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  • The Popularity of Public Ownership

    There’s a great article on Open Democracy discussing the politics of public ownership. I couldn’t agree more emphatically with the analysis and that’s why I’m giving as much of my time as I can to We Own It despite being chronically overworked at present. ‘If a political party announced a plan to end the privatisation…

  • Microfoundationalism in Sociology

    An interesting article on Understanding Society discusses strong and weak microfoundationalism in sociology. I’d never encountered the term before but I’m definitely a weak microfoundationalist in Daniel Little’s sense. I don’t believe explanation must proceed in terms of individuals but I think all social explanation must be consistent with the properties and powers of relevant individuals. Microfoundation…

  • The Phenomenology of Obsessiveness

    To talk about ‘modes of reflexivity’ can sometimes seem to suggest types of person or personality. Understanding reflexivity in this way misleads because its suggestion of divergent individual traits can too easily obscure the commonalities shared between all reflexive individuals. To postulate a mode of reflexivity entails a claim about an identifiable tendency in how some set of individuals deliberate about…

  • The New Social-ism

    The New Social-ism What is valuable, visible & knowable in the emerging social economy? A one-day conference hosted by Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies 10am-6pm, 11th December 2013 Room MS.03, University of Warwick Appeals to the ‘social’ today are everywhere: ‘social enterprise’, ‘social media’, ‘social neuroscience’, ‘social prescribing’, ‘social marketing’, ‘social analytics’, ‘social innovation’. This is thanks partly to the…

  • The coming UK culture wars?

    I was struck when reading Paul Dacre’s Guardian article over the weekend by how easily I could imagine looking back in a decade on the spat over Ralph Miliband and seeing it as the emerging fault line of what became a UK culture war. I certainly hope I’m wrong but the increasingly hysterical rhetoric emanating…

  • Some quick thoughts on the sociology of craft

    Craftsmanship names an enduring, basic human impulse, the desire to do a job well for its own sake. Craftsmanship cuts a far wider swath than skilled manual labour; it serves the computer programmer, the doctor, and the artist; parenting improves when it is practiced as a skilled craft, as does citizenship. In all these domains,…

  • The search for the ‘perfect’ situation

    Confronted with a world composed of seemingly durable, essentially unchanging elements, we sense that real satisfaction must lie in manipulating these elements in such a way that we construct the ‘perfect’ situation. The situations we habitually find ourselves in are always to some extent unsatisfactory, yet it seems to us that merely certain modifications would…

  • Inside the Mind of the Republican Party

    For those such as myself who have been increasingly baffled by events in the US in recent weeks, this analysis of findings from six focus groups with political partisans within the Republican party makes for interesting reading. The full report is available online here.  Understand that the base thinks they are losing politically and losing…

  • Paul Krugman, Niall Ferguson and the norms of public intellectualism in a digital age

    The academic blogosphere had been getting a bit boring ever since the Chomsky and Zizek spat came to an end. Fortunately, Niall Ferguson decided a couple of days ago that it was time to take his longstanding feud with Paul Krugman to the next level in an earnest essay, syndicated on the Huffington Post weirdly…

  • CfP: Discover Society

    Announcing a new monthly online magazine of social research, policy analysis and commentary CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS DISCOVER SOCIETY Measured-Factual-Critical http://discoversociety.org We publish short (1500 word) research-based articles on social topics. We also publish: ‘Viewpoints’ (on current social issues); ‘Policy Briefings’; ‘On the Frontline’, and a longer, ‘Focus’ article in each issue We welcome contributions that…

  • The Practice of Abstraction

    Science, theory and technological knowledge abstract from particular contexts and their contingencies so as to provide general or universal knowledge and technical control. When we abstract, we isolate particular aspects of some object or situation, usually ones which are detachable in the sense of capable of existing in much the same form in different contexts, and hence…

