Diversifying Sociological Outputs

Can sociologists speak in diverse ways through diverse mediums? While the world becomes more visual, much of academic social science remains welded to “traditional” ways of communicating and disseminating research. Universities and academic departments, especially those held in the neoliberal thrall of global rankings, demand metricised outputs and quantified bodies, optimised in the form of journal articles and indexable documents. Creative and arts-based approaches in Sociology are often segregated and funnelled towards “knowledge-exchange” and “public-engagement” categories. Despite the best efforts of visual sociologists to offer new ways of showing, arguing and theorising, such attitudes and structures remain stubborn and inert.

This session seeks to challenge such stubbornness. Building on increased interest in “Diverse Output Types” championed by the 2029 Research Excellence Framework in the United Kingdom, we seek presentations that show how Sociological data, findings and theories can be expressed, communicated, published and/or circulated through mediums beyond traditional monographs, articles and chapters. These may include but are not limited to – exhibitions (and catalogues), zines, visual essays, websites and more. Presenters can offer case studies of work already done, or conceptual possibilities that demonstrate the strengths and affordances of visual sociology, or frameworks for diverse outputs within the social sciences.