Michael Burawoy

discipline = Sociology sub_discipline = workplaces = University of California, Berkeley doctoral_students =

Michael Burawoy (; 15 June 1947 – 3 February 2025) was an American sociologist who worked within Marxist social theory, best known as the leading proponent of public sociology and the author of Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process Under Monopoly Capitalism—a study on the sociology of industry that has been translated into a number of languages.

Burawoy was a professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. In the XVII ISA World Congress of Sociology he was elected the 17th President of the ISA for the period 2010–2014.

Life and career Burawoy was born in England on 15 June 1947; his parents had fled Russia and Ukraine, met as students in Leipzig (both having doctorates in chemistry) and arrived in Britain in 1933. before going on to pursue postgraduate study in the newly independent African nation of Zambia while simultaneously working as a researcher for Anglo American PLC. Completing a master's degree at the University of Zambia in 1972, Burawoy enrolled as a doctoral student at the University of Chicago, finishing a sociology dissertation with an ethnography of Chicago industrial workers, later to become Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process Under Monopoly Capitalism. He served as Chair of the Department of Sociology for 1996–98 and 2000–02.

As President of the International Sociological Association, he stated at the 2014 World Congress of Sociology, "Between economics and political science, sociology is not social science. It is rather scientific socialism... Our role as sociologists is to watch, engage and challenge an unequal world... So sociologists of the world, unite!"

In 2022, The University of Johannesburg awarded Burawoy an honorary doctoral degree "for making considerable theoretical and methodological contributions to the development of Sociology", citing the "profound impact" of his contributions. In his acceptance speech, Burawoy remarked that "South Africa opened my eyes to the mysteries of Apartheid and later to many worlds of oppression and struggle". The Dean of Social Sciences, Raka Ray, remarked that "Burawoy's impact on sociology is monumental" adding that "his national and international presence alongside his tireless dedication to Berkeley, makes him a pillar of our community." The citation read that "Burawoy's work has contributed enormously to our ability to grasp the social world", and described his advocacy for public sociology as "a critical intervention in the field".

Burawoy was killed in a crosswalk in Oakland, on 3 February 2025, by a speeding driver who fled the scene. He was 77. His ashes were interred in Highgate Cemetery on 8 April 2025.

Legacy Following his death, the European Sociological Association wrote that "Sociological communities across the world have lost one of the giants of our discipline" and described Burawoy as "a sociologist of immense integrity, passion, kindness, and intellectual rigor". The British Sociological Association described Burawoy as "a truly remarkable scholar" and noted that his "brilliant scholarship reshaped our understanding of industrial labour and its broader social impact". The Sociological Review Foundation, in a statement by Professor Michaela Benson, described Burawoy as "a scholar who inspired generations of colleagues from around the world through his scholarship, public engagement and warmth". Soler Gallart wrote that "until the last moment Michael continued supporting victims and survivors".