Delicado, Ana2021-01-272021-01-272021Delicado, A. (2021). Turning the Gaze on Ourselves: Public Communication of Sociology. In Ana Delicado, Fabienne Crettaz Von Roten, Katarina Prpić H285-(Eds.), Communicating Science and Technology in Society: Issues of Public Accountability and Engagement, pp. 117-136. Cham: Springer.http://hdl.handle.net/10451/45958As one of the more visible dimensions of science and society relations and under its myriad of labels, public communication of science has become, in the past few decades, a branch of scientific activity, an industry, a career, and a field of academic enquiry. Countless pages have been devoted to examining what, how, why, and who is doing communication of science to the public. But the very concept of science is little problematized in these analyses. In any event, what counts as science that deserves to be communicated usually excludes the social sciences. Sociology, in particular, has an intricate relationship with public communication. By custom, it is fairly accessible outside academia: publication in book form and in native languages, and open conferences and lectures, report on topics that are familiar and close to societal concerns. Engagements with the public are also are also part of the empirical toolkit of sociologists. From the more traditional interviews and surveys to the more participatory techniques of consultation such as workshops or action-research, citizens are an indispensable component of doing research in sociology.engbook part10.1007/978-3-030-52885-0