Center for Social Theory
The purpose of the Center for Social Theory at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville is to support the research and teaching of faculty and graduate students in the College of Arts & Sciences and across the university who are working in the broad area of social and cultural theory. The Center makes available the results of and advances in theoretical and interdisciplinary research to the campus and larger community, provides a forum (including conferences, lectures, panel discussions, presenting work in progress) for active exchange in and across the social sciences and humanities, while also acknowledging developments in the natural and applied sciences. At present, the A&S departments most actively represented are Sociology, English, Philosophy, History, Anthropology, Political Science, and Geography.
Overview
The Center for Social Theory grew out of the Committee on Social Theory that was created in 2012 (under the leadership of Harry F. Dahms, Sociology, and Allen R. Dunn, English/Philosophy) to provide graduate students with the opportunity to pursue and obtain an interdisciplinary graduate social theory certificate at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. The Center continues and institutionalizes the Committee’s activities as they included the organization of conferences (such as the 2014 Conference of the International Social Theory Consortium), lectures by both outside speakers and Committee members, as well as by graduating students fulfilling the capstone requirement of the graduate social theory certificate. The Center for Social Theory provides a context for faculty and students to complement, counterbalance, or compensate for the limitations associated with individual disciplines — with active exchange related to inter-, cross-, multi- or trans-disciplinary perspectives. The Center is fostering and supporting research across the social sciences and humanities, between particular social sciences, or between the humanities, social sciences, and natural/applied sciences, with regard to five thematic complexes:
- American Society
- Governance in the 21st Century
- Technology and Society
- Theorizing the Future
- Theory in/of Film/Television
The Center also currently is preparing the creation of an online journal.
Director
Harry F. Dahms
Professor of Sociology and Director of Center of Social Theory
Harry F. Dahms is Professor of Sociology, director of the Center for Social Theory at the University of Tennessee – Knoxville, as well as editor of Current Perspectives in Social Theory and director of the International Social Theory Consortium. He currently is working on two book manuscripts, “Modern Society as Artifice” (Routledge) and “Beyond Regression.”
Programs
The center is facilitating and managing the interdisciplinary graduate social theory certificate.
The center’s inaugural event took place on April 30 and May 1, 2025 with a featured lecture to the university and a presentation to students and members of the center by Mugambi Jouet (USC Gould School of Law).
The center also will host this year’s annual conference (online) of the International Social Theory Consortium, “REALITY LOST? How to Recapture an Increasingly Elusive World,”June 19-21, 2025.
“The splinter in your eye is the best magnifying glass”
Theodor W. Adorno
Minima Moralia: Reflections from Damaged Life
Scholarship & Initiatives
During summer 2025, the Center will list active members, affiliated members, and external members, as well as graduate students who are currently pursuing the interdisciplinary theory certificate.
During the academic year 2025-26, the Center will organize a conference, to be scheduled in spring 2026 and hosted by the Center.
During the fall semester 2025, a regular schedule of events will begin, with presentations, panel discussions, work-in-progress sessions, etc.
