ABSTRACT
The essence of Michael Burawoy's argument is that there are four basic types of sociology: professional sociology, policy sociology, public sociology, and critical sociology. Each type of sociology reveals its own potential pathology: For professional sociology, it is self-referentiality; for policy sociology, it is servility to the demands of clients; for public sociology, it is faddishness; and for critical sociology, it is dogmatism. Burawoy's real program becomes more evident when distinguishing between traditional and organic public sociologies. Burawoy argues that a public sociology, fueled by ethical critique, naturally addresses "civil society" and the "autonomy of the social" in much the same way that the object of inquiry for political science is the state, and, for economics, the market. Part of the agenda for critical sociology is to help the oppressed, downtrodden, disenfranchised, poor, powerless, and other publics not able to enjoy the fruits of a wealthy society.
