Lost-Child

From the page: "Community Organizing
Is Public Sociology

For two reasons I was surprised to read sociologist Monte Buteâ€s critical ASA Forum letter, titled "Public Sociology is Not Community Organizing," in the April 2009 Footnotes.

asaforumFirst, I was surprised at the sheer nastiness of Buteâ€s criticism of "quixotic members of our profession" who advocate engagement in community organizing and public policy. He calls such sociologists "naïve" "wannabes" [presumably he means wannabe community organizers or "public policy gurus"] who harbor "activist fantasies." Yet Bute promptly proclaims, "Last week I spent two days meeting with Minnesota legislative leaders. Recently, I exchanged e-mails…with the Speaker of the House….Last evening I testified at a legislative town hall meeting." Bute indicates that in doing these things he was "merely being a good citizen," and cautions his reader, "Do not delude yourself by conflating citizenship with what Max Weber called â€politics as a vocation.â€"

Second, I was surprised that Bute refers to Michael Burawoy in order to argue that public sociologists should focus on teaching their students. Yet Burawoy repeatedly defines public sociology as "seek[ing] to bring sociology to publics beyond the academy" (Burawoy, et. al. 2004: italics mine). Contrary to Bute, I read this definition to mean that teaching is not public sociology to the extent that it simply engages students, who are, next to professors, perhaps the clearest and most important constituency of the academy. Indeed, following Burawoyâ€s definitional lead, one might ask Bute: Why bother advocating for public sociology at all if it simply urges sociologists to be good teachers? Havenâ€t academic sociologists always endeavored to be good teachers at least to the extent that their job requires it?

I applaud Buteâ€s involvement in politics as a citizen, but to argue that sociology and public action should be done separately, and to denigrate sociologists who marry the two, is not only contrary to public sociology, but also risks further encouraging those sociologists who see their teaching as their public sociology. Teaching our students sociology is clearly valuable, but it is not public sociology unless it engages publics outside the academy, from the local homeless to international democracy movements. That is why sociologists who engage their students in community organizing and/or public policy are public sociologists. Indeed, as one of a growing number of sociologists who teaches community organizing, I see it as one of the most promising frontiers in public sociology. Who better than sociologists to learn and teach a craft that trains students and citizens to create social change?
Reference:

Burawoy, Michael, et al. 2004. "Public Sociologies: A Symposium from Boston College." Social Problems 51: 1 (Feb): 103-130.

Paul Lachelier is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Stetson University. He teaches a course titled "Community Organizing for Social Change." For more information about the course, visit stetsonsdp.pbworks.com [stetsonsdp.pbworks.com] . "