Sociology in Action Applications and Opportunities for the 1990s

In the last decade of this century, sociology has grown into a major contributor to public debate and social policy. After a period of introspection and uncertainty, sociologists are becoming more self-confident about their subject's potential to influence events in the world at large. Here a collection of well known sociologists debate what this means for the way sociology is professionally practised in areas as diverse as regulating medicine, combating racism, managing manufacturing, evaluating wealth and poverty, and structuring education. The issues and opportunities they identify will interest both sociologists and other social scientists concerned with moving ideas into a framework for social action.

Notes on the Contributors - Sociology in Action?; M.Cross & G.Payne - Successful Applications of Sociology: Can Britain Learn from America?; M.Bulmer - Objective Sociological Knowledge or the Return of the Minotaur; P.Edwards - Clinical Sociology: What it might be; D.Blane - Engineering better Management; I.Glover & M.Kelly - Underclass and Overclass: the Widening Gulf between Social Classes in the 1980s; P.Townsend - Finding Ways to Engage Racism; T.Chivers & J.Sharp - Applied Sociology in the Contemporary British Context; J.Finch - A Sociologist in Action; M.Stacey - Researching the Sociology Curriculum; J.Gubbay - Graduate Labour Markets and the New Vocationalism in Higher Education; S.Murray & K.Murray - Skills and Capacities in the Sociology Curriculum; M.Albrow - References - Index

Geoff Payne, a former British Sociological Association President and Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences, teaches Social Divisions, and Research Methods, at Newcastle University, UK. Joint winner of the 2012 BSA/HEA National Award for Excellence in Teaching Sociology, he has worked in England and Scotland, and writes on class and social mobility.