ABSTRACT
Many sociological specialties, for example, some branches of feminism, exist within postmodernism not along with it. The rise of postmodernism may be said to constitute the most unambiguous evidence of the sociological crisis. Postmodernists have keen awareness of the crisis and sometimes refer to it euphemistically as "the end of sociological theory", to which they offer "the postmodern hope" as a substitute. The irony in the birth of sociology lies in the general rule that the larger a poorly organized empire— intellectual as well as political— the easier are the assaults from the periphery and the greater the danger that the citadel itself will collapse. The passing of the Founders has been accompanied by an ever-shifting variety of sociological orientations, theoretical perspectives, and a plethora of isms whose combined effect has been unbridled confusion, corrosive fragmentation, and a rampant feeling.
