Collective learning through public sociology and social movement dialogue [Abstract]

Abstract

Collective learning is essential for social change for justice. This is the process described in social movement studies as cognitive praxis (Eyerman and Jamison, 1991) or social movement process (Cox and Nilsen, 2014) in which “within any specific social context, the ways in which we articulate our understanding of our needs and organise our attempts to meet them are determined – not fixed, but in a faster- or slower-moving process of (often internally unequal and contested) collective learning and praxis” (Cox & Nilsen, 2014 p. 36). This process of collective learning can be driven by deliberative practice (which might include popular education or action research) and also through changes in shared culture from the intervention of emergent social movements from below. The process of dialogue, between subaltern groups in their struggle for justice, and those who would offer the resources of education in solidarity, also constitutes the praxis of public sociology: understanding the (social) world in order to change it.

This paper draws on a trajectory of public sociology praxis, from the intervention of educators in community struggles and social movements, through the activities of social movements in redefining what is meaningful in everyday lives. This has been articulated through two (Bristol University Press) publications deploying ‘extended case’ (Burawoy, 2009) methodology: 'Public Sociology as Educational Practice: Challenges, Dialogues and Counterpublics' (Scandrett, 2022) and 'Life and Labour: Contested Occupation and Meaningful Alienation' (Giatsi Clausen & Scandrett, 2025). The paper will explore how social movement praxis provides a rupture of ‘good sense’ into the ‘common sense’ in which people find meaningful those activities and occupations that are also the cause of their alienation.