ABSTRACT
Bringing sociology to the public means sharing sociological concepts, research and perspectives in spaces beyond traditional academic boundaries. This chapter examines the Everyday Sociology Blog as one form of public sociology. The ESB is one of the longest running group sociology blogs, with more than seven million hits, having published more than 1,000 posts since 2007. A core sentiment of the ESB is that sociology is for the public. As Karen Sternheimer wrote in describing the blog, the tools of sociology ‘are not magic wands or secret codes – in fact, we want to share them with you so we can all have a deeper and richer understanding of the world around us.’
Here, current ESB contributors discuss how our work broadens public understanding of sociology. Recognizing our diverse social identities and range of institutional and disciplinary positions, we discuss challenges, such as whether blogging is regarded by our colleagues as scholarly activity, and rewards, like public engagement. We examine how public sociology writing can be a scholarly effort contributing to the discipline while also broadening engagement with sociology. As Sternheimer suggested, ‘[W]e are all really students of sociology, aren’t we?’
