Public SociologyFifteen Eminent Sociologists Debate Politics and the Profession in the Twenty-first Century

Clawson, Dan

doi:10.1525/california/9780520251373.001.0001

Cited by 58 publications

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“…Sociologists have the opportunity to move a new concept like social desire paths forward using the theoretical grounding provided by long-standing work on the sociology of interests (Swedberg 2005a, b) and social mechanisms (Gross 2009) combined with our vast array of social science methods and recent learning on the pitfalls of applying sociological findings to policy (Clawson et al 2007). …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social desire paths: a new theoretical concept to increase the usability of social science research in society

Nichols

2014

Theor Soc

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Social scientists are well-trained to observe and chart social trends, but less experienced at presenting scientific findings in formats that can inform social change work. In this article, I propose a new theoretical concept that provides a mechanism by which social science research can be more effectively applied for proactive policy, organizational, and program development. The approach is to use the metaphor of "desire paths" from landscape architecture to show how social scientists can identify and analyze social desire paths that appear on the social structural landscape. Social desire paths usually emerge because existing formal structures do not meet individual or group needs. Such paths are generally started at the individual level, followed by others through individual actions, and ultimately leave an (usually informal) imprint on the social structure, even though the motivations behind those actions are not usually social change. Using what we know about the sociology of interests and what we have learned from trying to apply social science findings to policy, I propose seven criteria for phenomena to be defined as social desire paths. I then apply the criteria to two case studies related to housing, and discuss social desire paths usefulness to social scientists involved in any research that captures interests, deviance, or innovation; and that also has the potential to inform formal structures such as policy, organizations, program development, and participatory democracy.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social desire paths: a new theoretical concept to increase the usability of social science research in society

Nichols

2014

Theor Soc

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“…Second, the direct civic or political engagement of sociologists that Burawoy holds to be a necessary precondition for making the discipline publicly relevant is just one way by which they can be involved in a dialogue with the public. As Patterson (2007) convincingly argued, sociologists do not have to be actively involved with movements within civil society in order to be publicly engaged. They can be involved with publics as experts informing and advising them about important public issues or as discursive public sociologists using the media to make their critical examination of a given society, or an aspect of it, accessible to the broader audience with an aim of initiating discussion about their claims.…”

Section: Shortcomings Of the Concept Of Organic Public Sociologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They do not deny their importance, but insist that our moral and political commitments have to be put under control and subjugated to scientific inquiry. If not, we would lose the professional detachment that is necessary to analyse accurately (Turner, 2005;Brint, 2005), compromise our intellectual honesty by political loyalties (Smith-Lovin, 2007;Stinchcombe, 2007;Massay, 2007;Abbott, 2007), erode professional standards and ultimately undermine the legitimacy of sociology as a professional practice (Turner, 2005;Holmwood, 2007). Of course, Burawoy's critics do not share the same understanding of the role of values in sociology and do not necessarily claim the possibility of value-free sociological research.…”

Section: Shortcomings Of the Concept Of Organic Public Sociologymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Calling of Sociology: Beyond Value-detached Professionalism and Partisan Activism

Matić

2017

revsoc

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Michael Burawoy's project of public sociology provoked major debate within the sociological community about the tasks and nature of the discipline. While most participants in the debate are sympathetic to his call for a more publicly engaged sociology, many criticise him for politicising the discipline and claim that sociologists should not devote their work to promoting social justice or certain political agendas but concentrate instead on building an objective, evidence-based knowledge of society. This article argues that neither Burawoy's public sociology nor the so-called scientific sociology constitute a proper way to address the problems of sociology's identity crisis and its growing public irrelevance. It is suggested that Karl Mannheim provided the best answer to the questions of what it means to practice sociology and for what purposes it should be practiced. Following Mannheim's line of thinking, the article argues that the real issue is not whether sociologists should be committed to promoting social justice or accumulating objective knowledge about society, but whether they can offer a comprehensive interpretation of the current situation and develop effective strategies to transform the existing patterns of society.

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“…No campo da sociologia, essa discussão ganhou um novo ímpeto com os esforços de r epensar a prática sociológica a par tir de teorias liber tárias, incluindo as formulações da teologia da liber tação, ou da proposição de uma "sociologia pública," em contraste com a sociologia v oltada exclusivamente para a comunidade acadêmica. (Clawson et al, 2007;Feagin & Vera, 2001) No que diz respeito aos levantamentos participativos, diversos avanços na academia ocorreram a par tir de pr ovocações e estímulos originados fora de suas quatr o par edes. Como destaca Chambers (2007), a prática de lev antamentos participativos teve sua origem e ev oluiu na e da experimentação prática de membr os e técnicos de organizações não-governamentais envolvidos em trabalhos em ár eas na maioria das v ezes rurais e subdesenvolvidas, em par ticular na Índia.…”

Section: Pressuposto Epistemológico 1: Realismo E Construtivismo Socialunclassified

Mapeamentos participativos: pressupostos, valores, instrumentos e perspectivas

Sydenstricker-Neto

2008

RBEUR

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INTRODUÇÃOA complexidade crescente das configurações urbanas e regionais tem colocado diversos desafios para acadêmicos e gestor es. Tanto os modelos explicativ os como os pr ocessos de gestão das questões ligadas ao planejamento urbano e r egional já não dão conta dessa complexidade. Ao mesmo tempo, os pr ocessos de democratização e ampliação dos canais de representação criaram demandas de maior par ticipação dos cidadãos nos pr ocessos de tomada de decisão. A rica experiência brasileira de planejamento participativo e ampliação das esferas democráticas em div ersas áreas, tais como comitê de bacias, saúde, meio ambiente e bairros, tem sido examinada pela comunidade acadêmica (A bers & Keck, 2009;Acselrad, 1999;Brasil, 2004;Coelho, 2006;Gurza Lavalle et al, 2007). Nesse contexto, há a necessidade de se buscar no vos instrumentos para coleta e tratamento de dados com o intuito de informar os modelos teóricos e subsidiar o pr ocesso de tomada de decisão . Os mapeamentos participativos constituem um instrumento poderoso nessa direção.Mapeamentos participativos são representações gráficas de dados e atributos selecionados, que seguem padrões e conv enções científicas, técnicas e ar tísticas. O desenv olvimento de Sistemas de Informação Geográfica (SIG ou GIS) contribuiu para a introdução de elementos cartográficos, tais como referência geográfica/espacial e escala nos mapas, e a incorporação de abordagens de particular interesse para trabalhos acadêmicos, como os estudos urbanos e r egionais. Nos mapeamentos participativos, a produção em si do mapa, incluindo diversas etapas -tais como a definição e concepção do conteúdo substantivo a ser mapeado, coleta de dados e informações, organização e tratamento da informa-

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Public SociologyFifteen Eminent Sociologists Debate Politics and the Profession in the Twenty-first Century

Cited by 58 publications

References 0 publications

Social desire paths: a new theoretical concept to increase the usability of social science research in society

Social desire paths: a new theoretical concept to increase the usability of social science research in society

The Calling of Sociology: Beyond Value-detached Professionalism and Partisan Activism

Mapeamentos participativos: pressupostos, valores, instrumentos e perspectivas

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