Discerning the Heart and Soul of Public Sociology

ABSTRACT

This article tells the story forged from a research partnership among the authors and their respective organizations over two decades of partnership, of research practiced in a different key than many who engage in research have chosen. Building on Michael Burawoy’s (Burawoy 2005) articulation of public sociology, we present a protocol about a “way” of practicing public sociology, about human qualities by which and through which community-based research can be practiced, and what the authors have come to understand as the “heart and soul” of practicing sociological research.

KEYWORDS:

• Community and urban sociology
• race
• gender
• class
• sociological practice & public sociology
• Latino/a sociology

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. CHWs are lay community paraprofessional members of a team trained and certified to be liaisons (bridge builders) in their communities. They function in a unique CHW culture with specific job descriptions (May and Contreras 2007).

2. The protocol presented here is an adaptation of a research practice utilized widely in public health research called Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR). The CBPR model first broke strongly onto the scene in 1998 (Israel et al. 1998) and its many applications and refinements across disciplines have grown exponentially since (Andersson 2018; Belone et al. 2016; Collins et al. 2018; Devia et al. 2017; Felix 2007; Gibson, Flaspohler, and Watts 2015; Horowitz, Robinson, and Seifer 2009; Simonds et al. 2013; Teufel-Shone et al. 2019).

3. We stress that this protocol is not a methodology; public sociology can and does utilize the multiple methodologies in the house of sociology. Rather, our protocol is a mode of engagement with a public aimed at both revealing and enhancing the dignity and worth of all engaged in the research – researcher and community.

4. The added dimension of social trust interacting with relational trust adds further complexity, especially in times when levels of social trust are lower. (Robbins 2016).

5. An analogy is one of a Mexican/American cultural conflict, i.e., not white enough to fit into the dominant culture and yet not Mexican enough to fit into the original Mexican culture. The CHW is straddling a line, creating doubt as to where s/he fits.

6. When completed, the curriculum will be submitted to the Texas Department of State Health Services for certification. The final curriculum will address all facets of the CHWs culture and training that potentially contribute to CHWs’ experiences of research fatigue and cognitive, ethical and moral conflicts.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marlynn L. May

Marlynn L. May (B.A.-History, M. Div.-Social Ethics and Ph.D-Sociology and Social Ethics) is Faculty Emeritus at the Texas A&M Health Science Center, School of Public Health. His practice and research are in community health development with a primary focus on issues of access and health disparities in small, rural, unincorporated communities along the Texas-Mexico border.

Laura Treviño

Laura Treviño, (B.S.-Criminal Justice, M.A.-Education) is Regional Director for the Texas A&M University Colonias Program of the Lower Rio Grande Region. She has dedicated a significant portion of her professional career working with the Community Health Worker community, including organized instruction to over a 1000 Community Health Workers in accordance with the Texas Department of State Health Services. Collaborative co-authorship includes, “Does Injury Prevention Education Initiate Household Changes in a Spanish-Speaking Minority Population?” Journal of Community Health and “Promotoras de Salud Roles, Responsibilities and Contributions in a Multisite Community Based Randomized Controlled Trial”, Hispanic Health Care Internnational 11(2).

Eufemia Garcia

Eufemia Garcia (B.A - Sociology, M.A. - Organizational Management and a M.B.A.) is Regional Director for the Western Region of the Colonias Program at Texas A&M University. She has over 30 years of experience working with communities, families, women and youth in empowerment through informal and formal education heavily focused on partnership cultivation, community development and improvement of border health issues. Trained in Community Based Participatory Research, Community Engaged Scholarship, and Community Health Worker education, she remains actively involved in community research. She has authored reports on colonia conditions and health strategies in collaboration with various local, state and federal partners including the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Pan American Health Organization, Paso del Norte Health Foundation, and University of Texas El Paso.