pop sociology (idea)

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:

• The work in question is largely referential to other bodies of research data or merely comments on it without necessarily adding anything new either in quantification or theory.
• The work is aimed at a specific hot topic in popular culture. This doesn't always mean exploitation of a group or whatnot but often becomes an authoratative source on the topic without the necessary research and synthesis. Your garden variety "Computer Terrorists in Our Midst!" paperback falls into this category.
• The work often excludes proper documentation of the sources it was derived from or presents them in an unclear way intended to persuade an audience without really informing them. More often than not background information is absent.

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.