This exercise in reflexive sociology consists of a comparative analysis of the standard verbiage of Introduction to Sociology and Sociology of Race/Ethnicity textbooks on the subject of American slavery. We interrogate whether narratives about slavery in sociology textbooks present the system as a peculiar Southern institution, or as a cross-regional institution that includes the Northern colonies. The study found that a majority of the Introductory books present the system as Southern. The majority of the Race/Ethnicity books prominently feature Southern slavery, yet some are more likely to detail Northern slavery and the broader Atlantic World context. Given that the field of sociology is a key carrier of collective-memory institutionalization in its role as a remembrance environment, we argue that it has the potential to impact historical revisionist understandings of American history in public collective memory. Such revisions carry implications for transregional responsibility for racial injustices.

自反社会学的这项练习包括对《美国奴隶制》的《社会学概论》和《种族/民族社会学》教科书的标准用法进行比较分析。我们质疑社会学教科书中有关奴隶制的叙述是将该制度描述为独特的南方制度，还是包含北方殖民地的跨地区制度。研究发现，大多数入门书籍都将该系统表示为Southern。种族/族裔书籍中的大多数突出显示了南方奴隶制，但有些书籍更可能详述北方奴隶制和更广阔的大西洋世界背景。鉴于社会学领域是集体记忆制度化的重要载体，因此它具有纪念作用，我们认为，它有可能影响公共集体记忆中历史修正主义对美国历史的理解。这种修订对跨区域种族不公正责任产生了影响。