A szociológia szorgos angyala. Néhány gondolat Michael Burawoy közszociológiai programja kapcsán
The Diligent Angel of Sociology. Some Thoughts Á Propos of Michael Burawoy’s Program of Public Sociology

Summary/Abstract: This article comments on Michael Burawoy’s article ‘For Public Sociology’. The essence of Burawoy’s program could be summarized in two major statements. Firstly, that sociology is in a state of crisis, secondly that the way out of this crisis might be in the strengthening of public sociology. Although Dessewffy finds that the diagnosis on the state of sociology is shared by many, Burawoy`s reaction to the crisis appears to be problematic in a number of aspects. It is unclear, for instance, what is the cause and what is the consequence in this relation: in fact with his public sociology program Burawoy urges the engagement of sociology with civil society, while others—Peter Berger, for instance—sees the cause of the crisis specifically in sociology’s ideological commitment and the politization of sociology’s program. Burawoy’s initiative reacts primarily to the problems within the American context, which differs in key aspects from the Hungarian constellation: here, the sociological discourse never had such an influence on the public discourses as in the US in the sixties-seventies; hence, it is nothing to ‘regain’. Furthermore, the Hungarian intellectual landscape lacks the form of institutions which are the centre of policy sociology in the US: the think thanks. Thus, although the problems exposed by Burawoy are relevant, his proposed course of action is certainly not applicable in Hungary.

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