ABSTRACT
In 1980, the British Sociological Association celebrated its 30th anniversary. One of the papers published to mark this event was entitled ‘Sociology as a Parasite: Some Vices and Virtues’ (Urry 1981). Urry argued that sociology in the UK was ‘a discourse with minimal organisation, structure or unity’ (Urry 1981: 35). Far from being a vice, however, Urry argued that these features meant that sociology was open to a wide variety of contending social theories. It was therefore a fertile area in which debate and confrontation between different perspectives could take place. To that extent, it was parasitic on developments elsewhere. None the less, through enabling the confrontation of different perspectives, it was able to provide a positive feedback to the areas from which it had drawn the original ideas.
