The term public sociology was invented in the United States to criticize and counter mounting professionalization. In many countries of today the term public sociology is not necessary because sociology is presumed to be public. Where sociology is so public, however, it is also often vulnerable to political pressures and even banning. In virtually all countries the boundaries between public and professional sociologies are more fluid and permeable than in the United States. These 7 panels bring representatives from different regions of the world to discuss the distinctive configuration of national public sociologies and the issues they take up.

Production of Sociological Knowledge, Public Engagement and the Quest for Peace and Justice in Palestine/Israel

Is public sociology a meaningful category in extreme situations of conflict? Should sociologists speak across battle-lines and address publics “on the other side”, or should they address “their own side”? Panelists will discuss the role of sociologists as producers of public knowledge, in the context of conflict in Israel/Palestine. They will discuss whether sociologists have been working on the most urgent issues, and how are they constructed by the multiple publics they encounter.

Organizer: Gil Eyal, Columbia University
Panel: Rabab Abdulhadi, New York University
Yehouda Shenhav, Tel-Aviv University
Salim Tamari, Institute for Jerusalem Studies
Hanna Herzog, Tel-Aviv University

Public Intellectuals and Critical Events: The Case of India

Indian intellectuals have long been engaged with critical events in the world. However the nature of that engagement is constantly contested. This panel will enter into discussions about the relationship between academics who intervene in ongoing crises and social movements – whether they be ethnic/religious violence, or the struggles around gender or the environment – and activism.

Organizer: Raka Ray, University of California, Berkeley
Panel: Veena Das, John Hopkins University
Dipankar Gupta, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Sujata Patel Professor, University of Pune
K. Sivaramakrishnan, University of Washington, Seattle

Public Sociology in East Asia

Sociologists are remarkably active - intellectually and politically - in East Asia. These three women - though by no means representative of their national sociological tradition - have played significant roles in shaping gender politics in Japan (Ueno), environmental politics in China (Dai), and science and technology policy in South Korea (Yoon). They offer at once the achievements and promises of public sociology in East Asian societies, and the session will explore distinct modes of intellectual and political engagement.

Organizer: John Lie, University of California, Berkeley
Panel: Chizuko Ueno, University of Tokyo, Japan
Dai Qing, Peoples Republic of China
Jeong-Ro Yoon, Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea
Discussion: Walden Bello, University of the Philippines

Public Sociology in Post-Communist Societies

Intellectuals in general and social scientists in particular played a key role in shaping public debates in Central and Eastern Europe. The panelist of this session were important actors in the emerging dissident discourse during the 1980s and in this session they reflect on changes they see in the role of intellectuals and social sciences in post-communist Europe

Organizer: Ivan Szelenyi, Yale University
Panel: Boris Kagarlitsky, Moscow
Jadwiga Staniszkis , Polish Academy of Sciences
Erzsébet Szalai, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Piotr Sztompka, Krakow University

Public Sociology in South Africa

This panel includes South Africa's most visible public sociologists. They have brought sociological perspectives into public debates ranging from the character of democratic practice, to strategies for dealing with the legacies of apartheid, to challenges to neo-liberal orthodoxies. Each panelist is a prominent figure in South Africa today, whose intellectual insights have shaped South Africa's fledgling democracy.

Organizer: Gay Seidman, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Panel: Eddie Webster, University of Witwatersrand
Shireem Hassim, University of Witwatersrand
Blade Nzimande, South African Communist Party
Wilmot James, Human Sciences Research Council
Jackie Cock, University of Witwatersrand

Public Sociology in the US

Sociology has played a vital role in the US public sphere, but so far has developed neither a clear internal understanding of how this role figures in the discipline nor a well-focused external identity. Panelists will consider this history and the present state of public sociology in the US, offer suggestions for how sociology might do better, and ask what sorts of changes in the discipline these might entail.

Organizer: Craig Calhoun, Social Science Research Council
Panel: Melvin Oliver, Ford Foundation and University of California, Santa Barbara
Alan Wolfe, Boston College
Judy Stacey, New York University
Orlando Patterson, Harvard University

Public Space and Sociology in Latin America Today

The broadly appreciated creativity of sociology and of the social sciences of Latin America has depended upon their practitioners being public intellectuals, whose knowledge production in turn has helped to build diverse publics. We ask whether sociology and the social sciences will continue to play this role in the future.

Organizer: Heinz Sonntag, Universidad Central de Venezuela
Panel: Renato Janine Ribeiro, Universidade de São Paulo
Raquel Sosa, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Aníbal Quijano, Universidad de San Marcos