  • LGBT Youth Suicicde Prevention – researcher post

    Senior Research Associate LGBT Youth Suicide Prevention Project Salary: £31,331 to £36,298 Closing Date: Monday 04 November 2013 Interview Date: Wednesday 27 November 2013 Reference: A808 In this role you will work on a Department of Health funded national study investigating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) young people and suicide/self-harm. You will have a Ph.D. in…

  • Why Things Matter to People

    Underlying this book is a simple proposition: things matter to people. As well as the thought and interaction which have been traditional objects of the human sciences, we also evaluate – our relation to the world is one of concern. Andrew Sayer’s book is concerned with drawing out the theoretical and methodological implications for social science of recognising this irreducible dimension…

  • CfP: Digital Sociology PhD/ECR Workshop

    Are you a PhD student or Early Career Researcher doing work in digital sociology? The BSA Digital Sociology Group has organised a PhD/ECR Workshop where a limited number of participants can get feedback on their work from peers and established academics in a supportive environment. The event will take place between 11am to 4pm on…

  • Dear England

    Just saw a tweet which reminded me of quite how much I love this: They say God save the queen, Britannia rules the waves Britannia’s in my genes, but Britannia called us slaves Britannia made the borders, cause Britannia’s forces came Britannia lit the match, but Britannia fears the flame Where blood stains the pavement,…

  • Discover Society

    DISCOVER SOCIETY Measured-Factual-Critical http://discoversociety.org The first issue includes articles by: Gurminder K. Bhambra, Sam Friedman, Jacqui Gabb and Janet Fink, Peter Taylor-Gooby, Suzanne Hall, Lisa McKenzie, Alice Mah, James Nazroo, Karen Rowlingson and Steve McKay, Emma Uprichard, Alan Warde, and Mike Savage Further details: Twitter: @discoversoc (https://twitter.com/DiscoverSoc) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/discoversociety Email: discoversociety@outlook.com Managing Editors: John Holmwood (University of…

  • Seminar Series on the History of Sexuality

    I am so indescribably aggrieved that I can’t make this: Seminar Launch Event: What is the History of Sexuality? 6 p.m. Tuesday 7th January 2014, The Court Room, Senate House London. The Institute of Historical Research, London, launches its new and exciting research seminar series, History of Sexuality, with a round table discussion of ‘What is the History…

  • Striving for deep work when the situation demands shallow work

    I worry a lot about deep work (giving sustained attention to hard things that create value). As a professor, deep work is required to produce new results. Therefore, the more I do, the better. I often envy the schedules of professional writers — like Woody Allen, Neal Stephenson, or Stephen King — who can wake-up, work deeply until they reach their cognitive…

  • Why Sociologists and Technologists Should Talk

    An interesting article from ZDNet (HT Jean-Loup Richet) made a case for why all technologists should become technology sociologists. It contends that the question of how and why technology will be used tends to be occluded by the continual focus of technologists on the properties of the artefact itself: We’ve looked at the technology. But, no one is asking…

  • The virtues of a daily writing habit

    Frequency makes starting easier. Getting started is always a challenge. It’s hard to start a project from scratch, and it’s also hard each time you re-enter a project after a break. By working every day, you keep your momentum going. You never have time to feel detached from the process. You never forget your place,…

  • Blogging as Public Sociology

    The editors of Sociological Images have written a paper reflecting on their experiences of blogging as public sociology (HT Deborah Lupton). It’s an important read for anyone interested in digital public sociology or academic blogging. Plus there are lots of practical insights scattered throughout the paper – the paper’s conclusion in particular is worth reading if you…

  • If America has a communist President then perhaps Britain could have a socialist Prime Minister?

