Public Sociology

Philip Nyden is Co-Chair of the ASA Task Force for Institutionalizing Public Sociologies. Dr. Nyden was appointed as Director of the Loyola University Center for Urban Research and Learning (CURL) in January 1996. Dr. Nyden has worked with the City of Chicago Commission on Human Relations, the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities, the Organization of the Northeast, the Howard Area Community Center, the Evanston Human Relations Commission, Hull House, and the Human Relations Foundation on a variety of projects aimed at promoting stable diverse neighborhoods, improving access to quality affordable housing, gaining an understanding of the needs of youth and families in our local community, and understanding business development in economically diverse communities. Leslie Hossfeld is Co-Chair ASA Task Force for Institutionalizing Public Sociologies. Dr. Hossfeld is Associate Professor and Director of the Public Sociology Program at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She received the 2005 Faculty Fellow in Public Policy and Public Engagement at the Institute for Emerging Issues at North Carolina State University. Her research and activism addresses poverty and economic restructuring in rural North Carolina and she has made presentations to the United States Congress and to the North Carolina Legislature on the subject of job loss and rural economic decline and recovery. Dr. Hossfeld is Vice President of Sociologists for Women in Society. Gwen Nyden is a professor of sociology at Oakton Community College. For a number of years she has been active with the American Association of Community Colleges in promoting community-engagement component in course offerings around the country.

“The best part of this book at the prospectus reads is that it shows that sociologists are engaged outside the classroom and university walls. I think too often students see us lecture and in our offices, and think all we do is sit behind computers. Some of us do, but many of us like to be in the community trying to bring about change. It′s a "get your hands dirty" approach that a lot of students miss with the typical textbook.”

• Foreword by Michael BurawoyForeword by Steven RedfieldForeword by Dan E. MooreAcknowledgmentsChapter 1. Public Scholarship, the Sociological Imagination, and Engaged ScholarshipChapter 2. Crossing Boundaries in 21st-Century ResearchChapter 3. Starting Up and Sustaining Public Sociology ProjectsChapter 4. Career Guide for Public SociologistsCase Studies 1. Equitable Community Development1.1 Educating About Homelessness: A University-City Government Research Partnership1.2 Differential Impact of Gentrification and Displacement on Communities of Color1.3 Research in Action: Inner City Entrepreneurs1.4 Art and Equitable Community DevelopmentCase Studies 2: Environmental Issues2.1 Public Sociology for Environmental Health and Environmental Justice2.2 Learning From Disaster: Documenting the Impacts of Hurricane Katrina on Displaced College Students From New Orleans2.3 Working for Global Environmental Justice: Channeling Privilege, Producing New KnowledgeCase Studies 3: Regional Research and Data Collection to Enhance Public Knowledge3.1 Neighborhood, Region, and Place: The Chicago Experience3.2 The Sacramento State Annual Survey of the Region3.3 Reducing Hunger in Oregon3.4 PovertyEast.org: Poverty Information to Health Communities Address Critical Needs3.5 Sociology in Public ServiceCase Studies 4: Inequalities of Race, Class and Gender4.1 Bringing a Feminist Sociology to Smart-Girl: Building a University-Nonprofit Partnership4.2 Feminist Research in Action: An Intersectional Approach to Girlcentric Programming4.3 Youth Participation in Community Research for Racial Justice4.4 Building Resources to Create and Maintain Stable Diverse CommunitiesCase Studies 5: The Media5.1 The Media, ACORN, and Presidential Politics5.2 Pressuring Alcohol Companies to Reform Marketing Practices5.3 The Reel Girls Project: Self, Image, Adolescence, and Filmmaking5.4 The Internet as a Leveler Between Advantaged and Disadvantaged CommunitiesCase Studies 6: Health6.1 Teen Pregnancy Prevention6.2 Doing God′s Work and Doing Good Work(s): Unique Challenges to Evaluation Research in Ministry Settings6.3 Feast on the Southeast: Creating a Sustainable Local Food System in Southeastern North Carolina6.4 Challenging Discrimination Against Women, Minorities, and the Sick in Health Insurance6.5 Tobacco Use Prevention in Montana′s Frontier Communities: Developing New Rural StrategiesCase Studies 7: Crime, Reducing Violence and Promoting Justice7.1 Forty Years of Codifying and Mapping Homicides in Chicago: Impacts on Policing, Research, and Community Well-Being7.2 Racial Disparities in Criminal Justice in Wisconsin: Analysis, Graphs, and Engagement7.3 The Role of Relationship Building in Research Partnerships7.4 Hate Crime Motivation: The Practical Consequences of an Offender TypologyCase Studies 8: Community Organizing8.1 Cultivating Public Sociology From the Classroom: The Case of a Student-Organized Tenants Union8.2 The Unity of Theory and Practice: The U.S. Social Forum and Movement Building for Social Transformation8.3 When the Community Leads8.4 The "Third Place" ProjectConclusion: The Case for the New, Engaged, 21st-Century ScholarshipAbout the EditorsAbout the ContributorsIndex