Constructing the Sociology of Disability: An Analysis of Syllabi

Abstract

The sociology of disability has emerged relatively recently as a subfield in sociology and has seen growing institutionalization within the field, including the establishment of a section in the American Sociological Association. The field, however, is still emerging. There is not yet an American journal dedicated to it or more than a few textbooks. The small set of professors in this field, therefore, experience both the opportunity and the challenge of constructing the essence of the field when they teach. In this study, we draw on 25 syllabi from sociologists teaching the sociology of disability and a broader set of disability courses to examine four elements of the syllabi—course description, learning goals/objectives, course topics, and readings—to assess the presence and content of an emerging core for the discipline. For each element, we analyze the thematic range and level of agreement across syllabi. We find that professors resist relying solely on sociology, instead embracing interdisciplinary scholarship and prioritizing the voices of people with disabilities. Syllabi show little overlap in readings or authors. The highest level of agreement is found among the course descriptions and topics, especially with regard to the sociological perspective and the key concepts of sociology such as social institutions, culture, theory, and inequality.