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Making Sociology Public

This chapter explores ways of practising sociology online in ways that benefit rather than alienate the discipline from itself, its practitioners, and its audiences. It discusses multiple challenges that sneak up slyly, including the ability to translate sociological research into social media content and the allure of narcissistic self-promotion or institutional pressure to ply scholarly wares online as enterprising brand ambassadors. It also sketches out a plan for engaging with social media in ways that do not compromise sociological rigour or academic solidarity. The chapter explains how existing categories obscure a diffuse publicness that characterizes the use of social media by sociologists, even when no explicit attempt is being made to pursue this. It refers to the decentring of outputs, expertise, and knowledge that requires a firmer grounding in the institutional conditions in which sociologists work.