German public intellectual Erich Fromm was the most influential and global public sociologist of the mid 20th cen tury as well as a central member of the Frankfurt School circle that create d what Michael Burawoy calls “critical sociology.” Yet we do not think of F romm as a public sociologist even though he was trained by Alfred Weber and influenced David Riesman\, C. Wright Mills\, and a generation of engaged M arxist scholars. Yet the canon of public sociology generally ignores Fromm\ , highlighting David Riesman\, C. Wright Mills and\, more recently\,W.E.B D uBois while Dorothy Smith often represents critical sociology. This present ation will examine the canonization process for public sociology and use th e case of Fromm to complicate the debate about whether public sociology und ermines professional sociological excellence. Fromm’s public sociological e ngagement allowed him to make unique intellectual contributions but it also had both negative and positive consequences for his professional sociology and attempts to change the world. An agenda for thinking about and studyin g public sociology is offered that can move the debate beyond for or agains t public sociology polemics in the age of social media-mediated celebrity i ntellectuals.
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[image_aligned img_url="https://soci.cms.arts.ubc.ca/wp-conten t/uploads/sites/3/2021/09/neil_mclaughlin_headshot.jpg" caption="Dr. Neil M cLaughlin" align="right"] Dr. Neil McLaughlin is a professor in the Departm ent of Sociology\, McMaster University where he teaches sociological theory \, political sociology\, social psychology\, and the sociology of ideas. Hi s most recent publications are Erich Fromm and Global Public Sociology< /em> (Bristol: Bristol University Press\, 2021) and (edited with Stephen Ha rold Riggins) Canadian Sociology in the First Person (Montreal-Kin gston: McGill-Queens University Press\, 2021). His article with Rhoda E. H oward-Hassmann “Ideacide: How online petitions and open letters undermine a cademic freedom and free expression” is forthcoming in Human Rights Quarterly in May 2022. He is currently researching the g lobal rise of conspiracy theories directed at philanthropist George Soros a nd the comparative politics of higher education funding.
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