    I’m morbidly fascinated by the political culture of the American right and someday hope to do work on it, though I’m not sure what form that might take. In the 10 years or so I’ve been keenly following American politics, it’s got progressively weirder and shows no signs of abating. In fact it reached a new level…

  • BSA Annual Conference 2014: Changing Society – Call for papers

    BSA Annual Conference 2014: Changing Society   Call for Papers  Theory Stream Submissions This stream welcomes abstracts on any aspect of theory as well as abstracts for the following Study Groups: · Bourdieu · Historical and Comparative Sociology · Realism and Social Research · Weber The Realism and Social Research group would also like to invite abstracts under the theme “What is Realism for?” The group is particularly interested in papers that consider any of the following issues: The relevance of realist theory to substantive social, economic and political issues. The practical implications of methodologically operationalising different forms of realist thought. Those from other schools of thought who wish to engage critically in a dialogue with realist theory. How to submit  All abstracts and proposals for other events can be submitted online at: http://www.britsoc.co.uk/events/bsa‐annual‐ conference/submissions.aspx The deadline for submission of abstracts is 18th October 2013.    For further information contact the Theory stream coordinators: Gurminder K Bhambra E: g.k.bhambra@warwick.ac.uk Tom Brock E: T.Brock@mmu.ac.uk Alternatively, contact the BSA Events Team E: events@britsoc.org.uk

  • Money, Power and Opportunity in the Late Modern City, or, isn’t it a shame J G Ballard isn’t around to see this?

    This documentary by Alex Gibney, director of the Corporation amongst others, takes as its starting point the disjuncture between Park Avenue Manhattan and the other Park Avenue over the river in the Bronx. The former is home to some of the wealthiest people in the country whereas the latter is a site of endemic deprivation:…

  • Narrowly escaping the academic life

    This really struck a chord with me given my continued ambivalence about a career in academia: With my new eyes I re-survey the life around me. Most particularly I become frightened to realize how close I came to letting myself slide into the academic life. It would have been effortless … just keep on making…

  • The Retreat from Being and Flight into Having

    Man is faced with the task of being responsible for his existence. His being-in-the-world is primordially disclosed to his concern. But under the menacing and inescapable shadow of death, existence as such is anxiously felt as too massive and overwhelming to be concernfully accepted in its totality. Consequently we shy away from the immensity of…

  • Commodification and Exploitation in #HigherEd

    Another conversation this morning about casualisation in UK higher education left me feeling I should probably try and articulate my convoluted and perhaps contradictory views on this issue. It keeps cropping up in conversations, usually in the pub, which inevitably leave me feeling afterwards that I’ve given people who I 99% agree with the impression…

  • “Now fucking pay me” – One of my all time favourite film scenes

  • Activists fight for right to the city – Britons, Africans unite in urban struggles

    Activists fight for right to the city Britons, Africans unite in urban struggles British campaigners and representatives from overseas social movements battling to win employment and housing rights in their cities join forces next month in a unique event that will seek public support for their causes. Londoners – market traders opposing immigration raids and…

  • Confused as to why the US government has been shut down? Let Mr Burns explain

  • Invited speaker booed, threatened and led off stage for anti-war views

    This astonishing video shows the journalist Chris Hedges, invited to give a commencement address at Rockford College, instead being met with an astonishing hysteria because of the anti-war views expressed in his speech: The New York Times sacked him afterwards. The speaker wasn’t an antiwar student. It wasn’t an antiwar faculty member. It was New York…

  • “When I first read Foucault’s account of the panopticon. I thought it was brilliant but overheated. Now, it actually seems like somebody’s plan”

    An absolute must read essay in the Guardian by the novelist John Lanchester who was given access to the GCHQ files by the Guardian: The totalitarian state in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four would need no broader legal justification than that: it really does allow a government to do anything it likes. It was at this point…

  • Why Is America in Decline?

    This interview with Chris Hedges is very good though extremely depressing. I found his critique of Obamacare from the left (in the first few minutes of the video) particularly interesting. I’ve also been struck by how interesting Hedges is as a person whenever I’ve heard him talk auto-biographically.

  • Would Benjamin have dismissed Žižek as a hack?

    I’ve been chatting on-and-off with Andrew McGettigan recently about left-wing intellectual culture & he just sent me this absolute gem of a quote: And I define a hack as a man who refuses to improve the production apparatus and so prise it away from the ruling class for the benefit of Socialism. I further maintain that…

  • Want to take part in an interesting art project this Sunday?

