Public Sociology: From Social Facts to Literary ActsPublic Sociology, 2nd edition offers a fundamental enriching of method far beyond the scope of research methodology textbooks. It looks at sociology as a social act-as writing-in arguing for a public sociology that can more fully embrace and address crucial public issues. Building on the philosophy of science and recent postmodernist critiques, Agger shows how the social science text reproduces the existing social world, suppressing science's author in order to position itself as simply a mirror of nature, not a deliberate human version replete with ontology, theory, values, and politics. As such, method is an argument that polemicizes quietly for a certain view of the world. Agger peruses how science could be crafted differently, acknowledging, even embracing its authoriality while opening it to crosscurrents of other humanistic writing. Only by liberating sociology from the "secret writing" of science can its ineradicable humanity be realized. But rather than dwelling on recent critiques, this, more than any other book, looks ahead to a new way of doing science-one that is simultaneously more scientific and humanistic. Its prescient view of how social science can take the lead in building a more democratic public sphere will make it a must-read for every student and researcher. |
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abstract academic acknowledgments Adorno American Sociological Association American Sociological Review analysis argued argument ASR articles authors become bibliography Burawoy called canon career citations cited claim Comte constitute critical theory critique cumulation deconstructive Derrida disciplinary discipline discussion Durkheim editor empirical especially faculty field Figure findings footnotes Frankfurt School gender gestures graduate school Habermas ical intellectual issues Jacoby journal articles journal sociology language game Lemert literary literature review mainstream marginalia Marx mathematical ments methodological methods-driven middle-range Mills narrativity nature O’Neill ological ology one’s paper people’s perspective political polyvocal positivism positivist postmodern problems professional prose public sociology public sphere published quantitative readers revision sample scholars science aura scientific sense soci social physics social science Sociological Imagination sociological positivism sociologists sociology journals sociology’s statistics submitted suggests technical tenure theoretical theorists tion topic undecidability universities variables Weber Wright Mills