Public sociology and the transformation of the university

Abstract

In Burawoy’s formulation, Public Sociology is distinguished by its use of reflexive knowledge and its appeal beyond the university. It ‘engages with diverse publics, reaching beyond the university, to enter into an ongoing dialogue with these publics about fundamental values’ (Zussman and Misra 2007:5). This formulation was in part a reaction to the way in which public universities in the USA have responded to mounting attacks from the ‘right’: …with market solutions – joint ventures with private corporations, advertising campaigns to attract students, fawning over private donors, commodifying education through distance learning, and employing cheap temporary professional labor, not to mention the armies of lowpaid service workers. (Burawoy 2007:27)