Last week I had a request from a reporter to comment on a
story he was working on. It’s always nice to know that someone wants my input
on a current event. Beyond the momentary ego boost, I feel that it is important
to encourage people to understand events through a sociological perspective and
see how the broader context shapes individuals’ lives.
In the last several years the phrase “public sociology” has
become increasingly common among sociologists. As president of the American
Sociological Association in 2004, Michael Burawoy
encouraged sociologists to think beyond the academic tradition of sharing our
ideas only with other professionals in academic journals.
Burawoy described public sociology as “a
conversation between sociology and publics” which could take on many forms:
a blog like this, which aims to share ideas from sociology to sociologists and
non-sociologists alike, for instance; and community activism, where
sociologists use theory and research findings to create social change. Even
teaching our classes can be considered a form of public sociology; most
students who take sociology courses don’t become sociologists, but they are all
members of society. Thinking sociologically is a tool to examine our lives and
our society more critically.
Doing “public sociology” presents some challenges too. First,
sharing our research beyond the boundaries of the discipline can mean our
results are misinterpreted or misstated, sometimes in an attempt to make them
more relatable or understandable to laypeople.
I have had this happen personally; when sharing the result
of research, I mentioned a gender-related trend in that was reported as a
generalization (“men think X”) instead of a probability (“men studied were
more likely to report X”). The first
interpretation is simpler and more of an attention-getter, and the second a more
nuanced interpretation that required more discussion, which did not fit neatly
into the story. In another interview, one where I spoke to a reporter at length, I
said something sarcastically, which was quoted in the article without the
context or tone, making it appear that I meant the opposite of what I tried to
communicate.
Part of what sociologists do is to try and understand these
nuances, and to provide depth to everyday issues that seem simple. The
challenge of public sociology is to do our best to explain complicated issues
in simple terms. We want sociological thinking to be part of the story, we just
can’t always control how much sociology seeps in.
Another challenge I’ve faced as a sociologist is knowing
when to stay away from a public
conversation. Sometimes I am asked to discuss topics that are far afield from
my research or special expertise, perhaps because I have been quoted in
something a reporter read, or they find me through this blog. I can feel pressure to “help” a reporter on
deadline or by someone from my university trying to find an expert for a reporter
in hopes the school will get some good publicity.
The reporter I mentioned at the beginning of this post
contacted me for a story because he saw I did research on a similar subject,
but his story was a bit different from what I had studied. When
a major news organization contacts me it is exciting, but I just didn’t have
the information he was looking for. I let him know that to my knowledge no
sociological research had been done on the group he was asking about.
I could have offered my opinion
instead of the results of research and answered his questions (reporters
typically don’t ask for citations of studies as evidence) and as an “expert
source” my opinion might have been stated as a fact. But then I wouldn’t have
been acting as a sociologist; in fact, I might have contributed to the misperception
that sociology is just based on opinion rather than on empirical evidence.
We might extrapolate from existing research, but it isn’t
uncommon for reporters to ask us to speak beyond our area of expertise. A few
years ago while speaking to a reporter about research results similar to her
story, she pointedly said, “you haven’t answered my question,” as though I was
an elected official purposefully hiding something from her. We can’t always
answer their questions, nor should we if they are too far beyond the scope of
the research we are familiar with.
Another challenge with presenting sociological ideas in a
public forum is that public discourse itself can be toxic, especially when political
issues are involved. One
sociologist who studies political movements was a frequent target of a talk
radio host and even received death threats.
Whether it’s rude
comments online or nasty emails, presenting ideas that challenge
well-entrenched ideologies
can make some people react in strange ways, even if we are just presenting
findings of a survey or discussing publically available data. In an age of
talking–or arguing—heads, we can be drawn into the fray, sometimes unwittingly.
Even when discussing or writing about issues that don’t seem controversial,
people might feel the need to contact us directly via email to share their
anger—sometimes about tangential issues that were central to our main points.
I didn’t become a sociologist so I could make up new jargon
for lofty academic journals, nor did I do so to argue with people on talk radio, cable news
or online. I wanted to be part of a larger conversation—like the
one we have been having on this blog for the past six years. It can be very
rewarding to be able to share our research with the wider world, but it is not
without its challenges. What other roles do you think public sociology can have
in the larger society?