Specialization or fragmentation of sociology: Scientific, academic, and professional challenges

Sociology, as a science, is at a time of increasing specialization to such an extent that it allows the issue of the possibility of its fragmentation, calling into question its established knowledge heritage, the resulting understanding of social phenomena, and the conditioning of professional relationships of sociology with society. This article aims to contribute to the reflection on this topic, putting forward the authors’ stance and focusing on some of the sociology foundations and potential consequences. To attain this goal, the article analyses the relationship between sociology and specialized sociologies, addressing the challenges faced by the scientific, academic and professional components of sociology. Maintaining a sociological core seems critical for two main different reasons: i) it allows strengthening sociological identity, inside and outside this scientific field; and ii) sociology can offer a very relevant contribution to a greater and better social knowledge, through the mobilization of an increasingly grounded sociological theoretical core corpus.