Books by three individuals who, through their lives and work, implemented educational practices that transformed society are featured in the new list of the 10 most influential books in sociology. This is one of the notable changes in the results of the survey on the most influential sociology books, originally conducted in 1998 in Montreal during the International Sociological Association conference, and replicated at the European Sociological Association conference in 2024 in Porto. Among these books are Twenty Years at Hull House by Jane Addams, Women and Social Transformation by Lidia Puigvert, and The Dialogic Society by Ramón Flecha.
Jane Addams, co-founder of sociology and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is recognized for her social and political impact through her work at Hull House. Together with immigrants from diverse backgrounds arriving in Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods, they initiated educational, cultural, and social projects that significantly improved their lives and communities.
In Women and Social Transformation, co-authored by Lidia Puigvert alongside Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim and Judith Butler, a more inclusive feminism has been championed. Puigvert’s dialogic feminism not only addresses gender violence and the MeToo movement but also highlights the importance of working together with “other women”—those who, for lack of academic qualifications, had been left out of feminist debate spaces.
Furthermore, The Dialogic Society by Ramón Flecha has gained widespread recognition for the social impact of the theory of dialogic society. Flecha argues that knowledge and social transformation emerge through the co-creation and exchange of ideas among people from different backgrounds, without hierarchies based on academic or social status. In the educational sphere, this has led to successful educational actions such as dialogic gatherings and schools as learning communities, where students, teachers, families, and other community members collaborate in a process of school transformation, achieving the greatest improvements in learning, as well as in values, emotions, and feelings.
The sociology of the reproduction model, which denies any possibility that education can transform inequalities, has never improved the results of any school. As The Black Response said back in 1973, it has only served to reduce educational budgets, especially those directed toward the most vulnerable sectors. However, scientific-level sociology, which values contributions from both natural science experts and citizens, provides the insights that education professionals and families need to improve the lives of all people.
