- Title Pages
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- One The sociologist as voyeur
- Two Why sociology?
- Three Sociology as a science/technology of freedom
- Four Why sociology matters
- Five Passion, curiosity and integrity
- Six Sociology as democratic knowledge
- Seven Pushing at the boundaries of the discipline
- Eight Growing up as a sociologist in rural Shropshire
- Nine On the right-of-way
- Ten Living sociology
- Eleven Sociology for some, someone’s sociology…
- Twelve Imagining social science
- Thirteen From accidental to ambitious sociology
- Fourteen Sociographer by design? Boundary crossings and interdisciplinarity
- Fifteen ‘I am a sociologist’; but what exactly is a sociologist and how do you become one?
- Sixteen Sociology
- Seventeen Drift, opportunity and commitment
- Eighteen A passion for empirical sociology
- Nineteen Me, myself and sociology
- Twenty Turning to the psychosocial
- Twenty-One A long haul
- Twenty-Two Putting sociology to work in the NHS
- Twenty-Three Clinging to the precipice
- Twenty-Four The pursuit of a sociological career overseas and the navigation of an outsider perspective
- Twenty-Five Tales from the field
- Twenty-Six What sociology means to me
- Twenty-Seven Social science which engages with the real world
- Twenty-Eight A sporting chance? Notes on an ongoing career in the sociology of sport
- Twenty-Nine Sociology: involvement and detachment
- Thirty A career spent orbiting sociology
- Thirty-One Researching children’s lives
- Thirty-Two Following my star
- Thirty-Three ‘The epoch of belief…the epoch of incredulity’
- Recommended readings
- Resources for readers
- Index
Growing up as a sociologist in rural Shropshire
Growing up as a sociologist in rural Shropshire
- Chapter:
- (p.71) Eight Growing up as a sociologist in rural Shropshire
- Source:
- Sociologists' Tales
- Author(s):
John D Brewer
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
This chapter places an interest in sociology in its biographical context and stresses its role as a life enhancing and life changing discipline, one able to inform us about society and change the lives of those who study it. It addresses the emancipatory role of sociology teaching and research. C Wright Mills’s writings on the sociological imagination and Michael Burawoy’s work on public sociology are referenced as models by which new generations of sociologists might conceive the public and personal role of sociology. The personal commitments to a career in sociology intersect with the difficulties young sociologists face in the labour market to affect career paths but the discipline can be transformative for those willing to pursue this ambition.
Keywords: public sociology, emancipatory sociology, British Sociological Association, C Wright Mills, Michael Burawoy
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- Title Pages
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- One The sociologist as voyeur
- Two Why sociology?
- Three Sociology as a science/technology of freedom
- Four Why sociology matters
- Five Passion, curiosity and integrity
- Six Sociology as democratic knowledge
- Seven Pushing at the boundaries of the discipline
- Eight Growing up as a sociologist in rural Shropshire
- Nine On the right-of-way
- Ten Living sociology
- Eleven Sociology for some, someone’s sociology…
- Twelve Imagining social science
- Thirteen From accidental to ambitious sociology
- Fourteen Sociographer by design? Boundary crossings and interdisciplinarity
- Fifteen ‘I am a sociologist’; but what exactly is a sociologist and how do you become one?
- Sixteen Sociology
- Seventeen Drift, opportunity and commitment
- Eighteen A passion for empirical sociology
- Nineteen Me, myself and sociology
- Twenty Turning to the psychosocial
- Twenty-One A long haul
- Twenty-Two Putting sociology to work in the NHS
- Twenty-Three Clinging to the precipice
- Twenty-Four The pursuit of a sociological career overseas and the navigation of an outsider perspective
- Twenty-Five Tales from the field
- Twenty-Six What sociology means to me
- Twenty-Seven Social science which engages with the real world
- Twenty-Eight A sporting chance? Notes on an ongoing career in the sociology of sport
- Twenty-Nine Sociology: involvement and detachment
- Thirty A career spent orbiting sociology
- Thirty-One Researching children’s lives
- Thirty-Two Following my star
- Thirty-Three ‘The epoch of belief…the epoch of incredulity’
- Recommended readings
- Resources for readers
- Index
