Postscript. “Hughesian Sociology” and the Centrality of Occupation

This essay is focused on a text by Everett Cherrington Hughes, Outline for the Sociological Study of an Occupation, first published in "Sociologica" 2/2010. I consider this short text as a strategic statement by Hughes himself (arguably at his best, that is as a teacher and mentor) on the nature of sociology as a knowing enterprise, independently from the object – be it an occupation, a profession or an institution. It is the sociological enterprise as such to be outlined in this outline, beyond any particular social object worth of sociological investigation. If one changes “occupation” with “social object,” then a whole epistemology and methodology comes to light. If one changes “work” with “action,” or better “interaction,” then a whole interactionist methodology emerges, beyond its apparent boundaries set forth by the occupational or even economic system. Starting from this idea, what I offer in this essay is not a close or even a deconstructive or genealogical reading of this text which could make problematic what looks apparent, and apparent what is hidden among the lines. Notwithstanding its importance, that is not my task here. Also moving from the Outline and implicitly grounding my claims on it, I will rather try to outline the main tenets of Hughes’s sociology. On their parts, I hope these tenets will shed light on the Outlines themselves, providing an intellectual context and background and some useful resources to its reading.