the aim appearing to be to teach as few of these as possible. I am a Democrat and a social liberal with a visceral dislike of Ron DeSantis and Trump and all that is Florida, but I applaud Florida's decision about this in the name of a good education.”(Hazlit, Letter to NY Times, January 2024)
“There is indeed a grave predicament for sociology, marked by a dual crisis. Firstly, there is a dilution of its academic rigor. Globally—far beyond Florida—the discipline is drifting toward political instrumentalization. Modern sociological education often prioritizes judging phenomena against ‘political exigencies’ over rational analysis of causality, straying far from Max Weber's principle of value neutrality.
Secondly, the field suffers from a perceived lack of practical utility. With bleak job prospects for graduates, prospective students naturally gravitate toward more "marketable" majors, leading to a sharp decline in enrollment. Under this dual pressure, the decline of sociology seems almost inevitable.” (Jun Chen, 2026 LinkedIn)
"Out of curiosity: I randomly picked 5 universities, and looked up their sociology department faculty. I randomly picked papers written by the faculty. Wow, my mind was blown. At least 60% was similar gibberish. Constant politically charged assertions— no underlying data. Anti-colonialism— everything is somehow a legacy of racial injustice and colonialism. Never mind— no actual data to support that claim. The climate catastrophe— Immigration injustice— the department looks like a Democrat think tank."(Omar Sultan Haque, MD, Ph.D on X 2026)
“Sociology is journalism without the news” (P.J. O’Rourke)
“Jason Arday was famously proclaimed to be the finest in his academic field and neither the Sociology societies nor even a single sociologist loudly disputed that fact. The best explanation is that the field lost its leading light.” (SullyAugustine on X. 2026)
“While other disciplines, e.g. political science and history, have a leftist bias, their ability to focus on political propagandizing is partly limited by their need to cover some basic factual material. By contrast, sociology lacks a distinct object of study. It is whatever you feel like making it, which opens the door for politicized studies.” (FS, Yonkers, NY)
“I had 54 Sociology credits and confirm that except for the field of Demography, it is indeed a bunch of crap and the remaining parts that are useful can be combined into other departments.” (Igottamake on Reddit)
“A sociology (assistant) professor panned my interdisciplinary senior thesis, preventing me from graduating with University Honors (other two reviewers’ grades were As)…in 1986. She was upfront that it was because of political differences rather than the writing or the research. My advisor (RIP) was apopleptic. I hate sociology. Thank you WSJ”. (Marc Schwartz WSJ August 2026)
“Many prominent sociologists are professional leftists that group people and lack the ability to see the individual. To call them objective scientists is really laughable. I have taken class after class of marxist professors’ indoctrination to view everyone (except white males of course) as merely a victims of societal structures. It actually just helped me see them for what they are: propoganda artists. They don’t really inquire; rather, they seek to confirm their own worldviews. Researchers often have no shame about injecting their leftist biases, especially in textbooks”.
“Modern sociology is so cucked. They detest the uncomfortable truths. Just set on fire the whole field and rebuild it”. (nathan_speaks on Reddit)
“This [NY Times] article operates from the assumption that the academics who Florida is attempting to silence are impartial and disinterested arbiters of truth. That just isn't the case. Unfortunately for the academy writ large, many sociologists these days are activist academics which means they are operating from a bad faith position of masquerading as impartial arbiters of truth. I say they brought this upon themselves. This is not a problem for many other fields, although Critical Theory is creeping into psychology. But, as far as the real sciences, like biochemistry and physics, good luck trying to convince us that enzymes and gravity are heteronormative cis white male colonial cultural constructions. Although, the applied postmodernists who worship the gospel of Critical Theory secretly believe them to be which is indicative of how far removed these people are from reality.” (Comment on NY Times article from Michael in St. Louis)
“As another instance, a Sociology professor at Berkeley told us that black men had a right to rape white women as recompense for slavery”. (Comment on NY Times Article by Haldor1890)
“Having taught sociology for 3 decades, I can say that this ban does not surprise me. Yes, you may blame Governor DeSantis for a lot of things, but it is time for universities to get their own house in order and for sociology to return to what used to be a proper field of study. This, however, will be very difficult to achieve, today, as postmodernist thought has turned every sociological discussion into a power game.” (JS, Netherlands, 2024)
