1. INTRODUCTION
Much has been said about Burawoy’s charismatic and intellectual gospel on the essence of Public Sociology as he appealed to his colleague for the adoption of the discipline in the Presidential address at the American Sociological Conference in 2004. To an extent, there seems to be some consensus on the grand mission of public sociology which is to enable Sociology become more active within the public sphere and contribute in the improving the human condition. However, certain concerns have been raised on several conceptual constructions of Burawoy’s approach to Public Sociology and the nature the discipline should assume. Critical intellectual contributions have dissected Burawoy’s arguments based on its merits, relevance but also to the omissions, weakness and limitations of public sociology as a discipline, an agenda and social force.
There is no doubt that the importance of making Sociology public given the fact that the subject matter of the discipline is civil society. Sociologists cannot avoid the subject matter of its discipline which are social groups and people in the social arrangement. As Durkheim (1984) noted `… We would esteem our research not worth the labor of a single hour if its interest were merely speculative. If we distinguish carefully …show more content…
His conception of the discipline was influenced from his experiences of the aftermath and social malaise of the French Revolution of 1789 to 1799 and the Industrial Revolution. He believed that the new social science of society would employ scientific reasons to help society evolve, through scientific development, from its traditional form to the positive (i.e. superior) state (Hanemaayer, 2014). Thus, Comte proposed the creation of sociology in improving society. Similarly, Karl Marx had once famously noted that Philosophers are used to only interpreting the world in various ways but the essence is to change
Much has been said about Burawoy’s charismatic and intellectual gospel on the essence of Public Sociology as he appealed to his colleague for the adoption of the discipline in the Presidential address at the American Sociological Conference in 2004. To an extent, there seems to be some consensus on the grand mission of public sociology which is to enable Sociology become more active within the public sphere and contribute in the improving the human condition. However, certain concerns have been raised on several conceptual constructions of Burawoy’s approach to Public Sociology and the nature the discipline should assume. Critical intellectual contributions have dissected Burawoy’s arguments based on its merits, relevance but also to the omissions, weakness and limitations of public sociology as a discipline, an agenda and social force.
There is no doubt that the importance of making Sociology public given the fact that the subject matter of the discipline is civil society. Sociologists cannot avoid the subject matter of its discipline which are social groups and people in the social arrangement. As Durkheim (1984) noted `… We would esteem our research not worth the labor of a single hour if its interest were merely speculative. If we distinguish carefully …show more content…
His conception of the discipline was influenced from his experiences of the aftermath and social malaise of the French Revolution of 1789 to 1799 and the Industrial Revolution. He believed that the new social science of society would employ scientific reasons to help society evolve, through scientific development, from its traditional form to the positive (i.e. superior) state (Hanemaayer, 2014). Thus, Comte proposed the creation of sociology in improving society. Similarly, Karl Marx had once famously noted that Philosophers are used to only interpreting the world in various ways but the essence is to change