The Public and Their Platforms: Public Sociology in an Era of Social Media

by Mark Carrigan, Lambros Fatsis

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781529201086
Publisher:	Bristol University Press
Publication date:	06/09/2021
Series:	Public Sociology
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	684 KB

About the Author

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

Table of Contents

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

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"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

Editorial Reviews

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

From the Publisher