Michael Burawoy (born 15 June 1947) is a sociologist working within

Marxist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...

social theory, best known as the leading proponent of

public sociology Public sociology is a subfield of the wider sociological discipline that emphasizes expanding the disciplinary boundaries of sociology in order to engage with non-academic audiences. It is perhaps best understood as a ''style'' of sociology rath ...

and the author of '' Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process Under Monopoly Capitalism''—a study on the sociology of industry that has been translated into a number of languages. Burawoy is a Professor of Sociology at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

. He was president of the

American Sociological Association The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fif ...

in 2004. In 2006–2010, he was one of the vice-presidents for the Committee of National Associations of the

International Sociological Association The International Sociological Association (ISA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to scientific purposes in the field of sociology and social sciences. It is an international sociological body, gathering both individuals and national soci ...

(ISA). In the XVII ISA World Congress of Sociology he was elected the 17th President of the International Sociological Association (ISA) for the period 2010–2014.

Biography

Burawoy was born on 15 June 1947. Graduating as a mathematics student from the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in 1968, Burawoy went on to pursue postgraduate study in the newly independent African nation of

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

, while simultaneously working as a researcher for

Anglo American PLC Anglo American plc is a British listed multinational mining company with headquarters in London, England. It is the world's largest producer of platinum, with around 40% of world output, as well as being a major producer of diamonds, copper ...

. Completing a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

at the

University of Zambia The University of Zambia (UNZA) is a public university located in Lusaka, Zambia. It is Zambia's largest and oldest learning institution. The university was established in 1965 and officially opened to the public on 12 July 1966. The language of ...

in 1972, Burawoy enrolled as a doctoral student at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, finishing a sociology dissertation with an ethnography of Chicago industrial workers, later to become '' Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process Under Monopoly Capitalism''. Burawoy joined the Department of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley in 1976 as an assistant professor. He served as Chair of the Department of Sociology for 1996-98, and 2000-02. Aside from Burawoy's sociological study of the industrial workplace in Zambia, Burawoy has studied industrial workplaces in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

, and post-Soviet

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

. His method of choice is usually

participant observation Participant observation is one type of data collection method by practitioner-scholars typically used in qualitative research and ethnography. This type of methodology is employed in many disciplines, particularly anthropology (incl. cultural a ...

, more specifically

ethnography Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...

. He has further expanded the

extended case method Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...

. For his book ''The Radiant Past: Ideology and Reality in Hungary's Road to Capitalism'' (1992) he worked as a furnace operator in a Hungarian steel plant. Based on his studies of the workplace he has looked into the nature of

postcolonialism Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. More specifically, it is a ...

, the organization of

state socialism State socialism is a political and economic ideology within the socialist movement that advocates state ownership of the means of production. This is intended either as a temporary measure, or as a characteristic of socialism in the transition ...

, and the problems in the transition from

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes th ...

. In more recent times, Burawoy has moved away from observing factories to looking at his own place of work—the university—to consider the way sociology is taught to students and how it is put into the public domain. His work on

is most prominently shown in his presidential address to the American Sociological Association in 2004, where he divides sociology into four separate (yet overlapping) categories: public sociology,

policy sociology ''Policy sociology'' is a term coined by Michael Burawoy referring to a way of providing solutions to social problems.''2004 American Sociological Association Presidential address: For public sociology'', The British Journal of Sociology 2005, Volum ...

(which has an extra-academic audience), professional sociology (which addresses an academic audience familiar with theoretical and methodological frameworks common to the discipline of sociology), and lastly

critical sociology A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from socia ...

which, like public sociology, produces reflexive knowledge but which is only available to an academic audience, like professional sociology.

Selected works

Books

Author (or co-author)

* ''The Colour of Class on the Copper Mines: From African Advancement to Zambianization''. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1972 * '' Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process Under Monopoly Capitalism''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979 * ''The Politics of Production: Factory Regimes Under Capitalism and Socialism''. London: Verso, 1985 * ''The Radiant Past: Ideology and Reality in Hungary's Road to Capitalism''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992 (With

János Lukács János Lukács (also known as Ioan Lucaci; 1 November 1946 – 6 March 2016) was a Romanian professional footballer of Hungarian ethnicity. Lukács grew up in his hometown at the local side, Forestierul Tileagd, then in 1965 moved to Divizia A ...

) * ''The Extended Case Method: Four Countries, Four Decades, Four Great Transformations, and One Theoretical Tradition'' (University of California Press), 2009

Collaborative and edited books

* ''Marxist Inquiries: Studies of Labor, Class and States''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Supplement to the American Journal of Sociology. Edited with

Theda Skocpol Theda Skocpol (born May 4, 1947) is an American sociologist and political scientist, who is currently the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University. She is a highly influential figure in both sociology and pol ...

, 1983 * ''Ethnography Unbound: Power and Resistance in the Modern Metropolis''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991 (With ten coauthors) * ''Uncertain Transition: Ethnographies of Change in the PostSocialist World''. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. Edited with Katherine Verdery, 1998 * ''От Деревянного Парижа к Панельной Орбите: Модель жилищных классов Сыктывкара''. (''From Timbered Paris to Concrete Orbita: The Structure of Housing Classes in Syktyvkar''). Syktyvkar: Institute of Regional Social Research of Komi, 1999 (With

Pavel Krotov Pavel Vadimovich Krotov (russian: Павел Вадимович Кротов; born 24 April 1992) is a Russian freestyle skier, specializing in aerials. Career Krotov competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics for Russia. He placed 9th in the first ...

and Tatyana Lytkina) * ''Global Ethnography: Forces, Connections and Imaginations in a Postmodern World''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000 (With nine coauthors)

Articles

* "Dwelling in Capitalism, Traveling Through Socialism.]" pp. 21–44 in Baldoz et al. (editors), ''The Critical Study of Work'' (Philadelphia: Temple University Press.) *
Pdf.
* "What Happened to the Working Class?" pp. 69–76 in Kevin Leicht (ed.), The Future of the Market transition (New York: JAI Press), 2002 * "Sociological Marxism." pp. 459–86 in Jonathan Turner (ed.), ''The Handbook of Sociological Theory'', 2002 (Plenum Books) (With Erik Wright) *
Pdf.
*
Pdf.
*
Pdf.
* "The Critical Turn to Public Sociology," pp. 309–322 in Rhonda Levine (ed.) ''Enriching the Sociological Imagination: How Radical Sociology Changed the Discipline'', New York, 2004 *
English pdf.
* "Antinomian Marxist," pp. 48–71 in Alan Sica and Stephen Turner (eds.), ''The Disobedient Generation: Social Theorists in the Sixties'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), 2005 *
Pdf.
* "Provincializing the Social Sciences." pp. 508–525 in George Steinmetz (editor), ''The Politics of Method in the Human Sciences: Positivism and its Epistemological Others'' (Durhman, NC: Duke University Press), 2005 *
Pdf.
*
Pdf.
* "Private Troubles and Public Issues," pp. 125–133 in

Andrew Barlow Andrew Nicholas Barlow (3 July 1899 – 13 July 1961) was an Australian Test cricket umpire. Barlow was born at Newport, Victoria. During World War I he volunteered for service in the Australian Imperial Force in September 1916 at the age o ...

(editor), ''Collaborations for Social Justice'' (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield), 2007 *
Pdf.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burawoy, Michael 1947 births Alumni of the University of Cambridge American ethnographers American Marxists American sociologists Living people Marxist writers Presidents of the American Sociological Association University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty University of Chicago alumni University of Zambia alumni World system scholars Presidents of the International Sociological Association