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Public Sociology
Research, Action, and Change

  • Philip Nyden - Loyola University Chicago, USA
  • Leslie Hossfeld - Clemson University, SC, USA, Mississippi State University, USA, University of North Carolina Wilmington, USA
  • Gwendolyn Nyden - Oakton Community College
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Social Problems | Sociology
May 2011 | 336 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
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This book highlights the variety of ways in which sociology brings about social change in community settings, assists nonprofit and social service organizations in their work, and influences policy at the local, regional, and national levels. It also spotlights sociology that informs the general public on key policy issues through media and creates research centers that develop and carry out collaborative research.

The book details a broad range of sociology projects. The 33 case studies are divided into 8 sections. Each section also includes sidebars of include non-sociologists writing about the impact of selected research projects. In some cases these are interdisciplinary projects since solutions to social problems are often multifaceted and do not fit into the disciplines as defined by universities.

Further, it emphasizes actions and connections. This is not armchair sociology where self-proclaimed public sociologists just write articles suggesting what government, corporations, communities, or others "ought to do." The authors are interested in the active connections to publics and users of the research, not the passive research process.

 
Foreword by Michael Burawoy
 
Foreword by Steven Redfield
 
Foreword by Dan E. Moore
 
Acknowledgments
 
Chapter 1. Public Scholarship, the Sociological Imagination, and Engaged Scholarship
 
Chapter 2. Crossing Boundaries in 21st-Century Research
 
Chapter 3. Starting Up and Sustaining Public Sociology Projects
 
Chapter 4. Career Guide for Public Sociologists
 
Case Studies 1. Equitable Community Development
1.1 Educating About Homelessness: A University-City Government Research Partnership

 
1.2 Differential Impact of Gentrification and Displacement on Communities of Color

 
1.3 Research in Action: Inner City Entrepreneurs

 
1.4 Art and Equitable Community Development

 
 
Case Studies 2: Environmental Issues
2.1 Public Sociology for Environmental Health and Environmental Justice

 
2.2 Learning From Disaster: Documenting the Impacts of Hurricane Katrina on Displaced College Students From New Orleans

 
2.3 Working for Global Environmental Justice: Channeling Privilege, Producing New Knowledge

 
 
Case Studies 3: Regional Research and Data Collection to Enhance Public Knowledge
3.1 Neighborhood, Region, and Place: The Chicago Experience

 
3.2 The Sacramento State Annual Survey of the Region

 
3.3 Reducing Hunger in Oregon

 
3.4 PovertyEast.org: Poverty Information to Health Communities Address Critical Needs

 
3.5 Sociology in Public Service

 
 
Case Studies 4: Inequalities of Race, Class and Gender
4.1 Bringing a Feminist Sociology to Smart-Girl: Building a University-Nonprofit Partnership

 
4.2 Feminist Research in Action: An Intersectional Approach to Girlcentric Programming

 
4.3 Youth Participation in Community Research for Racial Justice

 
4.4 Building Resources to Create and Maintain Stable Diverse Communities

 
 
Case Studies 5: The Media
5.1 The Media, ACORN, and Presidential Politics

 
5.2 Pressuring Alcohol Companies to Reform Marketing Practices

 
5.3 The Reel Girls Project: Self, Image, Adolescence, and Filmmaking

 
5.4 The Internet as a Leveler Between Advantaged and Disadvantaged Communities

 
 
Case Studies 6: Health
6.1 Teen Pregnancy Prevention

 
6.2 Doing God's Work and Doing Good Work(s): Unique Challenges to Evaluation Research in Ministry Settings

 
6.3 Feast on the Southeast: Creating a Sustainable Local Food System in Southeastern North Carolina

 
6.4 Challenging Discrimination Against Women, Minorities, and the Sick in Health Insurance

 
6.5 Tobacco Use Prevention in Montana's Frontier Communities: Developing New Rural Strategies

 
 
Case Studies 7: Crime, Reducing Violence and Promoting Justice
7.1 Forty Years of Codifying and Mapping Homicides in Chicago: Impacts on Policing, Research, and Community Well-Being

 
7.2 Racial Disparities in Criminal Justice in Wisconsin: Analysis, Graphs, and Engagement

 
7.3 The Role of Relationship Building in Research Partnerships

 
7.4 Hate Crime Motivation: The Practical Consequences of an Offender Typology

 
 
Case Studies 8: Community Organizing
8.1 Cultivating Public Sociology From the Classroom: The Case of a Student-Organized Tenants Union

 
8.2 The Unity of Theory and Practice: The U.S. Social Forum and Movement Building for Social Transformation

 
8.3 When the Community Leads

 
8.4 The "Third Place" Project

 
 
Conclusion: The Case for the New, Engaged, 21st-Century Scholarship
 
About the Editors
 
About the Contributors
 
Index

“The best part of this book at the prospectus reads is that it shows that sociologists are engaged outside the classroom and university walls. I think too often students see us lecture and in our offices, and think all we do is sit behind computers. Some of us do, but many of us like to be in the community trying to bring about change. It's a "get your hands dirty" approach that a lot of students miss with the typical textbook.”

Toby A. Ten Eyck
Michigan State University

previously left my review

Mrs Annie Ostapenko-Denton
Community Studies, Truro And Penwith College
June 9, 2016
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Philip W. Nyden

Philip Nyden is Co-Chair of the ASA Task Force for Institutionalizing Public Sociologies. Dr. Nyden was appointed as Director of the Loyola University Center for Urban Research and Learning (CURL) in January 1996. Dr. Nyden has worked with the City of Chicago Commission on Human Relations, the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities, the Organization of the Northeast, the Howard Area Community Center, the Evanston Human Relations Commission, Hull House, and the Human Relations Foundation on a variety of projects aimed at promoting stable diverse neighborhoods, improving access to quality affordable housing, gaining an... More About Author

Leslie H. Hossfeld

Leslie Hossfeld is Co-Chair ASA Task Force for Institutionalizing Public Sociologies. Dr. Hossfeld is Associate Professor and Director of the Public Sociology Program at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She received the 2005 Faculty Fellow in Public Policy and Public Engagement at the Institute for Emerging Issues at North Carolina State University. Her research and activism addresses poverty and economic restructuring in rural North Carolina and she has made presentations to the United States Congress and to the North Carolina Legislature on the subject of job loss and rural economic decline and recovery. Dr. Hossfeld is Vice... More About Author

Gwendolyn Nyden

Gwen Nyden is a professor of sociology at Oakton Community College. For a number of years she has been active with the American Association of Community Colleges in promoting community-engagement component in course offerings around the country. More About Author

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