    About the project In Four Stages of Conversations, Lundahl & Seitl are focusing for the first time on the function of art to connect people in a universal search for meaning and common aspiration for a better world. The work will happen in a room with variable lighting conditions – at certain times it will be in complete…

  • Is anyone else weirdly fascinated by this sort of spam?

    Hello my dear , How are you doing ? . My name is Miss lilian . It is my pleasure to see your profile here and it interests me to be your friend . I want us to be friends if you do not mind . Your status , country , color , age ,…

  • CfP: Discover Society

    Announcing a new monthly online magazine of social research, policy analysis and commentary CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS DISCOVER SOCIETY Measured-Factual-Critical http://discoversociety.org We publish short (1500 word) research-based articles on social topics. We also publish: ‘Viewpoints’ (on current social issues); ‘Policy Briefings’; ‘On the Frontline’, and a longer, ‘Focus’ article in each issue We welcome contributions that…

  • BSA Annual Conference 2014: Changing Society

    BSA Annual Conference 2014: Changing Society   Call for Papers  Theory Stream Submissions This stream welcomes abstracts on any aspect of theory as well as abstracts for the following Study Groups: · Bourdieu · Historical and Comparative Sociology · History of Sociology · Realism and Social Research · Weber The Realism and Social Research group would also like to invite abstracts under the theme “What is Realism for?” The group is particularly interested in papers that consider any of the following issues: The relevance of realist theory to substantive social, economic and political issues. The practical implications of methodologically operationalising different forms of realist thought. Those from other schools of thought who wish to engage critically in a dialogue with realist theory. How to submit  All abstracts and proposals for other events can be submitted online at: http://www.britsoc.co.uk/events/bsa‐annual‐ conference/submissions.aspx The deadline for submission of abstracts is 18th October 2013.    For further information contact the Theory stream coordinators: Gurminder K Bhambra E: g.k.bhambra@warwick.ac.uk Tom Brock E: T.Brock@mmu.ac.uk Alternatively, contact the BSA Events Team E: events@britsoc.org.uk

  • Space, place, democracy and digital at DPR 2014

    Hi,  I’m helping to organise a conference stream at next year’s Discourse Power and Resistance. For more about the conference check the website out > http://dprconference.com/  There’s an attached description of the theme. As part of the ‘Space and Place in the Democracy Project’ conference stream at Discourse Power Resistance 2014, we are particularly interested in presentations on…

  • Save the #NHS and join the march and rally on 29 September!

    Only a few days to go…. Supporters of the National Health Service and everybody who wants to defend jobs, services and a decent welfare state will be marching in Manchester on 29 September to deliver a clear message to Conservative Party Conference that we mean to Save Our NHS from cuts and privatisation. Join the marchers there!…

  • The Incredible Disappearing Agent

    Neoliberalism thoroughly revises what it means to be a human person.Classical liberalism identified “labor” as the critical original human infusion that both created and justified private property. Foucault correctly identifies the concept of “human capital” as the signal neoliberal departure that undermines centuries of political thought that parlayed humanism into stories of natural rights. Not only…

  • CfP: Theory Stream for BSA Annual Conference 2014

    This stream welcomes abstracts on any aspect of theory as well as abstracts for the following Study Groups: · Bourdieu · Historical and Comparative Sociology · History of Sociology · Realism and Social Research · Weber The Realism and Social Research group would also like to invite abstracts under the theme “What is Realism for?”. The…

  • Beyond ‘Fateful Moments’ and ‘Turning Points’: Conceptualizing Biographical Events and Their Relationship To Social Change

    Beyond ‘Fateful Moments’ and ‘Turning Points’: Conceptualizing Biographical Events and Their Relationship To Social Change Advocates of biographical research often talk of it in terms of the “dynamic interplay of individuals and history, inner and outer worlds, self and other” underwritten by a view of “human beings as active agents in making their lives rather…