“As part of the recent viewpoint diversity debates, I was asked which viewpoints are actually missing among sociologists. My serious answer—sociology, and some other disciplines for that matter, would benefit from practicing colleagues who hold and can voice some genuine conservative beliefs as their starting assumptions:
—inequality is not necessarily a problem
—migration restrictions can be justified
—social order is hard to build and worth maintaining
—economic growth is important” (Alexander Kustov, Professor of Political Science. 2026 LinkedIn)
“Sociology is a totally captive, in the pocket of the guilt-ridden, race and class obsessed, multicultural, West-is-worst cabal. The economists at least know that correlation is not causation. There's some rigor left in economics. We can only hope it persists.” (Laura, Philadelphia. 2017)
“Yeah, my biological mother was a Ph.D in Sociology and I remember her bragging about how she was starting a study to prove that the police targeted minorities unfairly. She was upset with me for pointing out that it doesn’t seem like a good way to start a study when you’ve predetermined the results you are going to get”. (Mom of Krills on X)
“My undergraduate degree is in sociology and I graduated almost 40 years ago. The students have changed with respect to their willingness to wrestle with ideas. As a Professor, I find that even if you ASK students to EXPLORE certain ideas or concepts you can easily be labeled a racist homophobe, even if you are black and queer.” (Ruth White, WSJ August 2026)
“If sociologists can understand the hostility against it, it has a chance of being respected. If it can’t it doesn’t deserve respect and it certainly doesn’t deserve government funding.” (tooter4u271 on Youtube)
“My son had a four year free ride scholarship, couldn't decide what he wanted to so, so he got a degree in sociology. To put it bluntly, he turned into a jerk. Pontificating about social issues and belittling his friends and family about how stupid they were. Five years later, after discovering he couldn't get a job lecturing people twice his age, he's back at school getting a degree in Electrical Engineering. He just got an internship developing missile guidance systems for a defence contractor. Ain't that a hoot!” (Gregory Scott Comment on NY Times Article)
“Americans tend to think sociologists are academics, and their field a social science discipline. To the rest of us they look like members of a strange cult, pretending to study society, but doing so under very restrictive rules. They are not allowed to report on power, money, or social class. Indeed, it seems plausible that their bogus discipline was invented entirely to obscure the exclusion of these topics from American academic study. Their place in academia is made safe, it seems to me, only by the relentless rightwing attacks on sanity and intellect everywhere which make these pallid fantasiasts look legitimate.” (David Lloyd-Jones, Toronto, Comment to NY Times)
“In fact, the left-wing tendencies in Western societies, especially the social forces related to political correctness, gender, and identity recognition, not only affect sociology, but also the entire human knowledge system. However, among the several disciplines related to human nature, sociology is the one that has been most deeply infiltrated. You can still see that out of the four full-time editors of the top theory journals in sociology, three are researching gender, lgbt, issues. I dont think this is normal”. (Jingxi Zhang, Masters Student, China)
“Sociology is used as a partisan weapon as opposed to seeking truth. Most of what we read in the media and from sociologists are half truths at best. Which means….they are non-truths. But people buy them anyway, as seen by the anger and division. My daughter took a sociology class in college several years ago. One of the things taught and tested on was marriage. This professor taught that marriage is a passing fad that brings no value to society. This is what kids are taught. Very sad. Luckily, she and many in the class knew better”. (Mike Bull, WSJ August 2026)
“I remember my sociology class vividly. The professor, on day one, claimed to be a Marxist. We watched several Michael Moore movies. The best part was when she brought in a guest speaker who claimed to be a Palestinian refugee. Of course, he'd been in the US for 40 years, he had a PhD in Computer Science, and he probably made mid-six figures given where he was tenured. But he was, by Allah, still a refugee aching to return to a Jew-free Palestine. Best C- I ever got.” (phuckHipsters on Reddit)
