The Normative Turn: Back to Hobhouse?

Supporters of a recently announced normative turn in sociology acknowledge that what they recommend is by no means entirely new. However, they have given little attention to an early precursor: the British sociologist Leonard Hobhouse. He focussed on the role of the normative in social life and insisted that sociology could, and must, play an active role in realising progressive values. Furthermore, like some more recent advocates of normative sociology, he insisted on the key role that philosophy plays in grounding the values underpinning it. In fact, he developed an elaborate philosophical system, one which illustrates the challenging requirements that any normative sociology must satisfy, and the problems it faces in doing this. I argue that, despite the encyclopaedic knowledge and extraordinary ingenuity displayed in Hobhouse's work, he fails to provide a sound basis for a normative sociology and that his work raises questions about the likely success of any such project.