Page 74 - The ISA Handbook in Contemporary Sociology

9781412934633-Chap-04 1/10/09 8:41 AM Page 45

SOCIOLOGICAL PRACTICE 45

2
values and social interests. Conflicts like Association. The merging process of these
these might deter experts from participating different initiatives was not limited to a
in public debates and lead them to suppress broadened access to and interchanges among
critical comments on dominant values. members of these organizations. From an
The dilemma demands strong academic epistemological perspective, the paradigm of
institutions and networks to counterbal- sociotechnics moved away from an aspira-
ance these forms of repression (Benveniste, tion to establish a unique model for studying
1983). social practice and to make recommendations
At the end of the 1980s, we can see the for socially sustainable solutions for questions
contours of the following conclusions about of influence, social problems, democracy and
the possibilities and obligations for sociolo- management, to a more pragmatic position
gists working in the field of political recom- where problems and possible solutions were
mendations and social practice: regarded as closely linked to the context in
which they were situated. This gave a new
1 Definitions of problems and accessible strategic impetus to a long-recognized need for bring-
solutions are defined by the societal context. ing into discussion the wide range of experi-
2 Sociological practitioners are obliged to address ences from the whole spectrum of sociological
certain ethical questions concerning the values of intervention. This need was recognized by
accessible strategies before making recommen-
dations and interventions. Adam Podgórecki as a vital aspect of
3 Guidelines for sociological interventions are mul- Sociotechnics, as documented first in a series
tidimensional, and the theoretical approach must of volumes edited by him in Poland and later
be open to using different sociological theories to in his publications in English, including the
shed light on different aspects of social realities. 1996 volume edited by him with Jon
4 It is an important task for a sociological practice Alexander and Rob Shields. It might be inter-
to address the issue of conflicts between differ- ventions in family patterns as well as political
ent definitions of the problems and their connec- programmes. It might be the application of
tion to different public epistemologies and social macro-sociological theory as well as micro-
interests.
sociological theory.
Not only was the need of a multidimen-
sional sociology now introduced as a basic
approach to understanding sociotechnics, but
SOCIOLOGICAL PRACTICE a multidimensional practice was institution-
alized as the empirical point of departure.
In 1987, ISA approved the addition of the The ambition to have one outstanding matrix
term Sociological Practice to the name of for analysis and recommendation had receded
Research Committee RC26 at the RC’s into the background, and the conviction
request. The change was seen as ‘a response linked to early modernism, namely that it was
to the considerably increased number of possible to define rational solutions to prob-
scholars and practitioners engaged in various lems defined with consensus, had evaporated.
countries in developing and applying theo- As Adam Podgórecki defines the problem
ries and methods of social policy research in 1978, the ‘unexploited potentialities’ of
and utilization’ (Schmidt, 1987: 5). At the sociology compared to disciplines such as eco-
same time, the board of the Research nomics, legal sciences, demography and psy-
Committee established cooperation with chology stem from four major characteristics:
the three American organizations addressing
the utilization of social science, namely the 1 Sociology is not associated with a practical non-
Sociological Practice Section of the American academic profession.
Sociological Association, the Society for 2 Sociology is much younger as an academic
Applied Sociology and the Clinical Sociology discipline.