  • The Weirdly Humanistic Anti-Humanism of Richard Rorty

    The process of de-divinization which I described in the previous two chapters would, ideally, culminate in our no longer being able to see any use for the notion that finite, mortal, contingently existing human beings might derive the meanings of their lives from anything except other finite, mortal, contingently existing human beings. – Richard Rorty,…

  • Brian Fallon and Bruce Springsteen – a love affair in three parts

    A few days after Bruce Springsteen appeared with Gaslight Anthem at Glastonbury, he invited Brian Fallon on stage with him at Hyde Park Calling. It’s hard to watch this video and not get the impression that the minute following 1:23 was probably the happiest moment of Brian’s life (though he does look like he’s about…

  • “I’m a cyborg? I thought I was just wearing glasses”: technology, agency and ontology

    This is a quick attempt to elaborate on a thought which kept coming back to me during the Quantified Self seminar on Tuesday. It seems obvious to me that one of the key conceptual questions encountered in studying technology which augments human capacities (and this category is obviously much wider than digital self-tracking) is the…

  • The Quantified Self Research Network (QS, Self-Tracking and Wearable Computing)

    Earlier this week the first meeting of the Quantified Self Research Network took place at the University Leeds. This was established by myself and Chris Till in order to help encourage interdisciplinary dialogue amongst people working on different aspects of Quantified Self. Our assumption was that there were a lot of people who intended to work…

  • Some critical thoughts on psychosocial research

    One writer who made a huge impact on me during my transition from philosophy to sociology was Ken Plummer. There are many aspects of his work which I now have problems with but I think my engagement with his work (particularly Sexual Stigma, Telling Sexual Stories and Documents of Life) had a big impact on…

  • Asexuality as a Spectrum: A National Probability Sample Comparison to the Sexual Community in the UK

    This came through on the Asexuality Studies mailing list – posted here because of the likelihood some not on the list might want to read it: I have finished my Master’s Thesis: Asexuality as a Spectrum: A National Probability Sample Comparison to the Sexual Community in the UK The final product is available here to…

  • Network analytic approaches to the production and propagation of literary and artistic value

    Daniel Allington, The Open University www.danielallington.net 1 October 2013 Centre for e-Research Anatomy Museum Space King’s Building (6th Floor) King’s College London The Strand London According to Bourdieu, the value of art, literature, etc is a form of belief that is produced within the cultural field and then propagated outwards into wider society through public-facing…

  • Biography, Path-Dependence and Social Events

    There’s a fascinating post on Stumbling and Mumbling looking at the political implications of beliefs being path-dependent: However, according to Matthew Parris in the Times, many Tories have such out-dated attitudes to unions. He says they believe they benefit from Labour’s “indefensible” links with unions: They know the toxic potency in millions of minds of…

  • Does Žižek take himself as seriously as other people do? Idolatry, activism and the academic left

    So as most people reading this will probably realise, Žižek bashing and boosting has been somewhat in vogue within certain sections of the academic blogosphere in recent months. The Sociological Imagination was an enthusiastic part of this recently, through an ever-so-slightly polemic blog post penned by Steve Fuller, Slavoj Zizek may be great at beating up…

  • The Sociology of Daydreaming

    People who build castles in the air do not, for the most part accomplish much, it is true; but every man who does accomplish great things is given to building elaborate castles in the air and then playfully copying them on solid ground … Mere imagination would be indeed be mere trifling; only no imagination…

  • Les Back on Digital Sociology

  • Helene Snee on Digital Sociology

  • CelebYouth on Blogging

  • Mark Murphy on Blogging

  • Ben Baumberg on Blogging

  • Evelyn Ruppert on Digital Sociology

  • Noortje Marres on Digital Sociology

  • Queer Now and Then seminar series, University of Manchester

    The Centre for the Study of Sexuality and Culture (CSSC), The University of Manchester Public Events 2013-4 – All Welcome QUEER NOW AND THEN Organised by Professor Laura Doan, this set of events welcomes a number of scholars to explore queerness in relation to time and history. Wednesday 16 October, 5pm (Venue TBC) (co-sponsored with EAC)…

