Abstract
This article reflects the idea of public sociology, as advocated and popularised by Michael Burawoy. His project of morally and politically informed social inquiry has been widely discussed and generally accepted as a new statement of the role, means and goals of sociology.
Burawoy in his presidential address to the American Sociological Association presented 11 programmatic theses culminating in an appeal addressed to sociologists asking them to transform their attitude towards the world they study. This article concentrates on three aspects of the promoted project: differentiation of sociology into four types, periodization of the history of sociology, and his challenge calling the social scientists to public engagement.
Burawoy's idea of public sociology is confronted both with old and new conceptions of morally and politically informed sociology (Gouldner, Seidman, the rhetorical turn in social sciences and humanities, postmodern social theory). His normative vision of the role of sociology is brought into context of the discussions of the possible limits of the public role, which the social scientists would play, if they internalised Burawoy's instructions.