Public Sociology Today

Challenges and Prospects

Discussants: Brigitte Aulenbacher, Birgit Blättel-Mink, Annette Treibel

As an academic discipline sociology distinguishes itself by its responsiveness to the empirical world it inhabits. Sociology develops its theories to accord with that world. Thinking globally, the last decade has seen two political reactions to the deepening of capitalism and its ine-qualities – a progressive reaction followed by an authoritarian reaction. To understand this bipolar response, I draw on Karl Polanyi's canonical treatise: The Great Transformation.

But it needs reconstruction: a theory of capitalism that recognizes successive waves of market-ization; a theory of commodification that includes the commodification of knowledge along-side the commodification of nature, labor and money; a theory of the production and dis-semination of knowledge that recognizes the central role of the university in advancing re-search and defending truth but also in expanding public engagement; finally, a theory of social media that is responsible for the transformation of the public sphere. These issues set the sociological agenda for the foreseeable future and pose new challenges for any sociolo-gist wanting to engage closely with civil society. After his lecture Michael Burawoy will dis-cuss the challenges of a future public sociology in this context with Brigitte Aulenbacher, Birgit Blättel-Mink and Annette Treibel.

Die Veranstaltung findet in englischer Sprache statt.

Diese Veranstaltung ist Teil des Festivals ›Great Transformation. Von Spuren und Träumen einer besseren Welt‹, das vom 23. bis 27. September in Jena an verschiedenen Orten stattfindet.