public criminology or media tarts

1. Public Criminologyor media tarts? nic groombridge st mary�s university college, twickenham groomn@smuc.ac.uk

3. What is/might be public crim? Burawoy (but also Zahn for 1998 ASC Presidential Address and in UK Garland and Sparks, 2000) Reactions to Burawoy (see more in Chancer and McLaughlin) Sociology/criminology different? USA criminology different?

4. �not a public sociologist� but has been and is becoming one again In his 2004 presidential address to American Sociological Association �if we map out the division of sociological labor, we discover antagonistic interdependence among four types of knowledge: professional, critical, policy, and public� (my emphases) In British media

5. Reactions to Burawoy 3,430 hits on Google under �burawoy public sociology presidential address�, 1,780 on Google Scholar, 171 on Google books and 36 blogs Tittle (2004) is clear that: �If my interpretation of the meaning of �public sociology� is correct, then a program encouraging sociologists to become more �public� would appear to be a mistake. In my opinion, �public sociology� (1) involves some false assumptions, (2) endangers what little legitimacy sociology has, thereby helping to undermine the chances of sociological knowledge ever being taken seriously in public arenas, and (3) is, in fact, incompatible with good �professional sociology�. (pp.1639�40)

6. Mine (Criminologists Say) some of the things said of criminologists or about criminology in the UK�s national newspapers in 2004 and a contribution to �public criminology� Mirrored Gaber�s work on sociology (a BSA response to Burawoy) Some criminologists well used but pressure groups and NGOs to fore and some mentions trivial (e.g. nude roller coasting criminology students, The Express and Star, 22 May 2004) Just about everyone but criminologist quoted BSC no public position and ASC only against death penalty

7. Position of Sociology different? Sociology and democracy?(next 2 slides from Stephen Turner) Comte �There is no liberty of conscience in astronomy, in physics, or even in physiology� �What does it mean for liberal democracy if a significant part of public discourse is false or erroneous?� �The implicit deal that has been the basis of sociology�s claim on society has been that supporting sociology as a research and academic discipline will produce results that have a positive effect on societal problems through authoritative expertise� �As an academic subject, sociology operates under the autonomy granted to the university, and [�] fields that conflict with public opinion can survive, even flourish, by attracting students who are skeptical of public orthodoxies. [�] sociology has flourished, precisely in its role as an alternative to public opinion.� �There is a conflict in the abstract [..] between liberal democracy and a �social science� that makes �political� pronouncements� To get round this need to recognise, �When sociologists ally themselves to a social movement in an organic manner they do so out of individual choice�

8. Position of SociologyCan any of these be related to criminology? �The model is women�s studies, which purports to represent the standpoint of women, and stands in a special relationship of mutuality, organic and dialogic, with the feminist movement� �The kind of sociological scholarship Burawoy is legitimating under the heading of organic public sociology is advocacy scholarship: it consciously attempts to understand and articulate the standpoint of some group in society� �Burawoy supplies a parallel neutrality assumption: group advocacy scholarship, or what he characterizes as audience specific organic public sociology, is acceptable in principle as public sociology regardless of the group.� So public criminologists for each of the vertices of the �square of crime� and some?

9. Problems of public crim in respect of criminology Tittle says: �we cannot say with even reasonable certainty what causes crime, we do not know with much assurance whether or under what conditions arresting domestic abusers deters their future misconduct, we do not know whether gun control prevents violence and we do not even know for sure the extent to which the death penalty curbs capital crime� My concern that �Criminology� too HO/MoJ oriented, imbricated/implicated in �policy� crim

10. USA criminology different? (Hall and Winlow) Its need to be more defensive given the politics so no model for us? Burawoy himself seeks to parochialise US sociology So Ireland different again

11. Attempts to do public crim David Wilson � celebrity criminologist? (In 2004 managed 26 mentions, including an authored article apiece in The Guardian and The Independent. However, 15 of these mentions were in The Sun�s multiple edition coverage of his standing down as an adviser to the reality TV programme Big Brother!) David Wilson and I (his/Five�s Banged Up as contribution to public crim) �I�m Making a TV Programme Here!�: Reality TV�s Banged Up and Public Criminology �It is a shame that the late modern condition should render reality TV such power but it has to be recognised that the shortage of Habermasian civic spaces for communication mean that criminologists, penal reformers and politicians alike may have to sup with this particular devil.� �There is room for much more �public intellectual� engagement in the media than we might think. For academics, I believe there is no more important activity in the face of the growth of the criminal justice state. (John Tulloch) Richard Garside/CCJS (our story on my my public criminology blog and follow up) Teaching (Burawoy includes this) including online (my blog for students) Ian O�Donnell (a notable contributor in Ireland on prison and research)

12. A sort of conclusion I concluded: �In discussion with Laurie Taylor and Geoff Mulgan of the Young Foundation on Radio 4�s Thinking Allowed (19 October 2005), Professor Dick Hobbs may have only been slightly joking when observing that perhaps sociology and criminology needed a spin doctor to get politicians and the media to pay attention to our work. He was responding to Mulgan�s contention that sociology was not part of the �mental furniture� of �people in power�. If criminology wants to be part of the �mental furniture� of people in power and those who advise and vote for people in power, it must take engagement with the media more seriously, not simply analysing it. As the ESRC says: �For politicians in particular, a piece of research may only become ��real�� when it has appeared in a newspaper.� Or web (where this presentation can be found) or facebook, my space, twitter etc That is risk becoming a media tart or �the risk of being regarded�O dread!�as a �popularizer� rather than a serious researcher�. (Currie, 2007, 182) but note the theoretical debates and the practical difficulties of dealing with media

13. References Barak, Gregg (2007) �Doing newsmaking criminology from within the academy� Theoretical Criminology 11(2): 191�207 Burawoy, Mike. (2005) �2004 American Sociological Association presidential address: for public sociology�, British Journal of Sociology, 56(2): 259�94. Chancer, Lynn and Mclaughlin, Eugene (2007) �Public criminologies: Diverse perspectives on academia and policy� Theoretical Criminology11(2): 155�173 Currie, Elliott (2007) �Against marginality: Arguments for a public criminology� Theoretical Criminology 11(2): 175�190 Gaber, Annaliza �Media Coverage of Sociology� 10(3) Sociological Research online Garland, David and Sparks, Richard (2000) �Criminology, Social Theory and the Challenge of Our Times�, British Journal of Criminology 40(2): 189�204. Groombridge, Nic (2007) �Criminologists Say...: An Analysis of UK National Press Coverage of Criminology and Criminologists and a Contribution to the Debate on 'Public Criminology' Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 46(5): 459-475 Hall, Steve, Winlow, Simon and Ancrum, Craig Criminal Identities and Consumer Culture Willan Tittle, C. (2004) �The Arrogance of Public Criminology�, Social Forces 82(4): 1639�43 Tulloch, John �Becoming Iconic� Criminal Justice Matters No 73 pp 33-34 September 2008 Turner, Stephen (2007) �Public Sociology and Democratic Theory� Sociology 41: 785-798 Wilson, David and Groombridge, Nic (forthcoming) ��I�m Making a TV Programme Here!�: Reality TV�s Banged Up and Public Criminology� Crime, Media and Culture Zahn, M. (1999) �Thoughts on the Future of Criminology�the American Society of Criminology�, 1998 Presidential Address, Criminology 37(1): 1�15. And Loader and Sparks book due in Sept 2009