“I have a sociology degree. It was fun and interesting. But be aware there are a few of issues that may or may not be what you’re looking for. (1) Your classmates be very majority female. My classes were in the 1990s, and even then they were 80% to 90% female; (2) Your instructors won’t just be all Democrats, they will be progressive through radical left. if you hold opposing views, or are more conservative, you will face lower grades and outright discrimination from classmates and from professors; (3) Any job where you use your degree will likely pay a lot less, similar to other liberal arts majors. This is even more of an issue these days due to state and federal budget cuts and layoffs.” (hillsfar on Reddit)
“I have an MA in a social science — emphasis on the science. Sociology has always been more theoretical and less empirical than the other socials sciences, and since “critical theory” invaded sociological thought, the discipline has become a joke”. (Letter to NY Times, January 2024)
“Sociology sounds like psychology, but worse. Maybe a cautionary example for us, especially if (as seems likely) the increasing radicalization of the field (combined with the weak methods) causes a downward spiral where nobody but true believers takes sociology seriously.” (Psychology professor)
“Sociology is a useless course and just serves as employment for green haired pot smoking Marxist idiots. I took a class in 1984 at American University. The class text book actually featured a cartoon image of the American flag as a field of being plowed by a brown slave. It also had a picture of a fat, white man in a three piece suit smoking a cigar while sitting on the back of a sad looking white woman. The class was taught by a very ungrateful, short Iranian woman whose family fled Iran (note the date, 1984. This was right after the Shah was deposed) and she made the class USA hating 101. It was a real dumpster fire. From what I hear, nothing has changed since.” (Westsidejeff on Reddit)
“I’m an associate professor at a state research university. It’s true that social sciences like sociology and anything ending in ‘studies’ have become more about activism than scholarship.” (Comment on NY Times Article from ‘Tree’)
“All sociology papers are pablum. Unrepeatable pablum using bad statistics. Yes, I've read them for my M.Ed. As an engineer, who understands math and statistics, I was amazed at the gymnastics they performed with numbers to arrive at their conclusions. The only rigorous studies are admonished as politically incorrect, and the authors are forced to apologize. Example? A scientific study showed that the LGBTQI expressions of teenage girls came in clusters, like anorexia before it. That LGBTQI expressions might be a sort of herd mentality. The authors were forced to apologize for their transgressions. Ahem. Sociology is also an easy major. It might attract... sociologists” (User TexicanPilotTeacher)
“I will absolutely die on the hill that academia is significantly left-leaning, and sociology in particular is quite left. I generally identify as a Democrat and was regularly informed I was a fascist because my colleagues were socialist, Marxist, or left leaning anarchists. Someone tried to have me thrown out of the program because I suggested that there were fundamental differences between the sexes.” (MountEndurance on Reddit)
“Berkeley sociologists (like so many profs at our most upscale institutions) are a moral priesthood disguised as scholars and are not pursuing truth and facts but are trying to battle evil and save souls. They are moral entrepreneurs in the American lineage, tent preachers and televangelists for our progressive aristocracy and their children, the 700 Club produced by NPR. There's no point debating them because priests don't debate their sacred beliefs”. (clever pseudonym on Substack, 2026)
“I took sociology as an undergraduate. It was utterly worthless course and had no redeeming value. The world would be just fine if the discipline disappeared.” (Letter to NY Times from J Scott in Houston, 2024)
“The field of sociology is presently dominated by despicable ideologues.” (Ph.D educator)
“American Sociological Association: 1) white male heterosexuals are bad; 2) Capitalism is bad; 3)The Western tradition is bad; 4) All cultures but the Western tradition deserve respect; 5) The Soviet body count was not real communism; 6) A department can be diverse with zero registered Republicans or evangelical Christians; 7) Joe McCarthy was much worse than Stalin; 8) Angela Davis has the values all sociology departments want to have” (stevebartin on X. 2026)
“My current Research Assistant did graduate work in Sociology and then quit because he realized it was impossible to do serious research in that field and came to law school” (Professor of Law)
“Problems with sociology include: (1) Lack of scientific rigor making it too subjective and interpretive; (2) Overemphasis on theories that aren’t susceptible to provability through studies; (3) Intellectual bias: scholars prioritize their own (or the institution’s) perspectives or values over objective analysis - leading to skewed findings or conclusions that favor confirmation of beliefs; (4) Self-Aggrandizement and reaction to criticism - the sociology community often exhibits a heightened sense of self-importance and predilection towards posturing as some ‘David’ against the ‘Goliath’ of various institutional systems. There is a distinct sensitivity to the aforementioned critiques that is somewhat unique to sociology when compared to other social science disciplines like psychology or anthropology.” (User DNA98PercentChimp on Reddit)