  • Critical Realism and American Sociology

    What was initially obnoxious ranting and then a mildly interesting but bad tempered argument is turning into a really fascinating discussion on org theory: What a lot of CR proponents seem to  fail to understand is that American’s sociology scientific image is not a set of philosophical “positions” (postmodernism, positivism, etc.) in the British or continental style.…

  • Quantified Self Research Network – Inaugural Event

    Tuesday, September 17, 2013 from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM (BST) Leeds, United Kingdom At this inaugural event there will be presentations from researchers who have been exploring quantified self or self-tracking either empirically or theoretically which will stimulate discussion around the potential and implications for future developments. We hope that this event will stimulate…

  • Being Human, Personal Identity and Biography

    This is the last of a series of posts in which I’ve looked at Archer’s account of the emotions in Being Human. She sees the internal conversation as rooted in the  ongoing and situated affectivity through which we unavoidably find ourselves connected to our environment. These first-order affective responses are clustered around nature, practice and…

  • Proposal: Digital Scholarship Reading Group @WarwickUni

    Would anyone be interested in this? It’s an idea that has been recurrently coming to mind for some time and I never do anything about it. Basically I’m suggesting that we choose a particular book chapter or journal article each month (or so) on digital scholarship (broadly construed) then meeting to debate and discuss it.…

  • Asexuality, Identity and ‘Scratching an Itch’

    It’s pretty great when you stumble across people discussing your work on the internet. All the more so when they ask thought-provoking questions which make you reconsider arguments you’ve made in the past and encourage you to explore their limitations: Asexual elitism is an elitist attitude where some asexuals don’t consider other people to be asexual…

  • The Strange World of Educational Viral Marketing (part 2)

    A couple of months ago I wrote about my bemusement concerning the e-mails I receive on an increasingly regular basis about the various websites I edit. These thoughts came back to me yesterday after a presentation by Emma Head on mummmy blogging and particularly the way in which the most popular mummy bloggers have been able to…

  • Cluster hire in Transgender Studies at the University of Arizona

    Faculty Cluster Hire in Transgender Studies The University of Arizona is pleased to announce a cluster hire of 4 tenure-track faculty positions in transgender studies over the next two years. Two positions are being offered this year in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS), with a start date of fall 2014. Two positions…

  • Relationality, Reflexivity and Power

    I read a really engaging chapter earlier by Ismael Al-Amoudi called Authority’s Hidden Network: Obligations, Roles and the Morphogenesis of Authority. I’d encountered some of his earlier work (particularly his attempt, which I’m extremely sympathetic to, at a critical realist reading of Foucault) but I hadn’t realised he was now doing such fascinating work on social morphogenesis and…

  • Being Human and Second-Order Emotions

    In this series of posts I’ve been looking at Margaret Archer’s account of first-order and second-order emotions. In the previous post I discussed the process through which an individual comes to deliberate on their first-order emotions – represented schematically as discernment –> deliberation –> dedication. It is through this process that personal identity emerges: As the…

  • The paradox of Brutalism

    The paradox of Brutalism was its intent to at once produce an earthy, everyday style for the use of the proletariat (one where they wouldn’t have to mind their manners inside) and at the same time create avant-garde, shocking images, to be ‘a brick-bat flung in the public’s face’. – Owen Hatherley, Militant Modernism, Pg…

  • Becoming Who We Are: Social Relations and Personal Morphogenesis

    At any given moment I exist in relation to a we. But I also bring to those relations a ‘me’ made up of things which have happened to me and things which I have made happen. Many aspects of the past ‘me’ deposited in any present moment belong to the domain of psychology. Beyond this…

  • Manufacturing Consent in an Age of Austerity: Bashar al-Assad the “naughty child”

    As anyone who follows me on Twitter will probably have noticed, in the last week I’ve been gripped by the march to war in Syria and what has seemed to be the new playbook, tentatively trialled with Libya, which the US and UK now draw upon in manufacturing consent for ‘military intervention’. For anyone with…

