I’ve not got anything meaningful to contribute but this is a great idea:

Sociology of the 1980s
Call for Papers
Department of Sociology, University of York
Tuesday 9 July 2024

Why are the 1980s - only one decade and yet with so much packed in - of
sociological significance in the UK and beyond? The intervening years
have witnessed a resurgence of interest and fascination with stories,
memories and various reimaginings of the 1980s, its inequalities and its
institutions. 2024 marked 40 years since the 1984 UK miners strike and
nostalgic references to 80s iconography proliferate today, for example
in the hugely popular Netflix show Stranger Things. The 1980s represent
a historical moment defined by rapid cultural change and rising
contradictions - where popular culture in the form of game shows and
Ceefax for example offered new forms of entertainment and intensified
the commodification of everyday life. Perhaps surprisingly then, the
1980s have often been overlooked within academic scholarship. The 80s
are often remembered as a time of deep polarisation; north /south, the
haves /have nots, producers /consumers, Scargill /Thatcher, home owner
/council tenant, ITV /BBC, left /right for example, and popular notions
of working class people as romantic rebels linger today.  However, as
Beckett (2015) has argued, in fact, the 1980s as a decade was also often
a time of increasing cultural and political ambiguity and ambivalence.
In order to fully understand the 1980s, its impact, contradictions and
legacies, we argue that we need more research that transcends polarising
accounts of the 80s and instead explores in more detail the power and
impetus behind these changes. Drawing on Stuart Hall, we are interested
in hearing more about how the battle for ‘popular authority’ was won and
in particular the various ways in which industrial, political and
commercial transformations mapped onto everyday life.

We need a sociology of the 80s because we are the 80s. It is a decade
not only defined by huge inequalities, dramatic social change and rapid
transformations, but also a moment where these new ways of thinking and
living were firmly galvanised and remain so today. We argue that the way
we live today is directly shaped by our recent past but especially by
the 1980s. We are interested in hearing from scholars with an interest
in this historical period particularly from a sociological perspective.
We welcome papers based on established research ideas, but also those
that are developing ideas and concepts in their early stages too.

We are interested in receiving abstracts that challenge some of the
mythologies and scholarly absences of the 1980s and in research that
reimagines the 80s. There are a huge range of possibilities here.
Examples might include but are not limited to:

Radical histories
Campaigning and activism
Popular culture
BBC
Technology
Mass Observation
Urban environment
Consumption, shopping malls and entertainment
Music
Thatcher and Thatcherism

Please submit a short abstract of 250 words to Dr Emma Casey, Prof Dave
Beer, Dr Gareth Millington and Dr Daryl Martin emma.casey@york.ac.uk
<mailto:emma.casey@york.ac.uk> _by April 30 2024._