Public Sociology in the Age of Social Media

I informally examine how the idea of public sociology has been affected by the rise of social media. New social media platforms disintermediate communication, make people more visible, and encourage public life to be measured. They 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›fficulties it creates for individuals, and its tendency to be associated with academic elds that believe in what they are doing.

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