TRANSFORMING SOCIOLOGY: THE GRADUATE STUDENT.

From the perspective of radical sociologists, there is merit to the proposition that contemporary sociology; theory and methodology alike, is an increasingly important part of the technology of repression in a managed society. There is the corollary proposition that the graduate program is so structured that today's graduate students are destined to become the functionaries who provide the corporate world with the accurate, timely, comprehensible data by which to manage the publics in tomorrow's schools, factories, political parties, markets and churches. From this perspective, central to the transformation of sociology is the transformation of the graduate program. Examining the five major components of contemporary sociology, it appears that graduate students are the most amenable to transformation in as much as they occupy the most marginal and unstructured positions in the profession. At the same time, they are the future of sociology. It is clear that graduate students are also the most vulnerable to repression. The other four components; undergraduate students, professors, research consultants and officers of the various sociology organizations are not likely to act creatively and effectively to transform sociology if past experience is any guide.