Sociology professor explains why Florida cut course requirement: 'Too much about social activism'

As Florida cuts sociology as a core requirement in higher education, one sociologist professor says the discipline has "lost its way" and devolved into "activism."

"I would say in the past 20 years … it's become much more of an activist discipline," Wayne State University professor Jukka Savolainen told Fox News Digital.

"I think this sort of more radical activist, social justice-oriented, whatever that means, has slowly but surely taken over in a lot of areas, especially undergraduate education, and there's a lot of good work being done by more science-minded sociologists," Savolainen, an academic for over 30 years, said.

Savolainen reacted to Florida’s move to cut sociology as a core requirement in the State University System, prompting outrage from parts of the academic community and sociologists.

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The Florida Board of Governors last week approved an amendment to replace Principles of Sociology with the Introductory Survey to 1877 in "core course options."

The Board stated that students will have the opportunity to take a "factual history course that focuses on the forces that shaped America as part of their general education course requirements."

They added that the course teaches a "historically accurate account of America’s founding, the horrors of slavery, the resulting Civil War, and the Reconstruction era."

Savolainen told Fox News Digital that he neither agrees nor disagrees with the move. 

"I merely understand it. I get it," he said. He explained further that a line has been "purposefully blurred" between what is academic research and activism in sociology.

However, the move prompted a backlash from academics, including the American Sociological Association (ASA).

The association told Common Dreams that the move lacked an "evidentiary basis."

"There was no evidentiary basis for making this decision. In fact, the board rejected a proposal from one of the governors to table the vote while relevant data could be gathered," the ASA said. "This decision seems to be coming not from an informed perspective, but rather from a gross misunderstanding of sociology as an illegitimate discipline driven by 'radical' and 'woke' ideology."

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"To the contrary, sociology is the scientific study of social life, social change, and the social causes and consequences of human behavior, which are at the core of civic literacy and are essential to a broad range of careers," the association continued. "Failure to prioritize the scientific study of the causes and consequences of human behavior is a failure of Florida's commitment to providing high-quality civics education and workforce readiness."

Savolainen said that the ASA's backlash against Florida's decision to drop sociology from the core curriculum of general studies stems from the prospect that it would negatively affect their business, as fewer students could be exposed to sociology.

"At the same time, there's a lot of discontent among real-life sociologists who agree with this perspective," Savolainen said. "They don't generally agree with the decision to drop sociology, but they agree with the critical part that sociology has lost its way and become too much about social activism and ideology at the expense of scientific research, integrity, and academic integrity."

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The American Association of University Professors posted on X that the "decision to remove sociology from Florida's core curriculum is a tragic blow to students’ intellectual freedom."

"It will prevent generations of students from being introduced to subject matter that is uniquely suited to address complex challenges," they said.

While Florida was considering cutting sociology as a core general education requirement, Savolainen wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal arguing that he saw the discipline "morph from a scientific study of social reality into academic advocacy for left-wing causes."

His comments bucked the majority of his academic counterparts who were pushing to "Save Sociology." He added that there are other sociology professors who "silently" agree with him.

"I get a lot of silent support from people in sociology, who are grateful. And as recently as yesterday, somebody wanted to remain anonymous," Savolainen said.

Savolainen teaches criminal justice and "Sociology of Sport" at Wayne State University in Detroit.