Introduction to the Special Issue: The Sociology of W. E. B. Du Bois

In the late 1990s an upstart and insurgent push arose in the discipline of sociology to expand the literature on the contributions of William Edward Burghardt (W. E. B.) Du Bois beyond cursory acknowledgments of his 1899 book Philadelphia Negro and his theories including “double consciousness” and the talented tenth. This new season of scholarship on Du Bois extends beyond these topical areas to provide exhaustive analyses of the momentous role he played in establishing scientific sociology in the United States. Significantly, Du Bois was a primary architect in the development of many empirical methodologies and theories, some of which would...