The British Sociological Association’s video advocates a “public social science.” This video below also argues that applied sociologists (researchers working outside academia “with the community” as they say here) should see themselves as activists. (We already do, thank you.) I like this direction and I wish more professional associations for the social sciences would engage in more proactive public science.
Social science work is still largely hidden behind paywalls. We should be publishing more public lectures online. While many sociologists blog and use social media, there is still a huge gap to fill. In Australia, it’s largely postgraduates and early career researchers who use social media to regularly communicate research. Relatively few senior academics or applied researchers engage in online public science.
First published on Science on Google+
The Other Sociologist 