“Being in it's nature a left leaning science, sociology in public nowadays is mainly communicated by radical leftists in a very normative manner. They are very loud and push their opinions in people's faces whenever they can. Actually these people are not left at all as they tend to shame everyone disagreeing with their opinions, which is actually more a fascist facet. Anyway, the claims those actually very privileged people make, like microaggressions or subjective gender identities, are so far away from the day to day realities of the simple man, that they are not taken seriously anymore.” (User KamelLoeweKind on Reddit)
“Well, you sociologists are drowning in ideology. You don't care about the reality about society. You only care about proving yourselves right. Since there is no falsification mechanism that you came up with, all you guys do is jerk each other off. If you want to be taken seriously and contribute to the society, try to move the field into a more scientific direction.” (User Tricky-Lingonberry-5 on Reddit)
“Sociology consists of nothing but ‘pseudo intellectual constructions’! It has contributed absolutely nothing of value to our understanding of the real world.” (User RedGlasses comment on Jerusalem Post)
“As neo-Marxist and behaviorist theories of the tabula rasa human gained ground over the next decade, other disciplines followed anthropology's lead. So completely was sociology purged of biology that when Nicholas Petryszak analyzed twenty-four introductory sociology textbooks in 1979, he found that all assumed that "any consideration of biological factors believed to be innate to the human species is completely irrelevant in understanding the nature of human behavior and society." In general, by the seventies, antibiologism had become the rallying cry of academic liberals and feminists -- and the apparent defense of human freedom against the iron chains of nature.” (Barbara Ehrenreich, author and political activist, 1997)
“Seems like, more so than any other field I’ve encountered, sociology represents a very small range of political and social ideology. It’s to the extent that, when someone tells you they studied sociology, you can immediately fill in the gaps about what their political, economic, and social beliefs are.” (nordic_prophet on Reddit, 2025)
“I have a Masters in Sociology, earned in the late 1990s... When I have looked at PhD programs in the years since, the research of the faculty has gotten more and more flaky. Ultimately I don't need it for what I do and it's become a game of weirdness and negativity.” (CindyLynn on X. 2026)
“I work in higher education, and no longer trust the work of sociologists (or anyone in ‘the studies’) as much of it is simply aimed at confirming what they already think. Whether or not I’m right to distrust their work is beside the point - they have lost their ability to persuade me and millions of others, even if they’re right.” (Swazi, NY Times August 2026)
They go on and on about the merits of ‘diversity’, yet they shun the most important type which is diversity of thought. I sympathize with folks that say it’s a useless major because it sadly is. Every study concludes with “the government needs to do more….. blank.” You name it. That’s not creating anything. They also like to skirt the issue that research shows the breakdown of the family and single motherhood is responsible for so many societal problems. The fact that a queer studies or feminist theory major even exist is a complete joke. Cultural relativism is a cancer on our society. Some cultures are indeed better. I can think of one… you know the one that has like natural rights, liberty, free speech, etc.” (Anonymous response to ‘Is sociology leftist propaganda masquerading as science?’ on Quora)
“The issue is that the sociologist perspective is contagious. People who go to college for a degree in sociology are the type that see a lot of problems with the world and likely view them as societal. They're also the type to want the government to step in and fix them. This means that already sociology classes are filled with more left wing people. Even if you don't go in as left wing your left wing instructor and classmates will drastically shift your views by providing information that supports their views and limiting information that detracts, meaning they act as a sort of unintentional collective brainwashing tool by simply repeating information that confirms their beliefs more than information that invalidates it. Add onto the fact that many sociologists ignore things like meritocracy and take the view that different groups should achieve the same outcomes and it's easy to see how their science can be easily corrupted. They ignore differences in races, they ignore differences in culture, and they ignore differences in gender. Because they study society they ultimately end up overattributing issues to society, because it's simply what they focus on.” (Reddit user Suicidemeteor)