  • ‘Theory’ is what happens when common starting-points can no longer be taken for granted

    ‘theory’ is what happens when common starting-points can no longer be taken for granted. For example, literary critics in the English-speaking world in the 1950s and 1960s disagreed about many things – about the authorship of certain Jacobean plays or about the influence of Keats on Tennyson or about whether D. H. Lawrence was a…

  • The disturbing experience of finding yourself emphatically agreeing with Peter Hitchens

    The Good Samaritan did not have a gun. I make this simple point to deal with those who seem to think that you can show mercy and pity by lobbing cruise missiles into war zones. I make no claims to be a good person, but I am more and more annoyed by warmongers who dress…

  • Howard Becker, Blogging and Phenomenology

    There’s a really nice post on Jon Rainford’s blog which talks about Howard Becker’s Writing for Social Scientists and its potential lessons for bloggers: This second edition examines some of the changes in technology in the twenty years since it was first published, especially in terms of ways in which computers have enhanced the ability…

  • Spring Breakers, Late Capitalism and Nihilism

    My friend Marta just posted an analysis of Spring Breakers which we saw together a few months ago. I wanted to write something about this but found myself struggling to articulate anything despite being captivated by the film. I really like this section of the article in particular: “Look at all my shit. I’ve got…

  • Being Human and What Matters To Us

    In my last few posts on Being Human I’ve looked at Archer’s account of emotionality. Integral to this is the internal dialogue through which first-order emotionality (natural, practical and social affectivity) gives rise to what Archer calls second-order emotionality. She represents this process  in terms of stages of discernment, deliberation and dedication. I initially found her thinking on…

  • Why academic podcasts are much more valuable than people realise

    There’s a great post on Savage Minds here which discusses a new anthropology podcast series. It makes some important points about the potential value of academic podcasts: Its fascinating to listen to the interview version of an article (in fact, its much more convenient than reading the article!) but its even more fascinating to have…

  • Not scheduling my academic life at all – reply to @raulpacheco

    I really enjoyed Raul Pacheco-Vega’s post yesterday on how he schedules his work life ‘to the very minute’ so I thought I’d offer my own reflections. I’m intellectually fascinated by how people organise their everyday lives for both personal and academic reasons. I used to have massive difficulties with procrastination and focus. I still do…

  • “For the women of the world, kill terrorists”

    They love their children less than we do so they are less than equal They abuse women so we kill them cos they are bloody villains That’s right, we are the feminists For the women of the world, kill terrorists Liberate them from their burqas They feel more free with their children murdered

  • Austerity Chic and Class Politics

    The revival of austerity regalia is linked to another revival: that of the idea of empire. In the same tacky gift shops in which one finds the “Keep Calm and Carry On” dinner plates, one also finds the “British Empire Was Built on Cups of Tea” trays. This melancholic sense of loss is associated with…

  • CfP: Hard Times – Austerity and Popular Culture

    Although the British Prime Minister David Cameron popularised the renowned axiom ‘the age of  austerity’ in a speech of 2009, political discourse has long given shape to popular rhetoric on  the subject. The sentiments of ‘make do and mend’ and ‘boom and bust’ offers two such  examples that have filtered into popular and national conscious.…

  • Normativity, Social Science and Secularism: Reply to @rightscholar

    (see here for context) Thanks for the thoughtful response and apologies for what seems to have been a slightly shrill note to my comments in retrospect. I wasn’t consciously commenting with a sociological hat on (so to speak) but I take the point nonetheless – the implication of MacIntyre’s work for sociology is, I would…

  • 17 reasons why you should blog about your research

    It helps you become more clear about your ideas. It gives you practice at presenting your ideas for a non-specialist audience. It increases your visibility within academia. It increases your visibility outside academia and makes it much easier for journalists, campaigners and practitioners to find you. It increases your visibility more than a static site and…

