One of the key concepts I’m trying to elaborate in my PhD is what I term the emotional burden of reflexivity: the difficulty of knowing what to do and who to be, given the lack of normative guidance in what Giddens terms a ‘post-traditional order’. However contra Giddens and others, I don’t think this state […]
Month: June 2012
One of the most exciting things about the internet from a sociological perspective is the impact it has on the formation of communities – groups who might otherwise be too geographically dispersed are able to come together, often elaborating some degree of collective identity from the dialogues which ensue as they gather in this ‘virtual’ […]
I asked this question on Twitter a couple of days ago in preparation for a Blogging for Researchers workshop I’m running at the University of Warwick. I’ve included some of the answers I received below. I’ve also collated a collection of resources here. Part of the reason I asked this question was because I wanted […]
One of the key aims of my thesis is to elaborate a theory of personal morphogenesis i.e. the psychosocial dynamics of how individuals change. In broad terms, I am construing the subject matter as biographical. I’m interested in understanding how the particular circumstances which a specific individual inhabits at a given point in time contribute to shaping who they […]
Another example in a very specific area is given by a client in a follow-up interview as he explains the different quality that has come about in his creative work. It used to be that he tried to be orderly. “You begin at the beginning and you progress regularly through to the end.” Now he […]
Underlying much sociological explanation is an attempt to bridge the gap between the ‘micro’ and the ‘macro’ within the context of a specific empirical inquiry. As the authors put it, “in the human and behavioural sciences, the analytical connection or co-relation between individual and social processes, between cognitive (mental) and social (group) structures, or between […]
What do we do online? This is an issue I’ve pondered in a variety of guises but I’ve been thinking about it today as a result of running a fun (though badly attended) workshop about ‘demystifying social media’. As someone who runs social media workshops in universities, I’ve become ever more convinced that many of the confusions […]
Heaphy, Brian (2012) Reflexivity sexualities or reflexive sociology? In: Sexualities: Past reflections, Future Directions. Palgrave Macmillan, London. There are two main ways in which the term ‘reflexivity’ is used within contemporary social theory. The first refers to the self-monitoring and self-management of individuals. The second to critical self-reflection on the part of researchers about their own social positioning, […]
I’m fascinated by the impact of digital technology upon human beings. In part this comes from being someone who has been an avid user of the internet for the last 13 years or more (since I was 13/14) and recognises, in occasional moments of reflective self-awareness, the enormous impact that digital technology has had on […]
Monday 18th June 2012 10:00-13:00 (including lunch from 12:30) Teaching Grid, 2nd Floor, Library This event has been designed to provide attendees with first-hand knowledge for conducting collaborative research by giving them the chance to listen to, and interact with, more experienced members of academic staff who have conducted these kinds of research projects. The […]
Dear colleagues, fellow students and friends, I don’t know if you are aware of the looming redundancies in the University of Salford, and the process for weeding out staff. People in most schools and departments (including sociology and politics) are having to reapply for their jobs (Professors are not included in this procedure, but in […]
Monday 18th June 2012 10:00-13:00 (including lunch from 12:30) Teaching Grid, 2nd Floor, Library This event has been designed to provide attendees with first-hand knowledge for conducting collaborative research by giving them the chance to listen to, and interact with, more experienced members of academic staff who have conducted these kinds of research projects. The […]
Consider this critic a cretin, Just resting on laurels completely invented. Word acrobatics performed with both harness and net. I am so full of shit. But I will remain until this self-awareness fades Until I defeat the purpose of this soapbox that you made. That you made. Hope, perseverance, a vision (some doubt). Green ink, […]
Monday 18th June 2012 10:00-13:00 (including lunch from 12:30) Teaching Grid, 2nd Floor, Library This event has been designed to provide attendees with first-hand knowledge for conducting collaborative research by giving them the chance to listen to, and interact with, more experienced members of academic staff who have conducted these kinds of research projects. The […]
The Digital Tools for Research programme aims to introduce Early Career Researchers to the use of social media at all stages of the research lifecycle. Beginning on Monday 28th May with three core modules to be completed by Friday 20th July: Publishing on the web Tools covered: blogs Online identity Tools covered: Academia.edu Networking Tools […]
It’s difficult to express quite how much I agree with the passage below. Historically, some justified objections to specific understandings of essence led to a repudiation of the concept in its entirety. As Christian Smith points out there has been a pervasive tendency within social network analysis (though I think it’s much broader than this, […]
An interview with Graham Harman: it is especially surprising when the political Left embraces relational ontology (I am astonished that Peter Hallward defends such an ontology), because nothing is more politically reactionary than the idea that we are all exhaustively the products of our context. If I am nothing more than the logical outcome of […]
The ostensibly revolutionary transition from consciousness to language still leaves humans in absolute command as the primary subject matter of philosophy. All that happens is that the lucid, squeaky-clean ego of phenomenology is replaced by a more troubled figure- a drifter determined by his context, unable to fully transcend the structures of his environment. In […]
Think back to 2007. Did you believe the end of neoliberalism was nigh? I must admit I did. It seems rather naive in retrospect. Yet fast forward five years and consider the political terrain: we have witnessed a massive consolidation within the financial sector and an unprecedented attack on the welfare state across Europe. As if […]
