In Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest, Zeynep Tufekci discusses the emergence of curatorial journalism and contrasts its function with that of traditional journalism. From pg 41: Traditional journalism tries to solve a problem of scarcity:… Read More ›
Tag Archive for ‘public sociology’
What does public sociology have to say about sociologists who are ‘merchants of doubt’?
What does public sociology have to say about sociologists who are ‘merchants of doubt’? This is the question I’m slightly obsessing over after discovering that Peter Berger, famous for his work on social construction and the sociology of religion, worked… Read More ›
Public Sociology as Pedagogy, Research and Practice: Threats and Opportunities Today
Public Sociology as Pedagogy, Research and Practice: Threats and Opportunities Today https://www.britsoc.co.uk/events/key-bsa-events/public-sociology-as-pedagogy-research-and-practice-threats-and-opportunities-today/ An Early Career Forum Regional Event 29 June 2017 (10am-4pm) Nottingham Trent University, Department of Sociology, Newton Building, Goldsmith Street, Nottingham This symposium will bring together early career… Read More ›
What does it mean to be a public sociologist in an age of Donald Trump?
From the Public sociology and the role of the researcher: engagement, communication and academic activism postgraduate conference a couple of weeks ago:
Public sociology and the role of the researcher: engagement, communication and academic activism
29 March 2017 De Montfort University, Leicester – FULL DETAILS & PROGRAMME What is the role of the researcher outside the academy? This event invites Postgraduate and Early Career Researchers to innovate and critically reflect on three related areas of… Read More ›
Social Media and Public Sociology
It can seem obvious that there’s some relationship between social media and public sociology. After all, these are platforms which offer free, instantaneous and immediate access to audiences ranging from the tens of millions to the billions. However unpacking the relationship… Read More ›
The pace of critique in a world of accelerating upheaval
There’s a pervasive idea that social critique must be slow, necessitating withdrawl from the world in order to carefully pierce through the veil of appearances. There’s a kernel of truth in this, in so far as that hasty analysis risks… Read More ›
The Practice of Public Sociology
The Practice of Public Sociology Manchester Digital Laboratory November 24th, Manchester, For over a decade public sociology has been a mainstream topic of discussion within the discipline. While practiced prior to the 2004 address by Michael Burawoy to the… Read More ›
CfP: My Day Job: Politics and Pedagogy in Academia
2016 Annual Meeting EASTERN SOCIOLOGICAL SOCIETY CALL FOR PAPERS My Day Job: Politics and Pedagogy in Academia The Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Towers, March 17-20, 2016 The online abstract submission system for the ESS annual meeting is now open… Read More ›
Traditional public sociology vs organic public sociology
Another interesting passage from the Open Letter to C. Wright Mills by Michael Burawoy: But how should we talk to publics? Your modus operandi, I have to tell you this, is to talk down to publics. You place yourself above… Read More ›
The Scholastic Fallacy of C. Wright Mills
In a fascinating paper from 2008, Michael Burawoy wrote an Open Letter to C. Wright Mills. You can read it online here but I wanted to share this insightful passage which stood out to me: But recognizing the link between… Read More ›
A conversation with Lisa Mckenzie about sociology, activism and sociological activism
I recorded this interview with Lisa Mckenzie last month, a few weeks before the general election in which she was standing as a challenger to Iain Duncan Smith in Chingford. We cover a lot of ground in the discussion but… Read More ›
Engaging with communities workshop
ENGAGING WITH COMMUNITIES WORKSHOP, LONDON Wednesday, May 20th, 10:30am to 3:30pm We have launched a brand new workshop aimed at academics wanting to, or already working with community based organisations and groups. The workshop will provide you with an… Read More ›
The Future of Social Critique – Collaborative Seminar, at Loughborough University on 2 June 2015
This Day event will take place in the James France Building, room CC021, from 10.30-4.30pm – 2 June 2015, and will focus on the Future of Social Critique. The event was organised to celebrate the careers of two renowned colleagues… Read More ›
19 interesting ways to communicate knowledge
