This is a term coined by Michael Burawoy as a way of providing solutions to social problems. Goals are usually defined by a client, which could be the government. Policy sociology provides instrumental knowledge, that is, knowledge that can be used to solve or help a specific case in the social world. According to Burawoy, the information gathered from policy sociology is open to an extra-academic audience. It is not confined to academic boundaries. The findings of policy sociology research are likely to have an effect on the general public as they could have an impact on government policy.
Famous quotes containing the words policy and/or sociology:
“In considering the policy to be adopted for suppressing the insurrection, I have been anxious and careful that the inevitable conflict for this purpose shall not degenerate into a violent and remorseless revolutionary struggle.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“Parenting, as an unpaid occupation outside the world of public power, entails lower status, less power, and less control of resources than paid work.”
—Nancy Chodorow, U.S. professor, and sociologist. The Reproduction of Mothering Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender, ch. 2 (1978)