“The problem is Sociology. Theories are usually opinion or based on a certain world view. There is no consideration given to opposing views or theories in the teaching of sociology. Therefore it becomes propaganda.” (PQuinn572 on Youtube)
“I literally LOL'd at this line: ‘If one asks what the dominant conclusions of a given subfield are, the answer is almost always that the phenomenon in question is socially constructed, shaped by power relations, and maintained through inequality.’ 10000% my experience in graduate school (PhD in Sociology, minor in Women's Studies). Fortunately I didn't pursue an academic career, or I don't know how I'd deal with the institutional pressures to completely ignore biology, psychology, etc. It took me YEARS to recognize the institutional bias, and now I'm beyond grateful I took a different path.” (Sarah M comment on Substack, 2025)
“Sociology as a field is so overrun with activists and ideologues, and so politically homogenous, that the conclusions can't be trusted, because one of the fundamental principles of science is undermined. There is so much ideological homogeneity in the field that its conclusions aren't actually subject to bias correcting processes that other more diverse sciences are subject to, and its results likely simple reflect the perceptual and attentional biases of the researchers. Psychology is bad enough in terms of homogeneity, but sociology is even worse. It is completely corrupted by activists and their shoddy research.” (Brundybg on Reddit)
“Sociology is overrated. It's mostly wishful thinking and ideological explanations. Most if not all their studies fail the reproduction test. I haven't heard of any sound theory coming from sociology so far. It's all just pseudo intellectual gibberish without any substance.” (User R_4_13_i_D on Reddit)
“The sociology and adjacent fields are fertile grounds for DEI morons spewing out stupid word salad and ideologies to appear intelligent. They add negative value to society as a whole.” (BRichard on X. 2026)
“My main point (as an outsider): looking at intro sociology texts, and popular sociology writings, etc, there doesn't appear to be any knowledge-production in sociology (and not even any methodological commitment to knowledge production). I've got three bookshelves of math books in my office that will still be useful in 100 years. If sociologists are producing similar books I haven't seen one yet. That says *something* about the discipline. It's not enough to say, "sociology is harder than physics". Even if it is, it doesn't justify the knowledge-free CLEP test, and the junky textbooks. You still need to look like you *care* about knowledge. Something can indeed be really hard - then the contributions will be modest. That's OK. But you need to be honest." (Professor of Mathematics, Contributed 2025)
“I was a sociology major in college back in the 80s. Even then it was 100% steeped in socialism and Marxist thinking. I had an entire semester called ‘Inequality’. Coming from a staunchly capitalist family background, I veered temporarily into the mindset that the rich were bad and the poor were simply oppressed and redistribution was the way to make life fair… and I did buy into my commie professor’s rhetoric for a brief time…I really regret the entire waste of my undergraduate years getting a sociology bachelor’s. And this was before it was a full blow social justice, DEI activist major. It should be removed from all colleges IMO. It is not a worthwhile course of study”. (Elizabeth Christison, WSJ August 2026)
“I got a BA in Sociology nearly 40 years ago. There existed a more conservative theory then (structural functionalism). I went back to Uni 20 years ago and they laughed when I asked if SF still existed. They even have a Social Justice department, so it’s all Critical Theory all the time”. (joan of snarc on X, 2024)
“Sociology, like most of academia, is left-wing biased. Most of the issues liberals now champion came out of sociology, like the obsession with intersectionality, Marxism, etc. Many are not capable of independent thought and critical thinking, so they don't allow or consider other views. For example, even though the predominant view in America is that biological males should not play in women's sports, academia will try to make you think that is the fringe view even though theirs in the fringe view that happens to be in an echo-chamber. Marxism and racism are all the instructors can think about in the obsession over intersectionality. I quit the American Sociological Association because all of the content was about that stuff when there is so much more to explore in sociology. It is sad. For example, I was interested in the projects they offered for those teaching sociology to use, and all of them were about racism.” (JimPiersall on Reddit)
