Public sociology

Public sociology is a subfield of the wider sociological discipline that emphasizes expanding the disciplinary boundaries of sociology in order to engage with non-academic audiences. It is perhaps best understood as a style of sociology rather than a particular method, theory, or set of political values. Since the twenty-first century, the term has been widely associated with University of California, Berkeley sociologist Michael Burawoy, who delivered an impassioned call for a disciplinary embrace of public sociology in his 2004 American Sociological Association (ASA) presidential address.^[1] In his address, Burawoy contrasts public sociology with what he terms "professional sociology", a form of sociology that is concerned primarily with addressing other academic sociologists.

Burawoy and other advocates of public sociology encourage the discipline to engage with issues that are of significant public and political concern. These include debates over public policy, political activism, the purposes of social movements, and the institutions of civil society. If public sociology is considered to be a "movement" within the discipline, it is one that aims to revitalize the discipline of sociology by leveraging its empirical methods and theoretical insights to contribute to debates not just about what is or what has been in society, but about what society might yet be. Thus, many versions of public sociology have had an undeniably normative^[2] and political^[3] character—a fact that has led a significant number of sociologists to oppose the approach.^[4]

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^ Hanemaayer, A., & Schneider, C.J. (eds) (2014). The Public Sociology Debate: Ethics and Engagement Archived 2015-02-02 at the Wayback Machine." Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia Press
^ Piven, Francis Fox (2007). "From Public Sociology to Politicized Sociologist". Public Sociology: Fifteen Eminent Sociologists Debate Politics and the Profession in the Twenty-first Century. University of California Press. pp. 158–168.
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[2] Hanemaayer, A., & Schneider, C.J. (eds) (2014). The Public Sociology Debate: Ethics and Engagement Archived 2015-02-02 at the Wayback Machine." Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia Press

[3] Piven, Francis Fox (2007). "From Public Sociology to Politicized Sociologist". Public Sociology: Fifteen Eminent Sociologists Debate Politics and the Profession in the Twenty-first Century. University of California Press. pp. 158–168.

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