A Study of the Relation of Public Sociology and Cultural Studies (A Review of the Two in Iran)

Cultural studies is a relatively new field of scholarship in social sciences. Rising the field in Iranian academia was challenging as far as some sociologists considered it as a replacement for sociology recalled the death of sociology. There is also a new type of sociology which tries to fill the gap between sociology and the public: public sociology. In other words, criticizing the neglect of individuals and their culture in the formal sociology, both public sociology and cultural studies are concerned with people, their lives and their culture. According to the study, the most important similarities between cultural studies and public sociology are their focus on emancipation, culture, and qualitative methodology. The two fields do not believe in theorization and intrinsic norms and claim to be critical. The main differences between cultural studies and public sociology comes from the different levels of attention they give to academic discussions and also different classes in the society. In this paper, we explain how public sociology and cultural studies approach these issues and compare their points of view.