“In some niche areas sociology can contribute some good things. But its been taken over by a bunch of liberal narcissists who see only what they want to see” (Certain-Highway-1618 on Reddit)
“Sociology as practiced today is not science but ideology. There is one major strand of thought in sociology that could and should rightly be described as science - the systems theory of the late German professor Niklas Luhmann - but that strand is denounced and ignored by the majority of sociologists who think Hegelian dialectics and the sleight of pen scribblings of Michel Foucault are the true basis of sociological thought” (Stephen Schecter, Professor of Sociology)
“Sociology should be like Chiropractor’s are to doctors.” (BaphometC666 on Youtube 2026)
“What really sucks is that we actually need smart sociologists to help us understand the world - by which I mean people with an open mind who know how to really pay attention to human behavior on the qualitative and quantitative level, and then craft plausible explanatory models for what they observe. But the departments of sociology are really not producing that kind of analysis, even though there is no dearth of interesting social phenomena to analyze. They're just worried about impressing one another, and about signing on to political causes, not about helping the rest of us understand the world we're in.” (davidhoracek6758 on Youtube 2026)
“Don’t bother with sociology. It’s too trivial to waste your time on and offers nothing substantial. If you really want to make a difference, study psychology, moral philosophy or evolutionary biology.” (Gaara112 on Reddit, 2025)
“This article suggests that sociology had some value in the 70s. It was nonsense back then. Had no predictive power and attracted the narcissistic types who pontificated about worldly ideas to make themselves appear smart. They were the first version agitators without solutions…Let’s get on with the liquidation of sociology as a legitimate course of study.” (Tom Buchanan, WSJ 2026)
“Sociology and other social sciences are circle jerk nonsense fields that just cite each other constantly to pretend they have any relevance, when in reality they don't bring any true knowledge to the table or increase our understanding of the world in any meaningful way. And it isn't just sociology. It is nearly all social sciences, as well as psychology and similar fields. Just about all of these "academic" fields have been going through a decades long replication crisis, so you can't take any of their papers/conclusions you read today at face value... you have to take them all with a grain of salt (and even be outright skeptical of them), especially ones attempting to drive agendas, influence political policy or piggy back on contemporary issues”. (iamverycontroversey on Reddit)
“This started in the ‘80s. Sociology gave too much bias on Marxism and not enough of Functionalism the two opposing perspectives. We never learned enough about the benefits of good Capitalism, competition improving technology, job creation. Instead the Capitalists were painted as greedy, parasitic.. my teacher was clearly Marxist. Now replace ‘Capitalists’ with ‘Billionaires’ as it’s dumbed down.” (JulianHaynes artofavalon on X. 2026)
“Lmao ffs man. Sociologists are leading us to hell. When I was at Oxford, I started off loving sociology. Intellectualized victimhood complexes leading us nowhere” (Crashout Cammy on X)
“I took a sociology course in the late 80s and was really surprised and disappointed. To me it seemed almost like a sham. I struggled to discern any knowledge or coherent principles, and don’t recall learning anything (except not to take another sociology course)” (Matthew Zobian, WSJ 2026)
“It is literally one of the easiest Masters programs available in the U.S. Sociology is the laughing stock of the social sciences. Even my liberal professors made a hella lotta fun outta the field” (MrDave09 on X)
“Advocacy scholarship is an oxymoron. The advocacy approach starts with the conclusion you want and then sets up research in the hope of confirming it. Though the approach is fairly common in sociology, it exists throughout the social sciences and humanities… Scholars should be willing to have their minds (i.e. their conclusions) changed by the research they do, if that’s where a proper analysis of the evidence leads.” (David. NY Times August 2026)
“When I was an undergrad in the 60s Sociology was the “gut” course akin to basket weaving if you needed a GPA boost. those who washed out of more rigorous programs were counseled to switch their major to Soc.” (Pamsong1951 on X. 2026)
“Sociology is a science the way a hunk of driftwood is a boat. Sociologists are the dumbest people on the planet”. (LucarioBarbosa on X 2026)
“Every sociology professor - except perhaps 1% - ascribes to conflict theory and Marxist sociology. The methodology and conclusions of their studies is often questionable and lacking rigorous parameters. Psychology is much more useful. Intersectionality is the hallmark of American sociology and feminist theory, which is basically a study in who can be the most victimized victim. Yay, victim award!!