  • The strange passions of ex-leftists

    There is a breed of ex-leftists who can’t stand the left more than anyone. They have the zealousness of the convert and the bitterness of ex-lovers. Cohen is one; another is Bloodworth, who he describes as a “genuine leftist rather than a poseur”, who has gone from being a member of the Trotskyist Alliance of…

  • EduWiki Conference 2013 – Call for proposals

    ============================================== EduWiki Conference 2013 – Call for proposals ============================================== Wikimedia UK’s second annual EduWiki conference will take place in Cardiff on 1 and 2 November 2013. A recent white paper from TurnItIn, the online plagiarism-prevention service used widely across higher education in the UK, claims that “Wikipedia has an outsized presence as a content source for…

  • Being Human and Transvaluation (part 1)

    In the previous few posts on Being Human, part of a broader project to blog thematic overviews of all Margaret Archer’s major books, I’ve been looking at her account of the emotions. This is absolutely integral to her understanding of reflexivity, it’s covered in less depth in the reflexivity books and, unless it’s understood, it’s easy…

  • The books I’m currently reading (#1)

    It occurred to me recently how much I like the ‘books received’ feature on Stuart Elden’s blog and that I might like to do something similar. Unfortunately he seems to get lots of books sent to him, whereas I get comparatively few.  In retrospect I really didn’t take advantage of working in the same office…

  • What’s the point of ontology? Outline of an approach to the sociology of social theory

    Ontology itself, or what we might more accurately describe as the practice of ontological reasoning within sociology, remains contested. As Wan (2012: 20) observes “the (mostly legitimate) distrust in ontology has led researchers to abstain from ontological commitments and interrogations”. The degree of convergence which does exist in the conceptual vocabulary of sociology (‘structures’, ‘institutions’,…

  • “Oh ‘INTP’. So that’s what I am”: Identity and Alterity in a Digital Age

    A couple of years ago I did a conference presentation called “The Difficulty of Working Out Who You are: Sexual Culture, Sexual Categories and Asexuality”. Or at least I gave a presentation this title. In reality it didn’t actually do what it said on the tin because I’d rather jumped the gun and given a…

  • Being Human, Emotionality and Everyday Life

    My last few posts on Being Human have looked at Archer’s account of the emotions. She argues that affectivity should be understood as relational, emerging as commentaries on human concerns (understood generically as bodily well-being, performative competence and social self-worth) rooted in nature, practice and sociality. In each case affectivity arises as part of our engagement in different relations:…

  • The Last Outing project

    The research study “The Last Outing: Exploring end of life experiences and care needs in the lives of older LGBT people” has been funded by the Marie Curie Cancer Care Research Programme, and is led by Dr Kathryn Almack at the University of Nottingham. The project is funded under a call for research to explore…

  • Youth Researcher Development Workshop

    FINAL CALL FOR PRESENTERS (Please circulate widely) British Sociological Association Youth Study Group Researcher Development Workshop for Research Students and Early Career Researchers BSA Seminar Room, Imperial Wharf, London, Thursday 7th November 2013 The BSA Youth Study Group invites research students and early career researchers working on or with an interest any aspect of youth research…

  • Being Human and Social Normativity

    In my last two posts on Being Human I discussed Archer’s account of emotions as commentaries on human concerns and her analysis of natural, practical and social affectivity. In this post I’ll explore her understanding of social normativity in greater detail before moving onto a discussion of the transition from first-order emotionality to second-order emotionality in a post next week. From the…

  • Floating Cities, Class War and Matt Damon: what more could you want?

    I like Matt Damon. I like Science Fiction. I loved Neil Blomkamp’s first film District 9. So it was pretty inevitable that I would be excited about Elysium. As if that wasn’t enough, there was the added benefit of the film’s heavily trailed politics, as described by Gavin Mueller from the Jacobin: Trailers for Elysium…

  • ‘Negative Solidarity’ and the Cameroon Concept of Fairness

    This wonderful interview with Owen Hatherley is worth reading in full but this particular extract stood out to me: I’m tempted by two different poles. One of which is to see New Labour as the final death of the Labour Party. Because it was just so much worse than everyone thought it was going to…