American sociologist C. Wright Mills (1916 – 1962), 1960. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)
I entered school in my late thirties with the intention to follow my passion professionally. After years of activism, reading and writing on gonzo times I figured I would try to pursue an education so my writing and research would be more professional. My main focus is sociology with intent to teach, study and research sociology. My goal is to pursue sociology from an explicitly anarchist perspective. C. Wright Mills wrote of having a sociological imagination. In the book Anarchy in Society: Reflections on an anarchist sociology they propose an ‘anarchist imagination’ and the search for an anarchist sociology. I assert that an anarchist sociology does exist and that we need to pursue what is out there and expand on this.
The problem with anarchism and sociology is the direct conflict they two have. Anarchism was created from the people. It emerged from workers movements and from the streets. Sociology was developed in institutions of higher learning. Institutions that are structured in a very hierarchal fashion. Schools are institutions of stratification. Not only does a hierarchy exist within the academic structure starting at the top with a president and working its way down a chain of command type structure, but they also rely heavily on capitalism. The university I am attending has a business school. It seems to be the main focus of the university. Wealthy kids from wealthy homes go to get economic and business degrees so they can join their parents as the power elite. They will leave the school and become capitalists and technocrats. This also leads to the money tied into the school from the business school. With a university dependent on capitalism as the lifeblood and support how then can a university truly challenge the stratification of class and capitalism? The sociologists must fit within this stratified structure and will be limited on how much it can challenge the capitalist system. For this reason an anarchist sociology will be difficult to advance in most major universities.
Credentialism is the stratification that exists within the realm of education. In society people who have specific degrees and credentials will be able to have opportunities that those who have no access or way to access education will ever be able to achieve. It separates out those who are not as privileged from the beginning from gaining privilege. Education itself is full of stratification. Classes on ‘multiculturalism’ are taught as window dressing. They have no intent to radically change the systems of stratification, simply to acknowledge some groups believing that this will appease the need to empower those people. Studies on Black History or Latinos occur in predominantly white upper class classes and tend to overlook radical revolutionary change. The structure of government and capitalism are rarely questioned. Why would they be? These schools are training a new generation of power elite to join in these institutions of hierarchy.
In moving forward with the concept of an ‘anarchist sociology’ one must be careful in the universities for these reasons. An anarchist sociology does exist and has existed on a street level. I like to call it a guerrilla sociology or guerrilla academics. Anarchists are notorious for reading and educating one another. Much of what I would go on to be taught in basic sociology classes I had already known rather well because of what I was taught in anarchist circles. So, an anarchist sociology must not limit itself to the universities. Universities tend to publish material with intellectual property rights in expensive peer reviewed journals. Universities require money to attend these classes. The anarchist sociology must be taught and furthered without this hierarchal restriction. Universities are notorious for academics studying people groups and movements from the outside. They divorce themselves from the movements. Wealthy people look down on the proles and lower classes from universities. They are not an active part of organizing for and with the people. Often the organization and involvement they have are minimal at best and work within the system. They seldom challenge the system to the point of absolute restructuring especially restructuring in an anarchist manner. Now, let us be clear about the reality of the role of anarchism. A few places have manages to structure in a libertarian socialist manner, and they have been few and far between. Anarchism has a larger history of making changes in existing systems of governments and regimes from outside of the system and by participating in other movements. Much of what an anarchist sociology will do is contribute in this latter way. Ideally we will have more impact, but let us take this as our basis of change that will realistically occur. An anarchist sociology will stand outside of institutionalized sociology. It will challenge the existing education power structure. Education is vital to the future of anarchism. Part of this is educating those who do not have access to a stratified education system. As anarchists we should be looking at ways to bring education to the people.
On this search for an anarchist sociology and developing the ‘anarchist imagination’ as a distinct concept we must be looking outside of the concept of anarchism. Anarchism as a school of theories and the anarchist imagination should be a tool that we view other issues through. So, in any discipline this anarchist imagination must be expanded on. The goal is to take issues and different studies and approach them with the anarchist imagination. To see the problems inherent in all forms of stratified systems and begin to offer alternatives is the goal. We approach the problems we face in society globally and work towards anarchist solutions despite the existing within the systems of hierarchy that exist.
I will be building on this framework and expanding on it using it to approach a great deal more.