“Sociology is the study of how nons don’t have agency and how everything bad in society must be attributed to white people and anything good in society is actually bad because it lends legitimacy to ‘systems of white supremacy’”. (Josiah/SodokuPolit on X. 2026)
“Sociology has become indoctrination. There is zero science in it. It also attracts ideologues who can’t think, hence why it’s DEI filled.” (Longtallhel23 on X. 2026)
“I love sociology but was very bothered in college by professors immediately taking offense to or defending cultural practices in modern times that clearly harm people, especially women and children if the said culture wasn’t white. Examples: female genital mutilation and child marriage”. (Sarah. NY Times. August 2026)
“From what I have read about today's sociologists, they only focus on injustices and social issues, that too working back from a fixed conclusion. The conclusion is that an XYZ group is oppressed and the ABC group is the oppressor and that's all there is to how society functions. The only way XYZ gets ahead is if ABC gives up something of value. I see this template in their work again and again.” (Latter-Energy1539 on Reddit)
“Sociology has decoupled from social science, leaving it adrift in theory that no longer bears responsibility to synch with objective reality.” (Adam Goldman @Adam0473585388 on X, 2026)
“I remember taking intro sociology in university out of curiosity. Probably the most dogmatic anti-intellectual and ridiculous course I encountered” (Matthew Butcher MD on X. 2026)
“Is it possible to damage the field of sociology - hasn't it always been considered one of the most worthless degrees to obtain. Academics try to dress it up by applying statistics - but you can achieve any result you want from statistical analysis - it isn't about truth or facts - its about bias and agendas.” (CaptainFog on Youtube 2026)
“Your degree in sociology should be kept next to teh Charmin wipes.” (Dick Stancher, WSJ 2026)
“I think it's true that sociology should be brought back to being a hard science rather than a leftist groupthink discipline that is about personal experiences. I've thought about pursuing a PhD in sociology but I don't know if it would be worth it because of all of the ideology that is now involved. I am one of those who was part of the ASA and departed due to all of the materials being about intersectionality. I agree that sociology is not likely to change. Most of the hard research that regards sociology will probably be done in the psychology field under the purview of social psychology.” (High School sociology teacher JimPiersall on Reddit)
“The field of sociology has become all about groupthink and obfuscation. Every thinking person can recognize the authoritarianism of the right, but far too many have blinders when it comes to recognizing the authoritarianism of the left, and the field of sociology has played a large part in that deception”. (Friend of LC, NY Times. August 2026)
As one who got a sociology PhD in the 1990s from Brandeis, I think the main problem is the movement away from quantitative methods. This was accelerated by hiring practices starting in 1990 that furthered the feminist agenda of rapid change in the professoriate from mostly male to mostly female. Women preferred qualitative/descriptive methods. The postmodern turn furthered the move against discovering "what is" to "discovering hidden power that is keeping society unequal." Most sociology seems to be "activist" oriented with a "power/victim" matrix which doesn't really educate rather agitate. (schafterfinancial3536 on Youtube)
“Sociologists themselves don't care about the science, they care about the message. They have already decided what they want to ‘prove’ and then use the least effort to make their point.” (DarthChrisB on Youtube 2025)
“The ASA’s president described sociology to its members as a ‘form of liberatory praxis’ that is ‘currently undergoing a renaissance as antiracist, decolonial, feminist, queer and transnational theorizing leading us to more inclusive insights’. None of that sounds like science, rather more like Marxist faculty lounge poopy talk jibberish. There’s a great need for sociology as an actual truth-seeking science. Plenty of legitimate questions that need answers. That appears to be entirely absent today. Hats off to Florida for pulling the plug." (Raymond Baker, WSJ 2026)
“As a left of center ‘Moderate liberal (who apparently) functions as the effective right-most boundary of acceptable views.’ let me say that I am thorougly sick of the authoritarian left. In particular - I am explicitly calling them out for enabling Trump, ICE and right wing authoritarianism. Without them Trump could not have won either election. In Sociology, similar to Social Psychology, roughly 70% of what is believed to be true is not based on evidence at all. It will not replicate. It is a belief system akin to Creationism or Flat Earthers. The Trumpers and those right of center know where you are pushing narratives not supported by fact. This enables them to smuggle their own false narratives down the throat of the public. Let me be clear that the 30% of modern Sociology that is likely to be true is important but it should not allow ridiculous social constructivist claims to be given creedence despite all evidence to the contrary. If you do not want Vance to be the next president then come down off the woke high horse and embrace reality shared by independent thinkers.” (Edgy Ideas comment on Substack. 2025)
