Friday FAQs
On deck this week: public sociology, map-making, and Jack's current top 5 dance songs
An occasional series where I answer a frequently asked question or two about sociology, my research, or something somewhat related to this SpacEd Out endeavor. If you have a burning question you’d like to see me answer, let me know!
Question: What’s the difference between sociology (and the sociology writing you’re doing) and journalism?
Answer: A bit of background…Michael Burawoy was perhaps the most vocal modern-day sociologist calling for a public sociology, or “a process of mutual education” between the sociologist and the public via dialogue (2004:8). His 2004 Presidential Address breaks down four distinct types of sociological labor, one of which he sees as public sociology. There’s policy sociology, or “sociology in the service of a goal defined by a client” (9); think expert testimony by sociologists on Capitol Hill, like Tressie McMillan Cottom’s April 2019 testimony on the hearing for Reauthorizing the Higher Education Act: Strengthening Accountability to Protect Students and Taxpayers (44:45 start, 50:00ish end). There’s also professional sociology — the conceptual frameworks, methods, theories…the science behind the sociology that offers it a legitimacy that in turn makes sociology worth considering in the policy and public realms. And finally, there’s critical sociology, the “conscience” of professional sociology that highlights biases and omissions in the field’s foundations and offers alternative ways of problematizing social issues.
Public sociology is in service of returning social scientific knowledge to a general audience as a public good. We try to translate, share, and invite discussion around research as it connects to our individual and collective lives.
So we’re not journalists. As the editors of TheSocietyPages.org, a public sociology outlet from the American Sociological Association, write:
What sociologists are far better positioned and prepared to do is to take a step or two back from any issue, problem, or event (and how it is being covered) and figure out what else sociology may contribute to enhance or expand the initial media reporting and public dialogue. While we are poorly equipped to cover an emerging public health crisis or school shooting in the same way as CNN or the New York Times, we can and do have valuable research-based insights to share drawn from studies of prior public health crises and mass shooting events.
Journalism is focused on reporting the facts of a story, while sociological writing works to explain how, when, and why a single story is indicative of a more universal phenomenon. There are also differences between journalists and sociologists in terms of expectations around ethics, audience, and methodology…but what you’ll find here at SpacEd Out is my humble effort to heed Burawoy’s call to serve as a public sociologist.
Question: How did you make the maps you included in your school closure post?
Answer: I cleaned and analyzed the data in R but I made the maps through ArcGIS Online (which I luckily have access to through Cornell). You can make maps in R, though — I just have more experience in ArcGIS and it was most time-efficient for me to use that rather than code new maps in R. Another open source mapping service that you could check out if you’d want to learn on your own is QGIS. Or if you want to just make your own maps for everyday life, check out mymaps.google.com. I use this a lot for vacation planning, hosting family and friends, or to situate myself a bit before diving into a spatial research question. Here’s an example of a map of restaurant, bar, and activity recommendations I made for my fellow Cornell grad students ahead of the 2023 American Sociological Association Conference that was held in Philadelphia that year.
Question: What’s Jack dancing to these days?
Answer: With an eclectic taste like his father, Jack’s been jamming to:
Mountain Dew by The Clancy Brothers off of their Hearty and Hellish live album (but *only* if played on our record player — this youtube version would not suffice for our Irish Prince!!!)
If You Are Stripey, You Might Be a Tiger by the Tiger who sits on the Toniebox and holy cannoli this really is an absolute banger
Will Ye Go, Lassie Go from Sinners
Orinoco Flow by Enya
The Bodyguard album because this kid has taste!!!
We love spacedoutsociology and are learning so much. Thank you for these interesting and informative writing and the personal touches.
My question maybe a little off your current writings but very relevant:
Question: Besides improved pay and funding, how can we improve teacher retention?
Dr. Steve Connelly