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The Trouble with Burawoy: An Analytic, Synthetic...
Journal article

The Trouble with Burawoy: An Analytic, Synthetic Alternative

Abstract

As American Sociological Association (ASA) president in 2004, Michael Burawoy argued `for public sociology', sparking impassioned debate focused almost exclusively on the normative issues raised by his prescription for a more public sociology. Nearly absent from the literature is an analytical critique of his underlying model of the structure of sociological practice. The model is flawed in three ways: (1) the core concepts are ambiguous; (2) the model provides little leverage for understanding the institutional context of sociology as a discipline; and (3) comparative understanding of sociologies in different countries or between public engagement in distinct academic disciplines is not facilitated. In this article, we propose a synthetic means of relating academics, disciplines, audiences and institutional environments that forms the basis for movement toward an empirical agenda on public academics more generally.

Authors

McLaughlin N; Turcotte K

Journal

Sociology, Vol. 41, No. 5, pp. 813–828

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Publication Date

January 1, 2007

DOI

10.1177/0038038507080438

ISSN

0038-0385

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