Through Design Fiction (e.g. Zero Hours) Through Social Fiction (e.g. Low Fat Love) Through Visual Journalism (e.g. Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt) Through Visual Biography (e.g. Robert Moses: The Master Builder of New York City) Through Graphic Novels (I… Read More ›
Making Sociology Public
This was originally published on Making Science Public Ever since I began to study Sociology, I’ve been fascinated by the question of how the discipline orientates itself towards public life. When I first encountered Sociology I was an intellectually frustrated… Read More ›
11 reasons why we need a Chair for the Public Understanding of Sociology
It would provide a default point of contact for the media when looking for a sociological perspective. It would allow someone the time & support necessary to build up working relationships with a wide range of figures in the media…. Read More ›
Questions about the Public Understanding of Sociology Chair
In the last couple of days, I have received many queries about the public understanding of sociology chair that I proposed here. What follows is a set of answers to those questions. 1. Why even have such a thing? a…. Read More ›
Translating the Social Sciences
This episode of the Office Hour’s podcast interviews Emily Bazelon about the challenges of translating the social sciences: In this episode we speak to Emily Bazelon. Emily is former senior editor at Slate, a New York Times Magazine staff writer, and… Read More ›
What’s the difference between ‘public intellectualism’ and being unusually willing to talk about stuff in public?
In the last year I’ve had a selection of requests from the media to talk on an eclectic range of issues: contemporary sexual culture, the quantified self, dystopic social change, the limits of liberal tolerance and hipster hatred. I’m fairly confident in… Read More ›
Book Review: The Sacred Project of American Sociology
Book Review by Bradley Williams To begin, I chose to review this book with no prior knowledge of the author or his academic work, nor about the book’s thesis. I have a general interest in the history of American sociology… Read More ›
CfP: BSA Activism in Sociology Forum
BSA Activism in Sociology Forum welcomes new contributions from both established and early career researchers as well as sociologists outside of academia to share their hands-on activist experiences or reflections. Contributors are welcome to produce a new piece built around,… Read More ›
The Public Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu
The thing I like most about Bourdieu is his conception of public sociology. It seems clear to me that Bourdieu was a public sociologist, though others are less certain about this and I suspect it’s not a term he would have chosen to use himself…. Read More ›
Public Sociology and Sociological Writing
One of my favourite passages by C Wright Mills concerns the tendency of academics to “slip so readily into unintelligibility”. An “elaborate vocabulary” and “involved manner of speaking and writing” become props for a professional self-image which defines itself, in… Read More ›
Being a link between the academic world and local communities
by Lisa McKenzie Coming into Higher Education as a 30 year old mum was daunting to say the least. I arrived at the University of Nottingham in 2000 as an under-graduate on the joint honours course of Sociology and Social Policy…. Read More ›
Are some disciplines more sociable than others?
There are a range of social scientific disciplines which have spawned sub disciplinary areas of practice and inquiry explicitly concerned with their public role and purpose. For instance: Public Sociology Public Geography Public Anthropology Public Archaeology Public Criminology But others seemingly have… Read More ›
Your ‘daily dose of Sociological Imagination’: reflections on social media and public sociology
Your ‘daily dose of Sociological Imagination’: reflections on social media and public sociology by Mark Carrigan and Milena Kremakova This website’s raison d’etre was initially nebulous, tentative and ambitious all at the same time: we wanted to create a new online… Read More ›
CfP: An Invitation to Digital Public Sociology
What does ‘public sociology’ entail in a world of facebook, twitter, youtube, slideshare, soundcloud, pinterest and wordpress? What affordances and constraints do these tools entail for the task of “taking knowledge back to those from whom it came, making public issues out… Read More ›
CfP: An Invitation to Digital Public Sociology
What does ‘public sociology’ entail in a world of facebook, twitter, youtube, slideshare, soundcloud, pinterest and wordpress? What affordances and constraints do these tools entail for the task of “taking knowledge back to those from whom it came, making public issues out… Read More ›