ABSTRACT
It feels clear to me that sociology has a bad name in Britain, but just what sort of a bad name and why is not so obvious. At least my friends in Cambridge are apt to say to me: “You used to be a historian. What did you get into that for?” But when I ask: “Why, what’s the matter with sociology?” the replies tend to trail off: “Well, you know, old boy, it isn’t quite … Well …”; and heads shake. One feels the lack of a phrase, at once comprehensive and precise, like the one sometimes overheard at American cocktail parties: “She isn’t quite our class, dear.”
