Book review: The public and their platforms: public sociology in an era of social media by Mark Carrigan and Lambros Fatsis (original) (raw)

Public Sociology in the Age of Social Media

I informally examine how the idea of public sociology has been a ected by the rise of social media. New social media platforms disintermediate communication, make people more visible, and encourage public life to be measured. ey tend to move the discipline from a situation where some people self-consciously do "public sociology" to one where most sociologists unselfconsciously do sociology in public. I discuss the character of such "latently public" work, the opportunities and di culties it creates for individuals, and its tendency to be associated with academic elds that believe in what they are doing.

Ossewaarde, M. (2007) ‘Sociology Back to the Publics’, Sociology 41 (5): 799-812.

Sociology, 2007

This paper is a reading of the 'new sociology' that is mainly identified with the works of C. Wright Mills and Alvin Boulder. Its main argument is that the new sociology has given back a public face to sociology during the past forty years. This is arguably different from the 'old sociology' that has not been able to free itself from private social values. It is argued that Mills' power elite and Boulder's coming crisis theses have provided the foundation for many new sociologists' common enterprise to develop a critical and public sociology, which is informative for shaping what Mills called a 'democratic society of publics'. The new sociologists share the same critique of modern societies, namely, that though most modern societies have formal democracies, a substantial democratic social structure of publics is often lacking, due to the erosion of the public sphere by private values.

Global Transformation of the Public Sphere in the Digital World: From Public to Silent Sphere?

Academia Letters, 2021

The Internet has revolutionized the way we interact globally. As the world turned out to be a 'global village' marked by the economic, cultural and political interconnectedness of people across the world by using digital social platforms as public spheres, it is a fundamental necessity to redefine the term of the Public Sphere coined by Jürgen Habermas, on which public opinion can be formed after public discussions dealing with social and political affairs (Habermas, 1974). The Public Sphere (Öffentlichkeit) is a confidential space which is sterilized from authorities and enables the bourgeois society to hold political debates. Yet, participation in these debates extends beyond the bourgeoisie to all kinds of citizens, who can now access social platforms along with the World Wide Web and find their voices within these spaces. It is, however, inevitable to question whether digital public spheres are becoming less democratic as users today are surveilled and controlled with sophisticated technologies. Citizens who are gravitating to online social platforms as alternative public spheres are concerned about the future of democracy as authorities enforce surveillance policies, especially during Covid-19. Especially social media users complain about their continuous watching by authorities to gather data on online platforms. However, this statement is objected by governments and law enforcement agencies since the surveillance is implemented for the purpose of security and public peace. This paper focuses on how democratic and efficient digital platforms as public spheres are for each citizen to express their views and shape public opinion whilst advanced surveillance technologies are misemployed by such authorities as governments, policymakers, intelligence agencies, etc. This paper relies on fundamentally qualitative methods to explore concepts and theories in depth. This is an interdisciplinary paper within the scope of Sociology, Media Studies and Surveillance Studies. In this research, social platforms as global public spheres are evaluated

Why Sociology Does Not Need to Be Saved: Analytic Reflections on Public Sociologies

The American Sociologist, 2005

After reviewing the debate about public sociologies in the American Sociological Association over the past few years, we offer a response to calls for "saving sociology" from the Burawoy approach as well as an analytic critique of the former ASA president's "For Public Sociology" address. While being sympathetic to the basic idea of public sociologies, we argue that the "reflexive" and "critical" categories of sociology, as Burawoy has conceptualized them, are too ambiguous and value-laden to allow for empirical investigation of the different major orientations of sociological research and the ways the discipline can address non-academic audiences. Debates about the future of sociology should be undertaken with empirical evidence, and we need a theoretical approach that can allow us to compare both disciplines and nations as well as taking into account the institutional context of the universities in which we operate. Research into the conditions under which professional, critical, policy, and public sociologies could work together for the larger disciplinary and societal good is called for instead of overheated rhetoric both for and against public sociologies.

The newsletter of the WG10 Digital Sociology

ISA, 2024

Dear members of the WG10 Digital Sociology, We are pleased to announce the successful organization of the First Mid-Term Conference on Digital Sociology, which took place in Warsaw, Poland, coorganized in collaboration with the University of Warsaw, in particular, with the Digital Economy Lab (DELAB) and the Civil City Lab. With over 60 participants from diverse backgrounds, the event fostered rich and engaging discussions on the intersection of society and digital technologies, spamming from theoretical developments, methods for digital sociology research and case studies in diverse topics. Our participants discussed a wide range of topics, including the influence of social media on identity, the role of data and algorithms in shaping public opinion, and the ethical implications of new digital tools. The conference helped bonding our research community, share insights, and deepen our collective understanding of how sociology is a necessary discipline for understanding digital environments and its intersection with our societies.

Introduction: Rediscovering Society in the Age of Social Media

2016

Not very long ago, Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) announced that “Today, everything is about Social Media”. The meaning of this statement is straightforward – if you do not have an account on social media platform, you are out of online domain. Nowadays, this claim appears to be soft or even out of date. It is more likely that if you do not have an account on social media, you are absent both online and offline. Whether we like it or not, the explosive growth of social media has changed the ways modern society is conceptualized, diagnosed, and examined. By sharing, liking, commenting, tweeting, rating, following up etc. users have established new communicational practices spreading beyond social media into a wider social context. Television viewers use Twitter to express live their emotions evoked by presidential candidates debating on controversial issues. Tourists take ‘selfies’ and put them on Instagram to share a wonderful holiday they have. Headhunters use LinkedIn to find candidat...

Why sociology does not need to be saved: Analytic reflections on public sociologies (with L Kowalchuk and K Turcotte as 2nd and 3rd authors)

The American Sociologist, 2005

After reviewing the debate about public sociologies in the American Sociological Association over the past few years, we offer a response to calls for "saving sociology" from the Burawoy approach as well as an analytic critique of the former ASA president's "For Public Sociology" address. While being sympathetic to the basic idea of public sociologies, we argue that the "reflexive" and "critical" categories of sociology, as Burawoy has conceptualized them, are too ambiguous and value-laden to allow for empirical investigation of the different major orientations of sociological research and the ways the discipline can address non-academic audiences. Debates about the future of sociology should be undertaken with empirical evidence, and we need a theoretical approach that can allow us to compare both disciplines and nations as well as taking into account the institutional context of the universities in which we operate. Research into the conditions under which professional, critical, policy, and public sociologies could work together for the larger disciplinary and societal good is called for instead of overheated rhetoric both for and against public sociologies.

Sociology Back to the Publics

Sociology, 2007

This article is a reading of the 'new sociology' that is mainly identified with the works of C. Wright Mills and Alvin Gouldner. Its main argument is that during the past 40 years the new sociology gave back a public face to sociology. This distinguishes it from the 'old sociology' that had not been able to free itself from 'private' social values. It is argued that Mills' power elite and Gouldner's coming crisis theses provided the foundation for a common enterprise among many 'new sociologists' to develop a critical and public sociology that would seek to shape what Mills called the 'democratic society of publics'.'New sociologists' share a critique of modern societies, namely, that though most modern societies have formal democracies, a substantial democratic social structure of publics is often lacking, due to the erosion of the public sphere by private values.