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SOCIAL PROBLEMS OR SOCIAL SOLUTIONS? the ROLE of PUBLIC SOCIOLOGY in ADDRESSING CONTEMPORARY CRISES Author(S): Philip W

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SOCIAL PROBLEMS OR SOCIAL SOLUTIONS? the ROLE of PUBLIC SOCIOLOGY in ADDRESSING CONTEMPORARY CRISES Author(S): Philip W SOCIAL PROBLEMS OR SOCIAL SOLUTIONS? THE ROLE OF PUBLIC SOCIOLOGY IN ADDRESSING CONTEMPORARY CRISES Author(s): Philip W. Nyden Source: Michigan Sociological Review, Vol. 24, RESEARCH ON POVERTY IN MICHIGAN (Fall 2010), pp. 5-18 Published by: Michigan Sociological Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40969151 . Accessed: 30/05/2014 10:36 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Michigan Sociological Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Michigan Sociological Review. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 147.126.10.132 on Fri, 30 May 2014 10:36:22 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 2009 KEYNOTE ADDRESS Philip W. Nyden LoyolaUniversity Chicago SOCIAL PROBLEMS OR SOCIAL SOLUTIONS? THE ROLE OF PUBLIC SOCIOLOGY IN ADDRESSING CONTEMPORARY CRISES Most everysociology department in the UnitedStates has a course entitled,"Social Problems." Few, if any,have a courseentitled "social solutions." This orientation- whether in ourteaching or in ourresearch - suggestsa crisisin therelevancy of our disciplinein solvingthe many issuesfacing local communities,regions, our nation, and ourworld. Are we to be contentin just analyzingand describingthe myriad of problems facingour society,or are we to become moreengaged in workingwith othersin seekingsolutions to these problems? This is at the core of discussionsaround public sociology over the past decade. We shouldnot assume that producing quality sociological research or being objective in our research precludes workingon innovative solutionsin addressingsociety's challenges. The same researchand analyticalskills that allow us to gainan understandingof social problems can be usedto go a stepfurther in exploringsolutions. We shouldnot be satisfiedwith studyingwhat is, but ratherbe part of the process of exploringwhat can be. There certainlyis a traditionof emersionin local communitiesin sociologicalresearch. The rich ethnographiesof the Chicago School sociologistsin the 1920s and 1930s, the now classic studyof Boston's North End Italian communityby HerbertGans (1965), or Robert CourtneySmith's recent study of Mexicanimmigrants in New YorkCity (2006) arecertainly examples of theconnection of ourfield to day-to-day communitylife. Therehave been prominentexamples of sociologists gettinginvolved in high-profileresearch that informsand ultimately helpsto shapepolicy. JamesColeman's workon educationand Daniel This content downloaded from 147.126.10.132 on Fri, 30 May 2014 10:36:22 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions NYDEN:SOCIAL PROBLEMS OR SOCIAL SOLUTIONS Moynihan'swork on welfareare prominentand controversialexamples of suchwork. However,if academicsociologists step away from an exclusivefocus on doingresearch for publication in peer reviewedjournals, and move towardmore policy work or activistwork, they start walking onto thinner ice in terms of supportfrom their discipline and the academic departmentsthat enforce the standardsof thatdiscipline. Signposts markthe dangers. Colleaguesraise questionsabout how "balanced"a researcheris as the researcherworks with community organizations in seekingsolutions to local problems. In tenureand promotionpolicies, departmentsdo not always value sociologicalresearch work with non- academicagencies. Althougha reportto a local advocacyorganization mightultimately be used to improvethe lives of thousandsof community residents,it is stillthe peer-reviewed article published in a sociological journalthat is the gold standardof our discipline. The factthat the journalarticle might ultimately be read by just 200 fellowsociologists andnot thousands outside of thefield is notseen as relevant. This standardis establishedformally and informallyin interactions by graduatestudents and juniorfaculty with senior colleagues. In their formativeyears in thediscipline, untenured faculty are toldto "waituntil you get tenure,"before you do community-engagedwork or any more activistsociology. Moreoften than not sociologists heeding this advice remainin thismore discipline-bound and passive mode after tenure. This historicalconservatism in the field oftenpushed prospective activistscholars to themargins of thefield. WhileJane Addams had a workingrelationship with male sociologistsat the new Universityof Chicago,there were timeswhen it was easierto develop and carryout research outside the boundariesof academic sociology. Her