From the Journal of Historical Sociology to Sociology Lens: An Editorial

The Journal of Historical Sociology (JHS) was founded in 1988 by Derek Sayer and Philip Corrigan. It was founded on the ideas explored by Philip Abrams in his “Notes on the Difficulty of Studying the State (1977)”,1 the conviction that history and sociology shared a common purpose, and “because of their fundamental preconceptions, history and sociology are and always have been the same thing”.2 The journal took its cue from the study of state formation by directing the focus away from political economy to cultural history and cultural studies, and took as a signpost, The Great Arch (1985) authored by Philip Corrigan and Derek Sayer.3 Some considered the journal's intellectual legacy to be found in the French Annales School with its focus on the historical mundane as informing and engaging with the larger structures of society. Many of the early articles published emerged out of the Discussion Group on the State (DGOS) held at St Peters, Oxford, a once annual gathering of mostly historians, sociologists and anthropologists from both sides of the pond.4 DGOS was a well-spring of ideas that led to influential workshops in the US organized by anthropologists who connected with the study of the everyday life of state formation.5 It was not historical sociology in the way as normally understood in the US; the JHS pursued a different (though related) focus that diverged from the scholarship of Perry Anderson, Theda Skocpol or Michael Mann. The historical sociology of the JHS took its microscopic lens to everyday practices and topics while in conversation with the macrostructures of society, nation and the world. The journal also welcomed theoretical arguments – and ideas – and often it was an in-house joke that it was a journal for papers that could not find a home or irascible medievalists. Disciplines do change and evolve as do academic spaces and discourses – and the objectives that the JHS began with 35 years ago are more urgently present than ever in the disciplines of history and the social sciences today. There is now greater trans- and inter-disciplinary engagement, and contemporary academia has flourished particularly through the intellectual contributions of Post-Colonial Studies, Critical Race Studies, Feminist Studies, Queer Studies, Disability Studies, and Affect studies (and much more). Methods such as auto-ethnography have become more encouraged in the social sciences especially Sociology, Anthropology and Education. The spaces for creative exploration of ideas that were not possible before have opened up especially in engaging with new media and multi-textual digital experimentation. Yet there is so much more to do. Indigenous and Decolonization studies today have shone a powerful light on historical exclusion in the imperial academy. We think of the dominance of published papers from the global north, and to consider the occlusion of scholarship from the rest of the world, and the imperative to address the absence. Through guest editors such as Professor Syed Farid Alatas (NUS), the JHS published sociological writing from the Arab world and Asia, including the history of social sciences from the region.6 We hope to continue with this commitment. As the scholarly environment transforms, so does the publishing industry - and the way academic scholarship is disseminated today, though social media, blogs, online magazines, etc. There are now publishing formats, though challenging, that are also promising such as the online alternative which enables us to embed more digital works that were not possible on print. These web-based options are also more accessible and inclusive eg. audio abstracts. It is with this view of the future that the JHS is pivoting - and changing its name to Sociology Lens. As with any change, there is always cautiousness in any transition but it should not prevent us from taking on new challenges while yet maintaining the focus of history in the broadened scope of Sociology Lens. We take the “Lens” of Sociology Lens as a literal and metaphorical ocular study of society – but with an eye to the historical past and present, and the future in this rapidly changing world. The “Lens” here also directs us to the idea of light and refraction – and dispersion - or as we hope here in the journal, the dispersal and generation of new ideas and methods. We hope to encourage younger and early career scholars to submit, and authors from non-Anglo/Western European institutions. We do not know where this new endeavour will take us, but we hope that Sociology Lens will offer a space – and a platform for more provocative and exciting ideas. Dr Yoke-Sum Wong, Moh'kins'tsis (Calgary, Ab). Data are not available.

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