The Public and Their Platforms
Public Sociology in an Era of Social Media
By Mark Carrigan and Lambros Fatsis
ISBN
978-1529201079Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressISBN
978-1529201055Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressISBN
978-1529201062Dimensions
Imprint
Bristol University Press
The Public and Their Platforms
Available Open Access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.
As social media is increasingly becoming a standard feature of sociological practice, this timely book rethinks the role of these mediums in public sociology and what they can contribute to the discipline in the post-COVID world.
It reconsiders the history and current conceptualizations of what sociology is, and analyzes what kinds of social life emerge in and through the interactions between ‘intellectuals’, ‘publics’ and ‘platforms’ of communication.
Cutting across multiple disciplines, this pioneering work envisions a new kind of public sociology that brings together the digital and the physical to create public spaces where critical scholarship and active civic engagement can meet in a mutually reinforcing way.
“Published in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this timely book argues that contemporary interactions between sociology, publics and social media platforms demand a new understanding of public sociology.” LSE Review of Books
“If sociology is to survive the dual pandemics, the thousands of academics with the skills to tell the human stories of statistical data must face the inevitable and cliched ‘pivot’ to online. Carrigan and Fatsis’ essays unpack why that is necessary and how it can be done, leaving no definition uninterrogated.” Postdigital Science and Education
"Carrigan and Fatsis dissect the notion of public sociology, and then deftly put it together again. In the process, they present a new vision for public sociology that both honours its past and reimagines its futures." Deborah Lupton, UNSW Sydney
"The authors set out a well-tempered sociology to negotiate the new spaces and media of public discussion. The book is both exhortation and manual, a platform for a new public sociology." John Holmwood, University of Nottingham
Mark Carrigan is Research Associate in the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge.
Lambros Fatsis is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at City, University of London
Introduction
Chapter 1. Defining ‘the Public’
Chapter 2. The History of Platforms
Chapter 3. Between Publics and Platforms
Chapter 4. Sociology and its Platforms
Chapter 5. The Past, Present, and Future of Public Sociology
Chapter 6. Making Sociology Public
Chapter 7. Making Platforms Public
Chapter 8. Assembling Public Sociology
