Knowledge for Whom?
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www.ebook3000.com KNOWLEDGE FOR WHOM? What’s the point of sociology? Sociology has long been the most self-questioning of disciplines. Recently, such self-interrogation has involved discussion about what kinds of audiences sociology reaches and should be reaching. This book constitutes a vast leap forward in the “public sociology” debates, enriching them with historical depth, philosophical sophistication, and a truly global vision. An exceptionally attention-grabbing contribution. David Inglis, University of Exeter, UK www.ebook3000.com Public Intellectuals and the Sociology of Knowledge Series Editors Dr Andreas Hess, University College Dublin, Ireland Dr Neil McLaughlin, McMaster University, Canada The sociology of knowledge has a long and distinctive history. Its function has always been that of attempting to bridge the aspirations of the discursive and institutional founding fathers of sociology with that of modern attempts to define the discipline through the study of the emergence, role and social function of ideas. However, since Mannheim first outlined his program in the 1920s, the sociology of knowledge has undergone many changes. The field has become extremely differentiated and some of its best practitioners now sail under different flags and discuss their work under different headings. This new series charts the progress that has been made in recent times – despite the different labels. Be it intellectual history Cambridge-style, the new sociology of ideas which is now gaining strength in North America, or the more European cultural analysis which is associated with the name of Bourdieu, this series aims at being inclusive while simultaneously striving for sociological insight and excellence. All too often modern attempts in the sociology of knowledge, broadly conceived, have only looked at form while they downplayed or disregarded content, substance of argument or meaning. This series will help to rectify this. www.ebook3000.com Knowledge for Whom? Public Sociology in the Making Edited by CHRISTIAN FLECK University of Graz, Austria ANDREAS HESS University College Dublin, Ireland www.ebook3000.com © Christian Fleck and Andreas Hess 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Christian Fleck and Andreas Hess have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editors of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Wey Court East 110 Cherry Street Union Road Suite 3-1 Farnham Burlington, VT 05401–3818 Surrey, GU9 7PT USA England www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows: Fleck, Christian, 1954- Knowledge for whom?: public sociology in the making / by Christian Fleck and Andreas Hess. pages cm. -- (Public intellectuals and the sociology of knowledge) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4094-3458-0 (hardback) -- ISBN 978-1-4094-3459-7 (ebook) -- ISBN 978- 1-4724-0191-5 (epub) 1. Sociology. 2. Intellectuals. I. Hess, Andreas. II. Title. HM435.F56 2013 301--dc23 2013020281 ISBN 9781409434580 (hbk) ISBN 9781409434597 (ebk – PDF) ISBN 9781472401915 (ebk – ePUB) IV www.ebook3000.com Contents List of Figures and Tables vii List of Contributors ix Introduction: Public Sociology in the Making 1 Christian Fleck and Andreas Hess PART I PUBLIC INTELLECTUALS AND THEIR AFTERLIVES: BIOGRAPHIES, REPUTATION-BUILDING AND ACADEMIC DISCIPLINES 1 Biography in the Social Sciences: The Case of Marcel Mauss 19 Marcel Fournier 2 Making Sense of Individual Creativity: An Attempt to Trespass the Academic Boundaries of the Sociology of Ideas and Intellectual History 27 Andreas Hess 3 Scholarly Publishing Projects in the Great Depression: The Works of G.H. Mead and the Payne Fund Studies 47 Daniel R. Huebner 4 Psychology and Sociology in the Late 19th Century French Intellectual Field: The Case of the Revue Internationale de Sociologie 67 Marcia Cristina Consolim 5 From Communicative Memory to Non-History – Czech and Polish Narratives of Sociology’s Past 89 Jarosław Kilias PART II SERVING THE PUBLIC OR SERVING THE STATE?: TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL AND STATE-RELATED HISTORIES 6 Research For Whom?: Changing Conceptions of Disciplinarity in the American University 109 Daniel Gordon www.ebook3000.com vi Knowledge for Whom? 7 The Making of “Excellence” in the European Research Area: How Research Funding Organizations Work 127 Barbara Hoenig 8 Using Scientific Knowledge in Policy Making: The Importance of Organizational Culture 147 Sally Shortall 9 Public Sociology in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore 163 Albert Tzeng 10 A Chapter