Michael Burawoy

Burawoy spent about ten months working as a machine operator in the Chicago-area factory he called Allied Corporation. It was a successor to the plant Donald Roy had studied roughly three decades earlier, allowing Burawoy to compare two periods of shop-floor life.

"Making out" was the workers' game of meeting or beating production quotas while navigating shop-floor rules. Burawoy argued that participation made work more engaging but also helped workers consent to a system that benefited management.

Braverman emphasized managerial control and the degradation of work under capitalism. Burawoy extended that debate by asking why workers actively participate in production games instead of responding only through resistance.

Public sociology describes sociological work conducted in dialogue with audiences outside the university, including labor groups and social movements. Burawoy made it the theme of his 2004 American Sociological Association presidential address.