Public sociology, public scholarship, and community development

Jeffrey C. Bridger and Theodore R. Alter

Community Development, 2010, vol. 41, issue 4, 405-416

Abstract: In his 2004 presidential address to the American Sociological Association, Michael Burawoy called for the creation of a public sociology that would be more relevant and useful to the people whom we study and with whom we work. This vision represents one of many responses to the growing chorus of critics who claim that higher education and the various disciplines that comprise it are out of date, out of touch, and are failing to address pressing societal issues. Seen in this light, public sociology is a laudable attempt to reinvigorate the discipline. But there are problems with Burawoy's formulation that prevent it from fulfilling this promise. In this article, we critically examine public sociology, and argue that a broader, alternative model of public scholarship—one that combines academic and civic benefits—will enable sociologists and other scholars to collaborate with the public in ways that more effectively address the intractable problems facing citizens and communities. This model has particular relevance to the theory and practice of community development.

Date: 2010
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/15575330.2010.519039 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:comdev:v:41:y:2010:i:4:p:405-416

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RCOD20

DOI: 10.1080/15575330.2010.519039

Access Statistics for this article

Community Development is currently edited by John Green, Rhonda Phillips and Anne Heinze Silvis

More articles in Community Development from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().