“When will American sociology begin to admit, study, research and tackle the massive problem of Structural Misandry?? When can we start to discuss one of the worst forms of authoritarianism today, which is Feminist Authoritarianism?” (burtonlee22 on Youtube. 2026)
“The worst class many take as a general education requirement in college is sociology. I don’t think this is because studying structures and functions in society and how they shape groups or individuals is inherently wrong. Excessive emphasis is on too few perspectives due to agendas.” (Dissident Cartoonist on X, 2025)
“Most of modern sociology ignores biology and assumes everyone is the same and everything is determined by environment and that’s just not true.” (Rick_meister4 on Reddit)
“I'm not surprised that Sociology is now just another grievance study. It wasn't that bad when I was in school. I preferred Anthropology because it relied on ethnography. Whereas I felt like sociologists were just armchair theoreticians making up stuff.” (Preppy_Hippie on Reddit)
“I chose sociology as the 2nd in my double major bc it was so outrageously easy in fact, the higher up it went, the easier it got.... for example my 400-level classes were a total joke wheres the remedial 1's & 2's were just regular easy for college.” (KillaHills07726 on X. 2026)
“Mainstream sociology often reads like institutionalized left theology. I’m a political scientist; in my circles that gets filed as activism rather than analysis. Too many sociologists are thin on philosophy - and political philosophy has been wrestling with these questions for centuries”. (lelytec on Reddit, 2025)
“Perhaps the real research which should be conducted is on the culture, or perhaps cultural pathology would be a more accurate term, of academic sociologists. We have here in America so much wealth and abundance that we can finance hordes of academic sociologists to go out--undoubtedly with grant money-- and strew envelopes on the ground to see what cultural values obtain in various different neighborhoods. What a great country this is!” (Mark B. Packer, Comment to NY Times)
“Sociology and Scientology are related disciplines. You need to be particularly gullible and have a cultish regard for nonsense that's packaged nicely as the unambiguous truth”. (connoroleary591 on Youtube 2026)
“It is stupid to fit sociology to the quantitative scientific model. I would think that sociology that pretends to be a quantitative science is most likely worthless. It is naturally a humanity, like history or cultural anthropology.” (Paul Easton, Brooklyn, Comment to NY Times)
“Sociology is a weird field, in my country many people believe it's a leftist ideology and not a science, and many others think it's bullshit to earn easy credits”. (scholarsandquestions on Reddit, 2025)
“Sociology is a study. As the suffix ‘ogy’ indicates, it is a science. Any science deals with neutral hard fact-based logic and leaves behind personal beliefs and ideals. It’s a shame to say that my own personal interactions with so-called sociology enthusiasts and followers haven’t been like that. Most of my queries and questions were met with people, who had their own beliefs, who descided it would be a good idea to implant those beliefs in me. Where is the neutrality? Many of my interactions in such communities were largely met with the same type of responses. Even if the subject itself isn’t all bad, the people who follow and ‘study’ it have disappointed me.” (Lonely_Yam_2793 on Reddit)
“I studied sociology at university. Most of it was simple common sense and a load of idealistic nonsense. Never implemented any of the concepts to improve lives.” (Eleniya4563cheryl on Youtube 2026)
“My only problem with getting a sociology degree is that it's utterly useless under capitalism because the science conflicts heavily with the interests of capital. The logical conclusions we can demonstrate from decades of social science research across disciplines strongly suggests that class conflict is at the root of 90%+ of societal problems. This isn't "class reductionism" it's systemic causality. The irony is, I studied sociology to understand my own alienation, but in so doing, I became even more alienated than I was already. Taking the red pill doesn't result in you becoming Neo. You simply become forever stranded in "the desert of the real." (oldassnastymask on Reddit, 2025)
“Hear me out here, the profession has been taken over by liberal zealots. I took sociology in college and it was ¾th drivel” (Sara-Jezebel Squadront on X. 2026)
“Sociology is not a real science because it does not have universal consistency. People and society are too unpredictable to study, document, and infer based on past data. A person or group of individuals could act one way for one reason, and another can act the same way for another reason. Humans are so complex that it is pointless to try understand/infer because results and inferences have no meaning. Finally, sociology is useless as it has no real life applications. I've never heard of sociology ever contributing to any societal changes”. (user on Reddit 2025)
“I’m going back to school to do something useful. This major was the dumbest mistake I made in my adulthood in regards to education and career.” (pumkinlattepenelope on Reddit)
“Sociology is the study of people who don’t need to be studied by people who do.” (Giddens and Pierson ‘Conversations with Anthony Giddens’. 1998)
“If you are a good economist, the virtuous economist, you are reborn as a physicist. But if you are an evil, wicked economist, you are reborn as a sociologist.” (Professor of Economics Jagdish Bhagwati)