Public Sociology

Michael Burawoy has helped to reshape the theory and practice of sociology across the Western world. Public Sociology is his most thoroughgoing attempt to explore what a truly committed, engaged sociology should look like in the twenty-first century.

Burawoy looks back on the defining moments of his intellectual journey, exploring his pivotal early experiences as a researcher, such as his fieldwork in a Zambian copper mine and a Chicago factory. He recounts his time as a graduate and professor during the ideological ferment in sociology departments of the 1970s, and explores how his experiences intersected with a changing political and intellectual world up to the present. Recalling Max Weber, Burawoy argues that sociology is much more than just a discipline – it is a vocation, to be practiced everywhere and by everyone.

List of Tables

Preface



Introduction – The Promise of Sociology



Part One: Theory and Practice

1. Theory: Utopia and Anti-Utopia

2. Practice: The (Di)vision of Sociological Labor



Part Two: Policy Sociology

3. The Language Question in University Education

4. Job Evaluation in a Racial Order



Part Three: Public Sociology

5. The Color of Class

6. Student Rebellion



Part Four: Critical Sociology

7. Race, Class and Colonialism

8. Migrant Labor and the State

9. Manufacturing Consent

10. Racial Capitalism



Part Five: Professional Sociology

11. Advancing a Research Program

12. Painting Socialism

13. The Great Involution



Part Six: Real Utopias

14. Third-Wave Marketization

15. Whither the Public University?

16. Living Theory



Conclusion: Biography Meets History



Notes

References

Index

“Michael Burawoy has written a fascinating intellectual autobiography, reconstructing the sociological canon along the way. This is a powerful call for sociology to recover its public mission.”
Edward Webster, University of the Witwatersrand

“Behind Michael Burawoy’s inspirational new book lies his extraordinary experiences alongside, and research into, the lives of workers in Zambia, Hungary, Russia, and Chicago. At each stop in his journey, he asks: What is this worker’s life like? And how could it be? This is such a welcome and important book – read it and pass it on.”
Arlie Hochschild, author of Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right

“Michael Burawoy argues for a sociology that encourages and informs critical public discussions on the preservation of our society. His illuminating personal trajectory, used as an object of analysis and placed in a wider social context, is a must-read.”
William Julius Wilson, Harvard University

“This is no dry textbook. It deserves a much wider readership among all of us who know that we need to extend our utopian and anti-utopian commitments.”
Red Pepper

“Burawoy’s Public sociology is required reading for anyone embarking or reflecting on their sociological journey and practice. Burawoy has made a career of walking where others fear to tread. The book is a worthy account of his career.”
New Zealand Sociology

Michael Burawoy is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.