participatoryaction researchon the causes of infantmortality in Chicago's immigrantslums led to local and nationalpolicies that saved thousandsof lives (Deegan 1990). Communityorganizer and Industrial Areas Foundation founder Saul Alinsky demonstratedintellectual prowessin his briefstint in the university,but ultimatelyhe found workingoutside the constraintsof academic disciplinesto be a more productiveavenue when pursuing significantcommunity change. Alinskywas freein his criticismof academics. In a 1972 interviewin his 6 This content downloaded from 147.126.10.132 on Fri, 30 May 2014 10:36:22 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions MICHIGANSOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW, VOL. 24 FALL 2010 familiarearthy style he remarked,"Asking a sociologistto solve a problemis likeprescribing an enemafor diarrhea." (Norden 1972), The marginalizationof Harvard-educatedsociologist W.E.B. DuBois is anothercase in point. Partiallya reflectionof racismthrough much of the 20thcentury and partiallya resultof the fact thathis scholarship focusedon howto confrontracial inequality in theUnited States, DuBois has not always been part of the sociological canon presentedto undergraduatesand graduatestudents. This has changedin recentyears, butnevertheless reflects the discomfort with activist researchers that the fieldhas displayedduring much of itshistory. Ratherthan falling victim to the same problems-orientedapproach forwhich I am criticizingthe discipline, I am suggestinga re-orientation of thefield to embraceengaged and activistscholarship. Since Michael Burawoy'spresidency of theAmerican Sociological Association in 2004 and his subsequentarticles and speechesoutlining and promotingpublic sociology,the connectionof our field to non-academicworlds has receivedincreased attention (Burawoy 2005; Nydenet al. 2011). I am not proposingthat all sociologistsengage in public scholarship,but ratherI am suggestingthat the field recognize and embrace this orientationas one of the many intellectualand researchapproaches availableto us. Even morespecifically, I am focusingon the promise and benefitof collaborativeresearch - a researchapproach that involves non-academicpartners at all facets of the researchenterprise from conceptualizationof researchquestions to thegathering of data and the authorshipof research outcomes. CollaborativeUniversity-Community Research Involvingnon-academics in the researchprocess is nothingnew. The long historyof what has variouslybeen called, action research, participatoryaction research, and community-basedparticipatory action research,has involved cooperationamong trainedresearchers and communitymembers in variousways. (Park 1993; Stoeckeret al. 2003) Over the past 35 years,my own experiencehas been shaped through directparticipation in collaborativeresearch projects, coordination of the Policy Research Action Group (PRAG) a Chicago-baseduniversity- 7 This content downloaded from 147.126.10.132 on Fri, 30 May 2014 10:36:22 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions NYDEN:SOCIALPROBLEMS OR SOCIAL SOLUTIONS * communityresearch network from 1989 to 2004, and, forthe past 15 years,directing the Center for Urban Research and Learning(CURL), a university-basedcollaborative research center at Loyola University Chicago. At theheart of all of thiscollaborative research is the premisethat knowledgeis producedboth inside and outsidethe university. It is assumedthat a moreeffective way of developingthis knowledge is to combine both sets of knowledge. Finally, it is understoodthat combiningthese sets of knowledgenecessarily involves engaging the producersof both sets of knowledge directly in theresearch process. Community-basedknowledge includes the everyday lived experience in communities,organizations, government agencies, social change movements,and otherplaces outsideof universitysettings. This can includethe sum-totalof knowledgeof presentand past membersof a community-basedorganization; this can includedetailed knowledge of bothpast effortsto bringabout community change and perspectiveson why advocacy initiativesin the past have succeeded or failed. It includes an awareness of complex social interactions,community histories,and individualhistories. In somecases community-basedknowledge includes innovative ideas aboutsolutions to addressproblems facing the community or a service- deliveryprogram, but not necessarily an understandingof how effective these interventionshave been. On the communityside, systematic collectionof data,routine evaluation, and comparisons to othermodels in othercommunities or organizations,are notalways top priorities.There maybe an awarenessof problemsbut not the complete analytical tool set
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