Sociologists Making Change
Public Engagement for Social Justice
Sociologists Making Change
Public Engagement for Social Justice
Description
Many sociologists enter their discipline motivated to make a living doing intellectual labor in a way that also will make the world a more just place, only to find that academic institutional constraints routinely impede their pursuit of that original goal.
Sociologists Making Change gathers more than a dozen examples of the real-world activism of US sociologists, who confront those constraints and get involved in political and social change efforts in addition to their conventional teaching and academic research.
This volume provides a resource for sociologists aiming to enter, stay on, or get back onto a path of public engagement. Without imposing a singular vision of how to follow that path, the editors and contributors illuminate a variety of ways to pursue change-oriented sociology. While such publicly engaged sociology is not a requisite role for every sociologist, it is consistent with a long sociological tradition. In this time and in the foreseeable future, the book argues, both the public and sociology as a discipline could benefit from research, teaching, and activism that aims to make a difference. Sociologists Making Change offers a path for sociologists collectively to build better public visibility in ways that make the discipline better understood and more valued in the public mind.
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Table of Contents
Introduction: How Can Sociologists Contribute to Political and Social Change? by Dale W. Wimberley and Jon Shefner
Part 1: Working Within the University for Change
Chapter 1: When Activism Gets Undermined by the Unexpected: The Science and Politics of Microaggressions at a Southern University by Kirk A. Johnson
Chapter 2: Making Change through the Everyday Life of a Faculty Member in the Deep South: Studying Abortion and Leading a Gender Studies Program in Mississippi by Kimberly Kelly
Chapter 3: The Ethics of Social Change: Navigating Community-Engaged Research at University-Based Research Centers by Carrie Lee Smith
Chapter 4: Teaching During a Storm: The Killing of Sam Dubose by Earl Wright II
Part 2: Pressing for Change Through Electoral Politics
Chapter 5: Challenging Civil War Memorialization: Renaming “Robert E. Lee High School” in Staunton, Virginia by Stephen C. Poulson
Chapter 6: Practicing Politics, Practicing Sociology: Applying Sociology as an Elected Official in Local Government by Anna M. Sorensen
Chapter 7: Progressive Political Activism in Southwest Virginia: A Local Indivisible Group Protecting Democracy by Dale W. Wimberley
Part 3: Movements For Rights, Recognition, And Equality
Chapter 8: We Say No to Moss 3 Landfill! Using Sociology to Fight for Environmental Justice in Appalachian Virginia by Shannon E. Bell, Amy Branson, and Amanda Burroughs
Chapter 9: Building and Sustaining a Movement for Immigrant Rights in Knoxville, Tennessee by Meghan Conley
Chapter 10: Activist Public Sociology Informing the Rental Housing Crisis in Jacksonville Florida by David Jaffee
Chapter 11: Sociology in the Borderlands: Bridging Global Human Rights and Local Advocacy in U.S. Cities by Jackie Smith
Part 4: Scholar Activists Over the Life Course
Chapter 12: Curating the Outfit: My Pathway toward Integrating Sociology and Organizing through Institution Building by Lisa East
Chapter 13: A Life Worth Living: My Sociologically Engaged Path toward LGBQTI+ Justice by Christine M. Robinson
Chapter 14: A Social Movement Career as a Sociologist: Confronting the Dilemma Of Expertise by Jon Shefner
Epilogue by Jon Shefner and Dale Wimberley
Index
About the Editors
About the Contributors
Product details
| Published | 17 Sep 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (Epub & Mobi) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 224 |
| ISBN | 9781978760547 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Illustrations | 5 bw figures |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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