in the History of Brazilian Sociology: UNESCO Research about Race Relations and the Unexpected Prejudice against Poles in Curitiba (Paraná) 185 Márcio de Oliveira PART III INTELLECTUALS AND THEIR AUDIENCES 11 Blurring the Boundary Line: The Origins and Fate of Robert Bellah’s Symbolic Realism 205 Matteo Bortolini 12 How Spaces of Opinion Shape Public Intellectuals: A Field-based Approach to Project Syndicate-Op-Eds 229 Philipp Korom 13 The Role of Public Intellectual in the Role-Set of Academics 253 Ragnvald Kalleberg 14 Critics as Cultural Intermediaries 275 Thomas Crosbie and Jonathan Roberge 15 World Sociology: The View from Atlantis 299 Andrew Abbott Index 317 www.ebook3000.com List of Figures and Tables Figure 11.1 Fractal image of the main currents of thought analysed in this chapter 214 Tables 9.1 Division of Sociological Labour 164 9.2 Modes of Public Engagement of Sociologists 165 9.3 Sorting Template of Public Sociology 166 9.4 Cases of Organized Public Engagement of Taiwanese Sociologists 177 9.5 Public Engagement of Sociologists in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore 179 10.1 Marriage Preferences (in per cent) 193 11.1 Positional Similarities between Interpretive Social Scientists 215 12.1 Occupational Composition of all Contributors (Left Column) to the Project Syndicate-Space and of a Selected Subgroup (right columns) of Think Tank and University Affiliated Writers 239 12.2 Per cent of Affiliation to Universities and Think Tanks 241 12.3 Distinct Vocabulary Profiles within the Group of Public Intellectuals (N = 44) 243 12.4. 47 Public Intellectuals participating in Project Syndicate 248 www.ebook3000.com This page has been left blank intentionally www.ebook3000.com List of Contributors Andrew Abbott is Gustavus F. and Ann. M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, USA. Matteo Bortolini is Assistant Professor in sociology at the University of Padova, Italy. Marcia Cristina Consolim teaches sociology at the Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil. Thomas Crosbie is a doctoral student at Yale’s Center for Cultural Sociology, USA. Christian Fleck is Professor of Sociology at the University of Graz, Austria. Marcel Fournier is Professor of Sociology at the University of Montreal, Canada. Daniel Gordon is Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA. Andreas Hess teaches sociology at University College Dublin, Ireland. Barbara Hoenig is a postdoctoral researcher in sociology at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. Daniel R. Huebner is Adjunct Professor of Sociology at American University and Bowie State University, USA. Ragnvald Kalleberg is Professor of Sociology at the University of Oslo, Norway. Jarosław Kilias teaches sociology at Warsaw University, Poland. Philipp Korom was an Assistant Professor at the University of Graz and is now Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne, Germany. Márcio de Oliveira is Professor of Sociology in the Political Science and Sociology Department of Federal University of Paraná, Brazil. x Knowledge for Whom? Jonathan Roberge is Research Professor at the Center for Urban Culture and Society in Montreal, Canada. Sally Shortall is Professor of Sociology at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Albert Tzeng is IIAS-ISEAS Post-Doctoral Fellow at the International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden, the Netherlands. Introduction Public Sociology in the Making Christian Fleck and Andreas Hess Sociology, like some of its disciplinary neighbours, seems to be often regarded by others as an unhappy endeavour. Even some of its practitioners complain occasionally about failed achievements and the lack of acknowledgement. Sociologists just do not, so the complaint goes, get the credit they deserve. Politics and the larger public do not seem to pay attention to sociology’s recommendations of how best to solve the pressing social problems of our societies. Occasionally insights from sociology are even regarded to be beyond consideration. Why is it, one may ask, that other scientific disciplines are treated much more favourably? And looking at the tragic-comedy side of things, sociologists do not even seem be able to recognize themselves in fictional figures as they appear for example in David Lodge’s and Malcolm Bradbury’s novels. Are we that humourless? Do we not deserve better? When in May 2012 the Library of Congress awarded former president of Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso the John W. Kluge Prize for the Study of Humanity the Executive Officer of the American Sociological Association, Sally T. Hillsman,