Against the Odds: The Sustainability of the South African Labour Bulletin (Essay‪)‬

Preamble In 2003 Michael Burawoy, former president of the American Sociological Association, delivered an important address to the South African Sociological Association (SASA) Congress in Durban. He spoke of four sociologies, professional, critical, policy and public. Professional sociology is what is taught and researched at institutions of higher education while critical sociology uncovers the assumptions and values upon which it rests. Policy sociology is conducted for specific clients who determine the problems to be researched, whereas public sociology addresses issues of national significance and makes its findings available to the population at large. It interrogates the goals of those in power and examines the means they use to try to achieve them (Burawoy 2004:14-17).