Public Sociology and the Role of the Researcher: De Montford University, 29th March

On 29^th March NTU’s Sharon Hutchings and Tom Vickers delivered a workshop of part of a symposium at De Montford University, titled ‘Public sociology and the role of the researcher: Engagement, communication and academic activism’. Below they reflect on the event.

We were excited to learn this event was being organised, even more so considering that it complements another event we are organising at NTU on 29^th June. Hopefully these two events can contribute to strengthening networks between public sociologists, in the Midlands and beyond.

The keynote speaker for the event was Mark Carrigan, well-known for his book Social Media for Academics and the blog http://sociologicalimagination.org/. Mark focused on the dangers of social media for academics, changing the academic habitus and rewarding antagonism and individual confrontation. He suggested the solution may be the development of more of our own collective online platforms, to offer a less individualised approach to social media. Significantly, Mark also argued that we need to question the idea that social problems are simply the result of a lack of social knowledge – suggesting that for public sociology to influence change we need to think more broadly than dissemination.

The other papers presented through the course of the day were thought-provoking and of a very high academic standard. Of note was the Pecha Kucha session with highly engaging presentations – the ethics of participatory research in pornography, sexuality and migration and personal accounts  from a Turkish academic and journalist, both now political exiles, a stark reality when freedom of expression is denied.

The final workshop, delivered by Tom and Sharon set out to create opportunities for dialogue on critical appreciations of public sociology. Four short provocations were offered  and colleagues selected one to focus their conversations on. This resulted in engaging and thought provoking challenges to the naming of public sociology and how we might meet those challenges in the current higher education context.

The event demonstrates the growing interest in public sociology, and contributed to emerging networks. It also reinforces our view that despite the volume of discussion of public sociology over recent years, the field is still at an early stage and much more discussion, reflection and sharing of experiences is needed.

For further coverage of the event see: https://twitter.com/hashtag/BSAPublicSocDMU