Towards an affirmative sociology: The role of hope in making a better world

Through a series of articles, debates and symposia, the US sociologist Michael Burawoy has been calling for a renewed public sociology (2005a; 2005b; Burawoy et al. 2004), reaffirming the sociological ethos of making the world a better place. As part of this discussion Burawoy has suggested that students are sociology's 'first and captive' public and that teachers of sociology are all potentially public sociologists (2005a: 263, 266). This paper explores some implications of these suggestions, paying particular attention to the potentially negative effects of critical sociology on students as a public, and questions critical sociology's contribution to making a better world. It outlines the possibility of an alternative, affirmative sociology as a form of public sociology that might better serve the sociological ethos and engage students and other publics in that ethos