Pop
sociology is the killer
fork of the
discipline.
Sociologists of this variety tend to publish more (
articles,
books, whatever) and do less
field work. Their work is usually based on the
work of less
famous researchers. This (naturally) causes a lot of
friction in the academic world and leads to a lot of
fingerpointing when
sociology books start selling in large quantities.
Some distinguishing features of (alleged) pop sociology:
All of this said, many sociologists branded with this dubious distinction did little to deserve it. Publishing outside of academic journals will often provoke a firestorm of criticism from the writer's peers.