Public Sociology: Past, Present, and Future

Session Submission Type: Invited Session (90 minute)

Description

In 2004, Michael Burawoy named Public Sociology as the theme of the annual ASA meeting and his ASA presidential address invigorated discussions and debates on the purpose of the discipline. It challenged the status quo and continued to call into question sociology's knowledge: for whom and for what? More than two decades later, this thematic session will focus on how public sociology has been conceived of and advocated for in the past; how it is being done in the present; and sketch a vision for the future. Drawing on different contexts, speakers will examine how public sociology disrupts the status quo and contributes to building a more equitable, just, and sustainable world.

Sub Unit

• Thematic Session

Presider

• Margaret Abraham, Hofstra University

Individual Presentations

• Doing Public Sociology when Sociology is Under Threat - Raka Ray, University of California-Berkeley

• Public Sociology without a Public: The Curious Case of the United States - Zachary Levenson, Florida International University

• "The People" as Fiction, Publics as Method — Sociological Interruptions in Iran - Nazanin Shahrokni, Simon Fraser University

• Can Public Sociology be Local and Transnational in Scope? What has been done, what more do we need to do? - Bandana Purkayastha, University of Connecticut

Session Organizer

• Margaret Abraham, Hofstra University