Abstract
In this article I argue professional and policy sociology are antagonistic, rather than compatible with the theory and practice of a critical, organic, public sociology in de- fense of human rights and social justice. Drawing upon my graduate school experi- ence and relationship with New Orleans public housing movement, I show how prac- ticing public sociology in various terrains required unmasking and opposing the apo- litical pretenses of professional sociology and the agenda-setting of neoliberal govern- ment and corporate patrons of policy sociology. The current global economic crisis and assault on university budgets is strengthening the policy and professional sociolo- gy tendencies of the discipline. If public sociology is to have a future, its practitioners must immerse themselves as integral components of a working class, counterhege- monic challenge to global neoliberal capitalism, rather than play support roles for various foundation and NGO funded and directed single issue campaigns.
Recommended Citation
Arena, John.
2010.
"The Contested Terrains of Public Sociology: Theoretical and Practical Lessons from the Movement to Defend Public Housing in Pre- and Post-Katrina New Orleans."
Societies Without Borders
5 (2):
103-125.
Available at:
https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/swb/vol5/iss2/1