by Mark Johnson and Jamie Woodcock The popularity of “streaming” – the practice of broadcasting live gameplay across the internet to an audience – is a rapidly growing social and cultural phenomenon. If any readers are in doubt about the contemporary… Read More ›
Research Profiles 
Becoming a Channel Swimmer
A great video from Karen Throsby, who we interviewed almost 6 years ago, as the first of our many podcasts.
Interview with Steve Fuller on ‘Open Access’ Academic Publishing with Rabble.ca.
I was recently asked to respond to a variety of issues concerning academic ‘open access’ publishing, especially in light of the boycott of the publisher Elsevier and other related initiatives happening in Canada. These are detailed in this article in… Read More ›
The Overton Window
From Owen Jones’s The Establishment, Location 774. According to this biography of George Osborne, which I’m amazed at myself for having read, the window of political acceptability is a key factor in Osborne’s strategic thinking: What the corporate-backed outriders have achieved… Read More ›
“Invisible Lives”: Romanian Night Workers in London
Global cities like London have an incessant rhythm of consumption that needs to be maintained around-the-clock. This short film shines a light on the invisible lives of people working at night whilst the majority sleep or enjoy the nocturnal life…. Read More ›
Happy birthday to Michel Foucault ()
Michel Foucault (15 October 1926 – 25 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, social theorist, philologist and literary critic. He also wore a turtle neck jumper and loved his cat.
Rosemary Crompton’s Journey to Sociology
Rosemary Crompton () was a famous British sociologist of work who researched white-collar work, women’s employment, organisational careers and class, cross-national variations in gender relations and related policies and their impacts on employment and family life. Yet, she was – as I… Read More ›
Thirty Years On: Lessons from the Home Computer Boom
I wonder how many senior academics would feel comfortable rereading their PhD? Equally, I wonder how many current research students can imagine revisiting their work in twenty or thirty years? This is precisely what I did recently, having come to… Read More ›
Bill Carroll: Grassroots organizations as alternatives in the global economy
William Carroll is a Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Victoria (Victoria, Canada). In this video from the 2012 Global Studies conference, he talks about his research on global politics, and looking at grassroots organizations as alternatives in… Read More ›
There’s going to be a riot down in Trumpton tonight: on public scholarship and private commitment
In 1983 at the close of the miners strike two big, bad things vied for my fourteen year old attention: music and politics, and my attention was caught even more when they were entwined in the music of the Clash,… Read More ›
Oppression Bias and the Struggles of a Black Sociologist
Social science as it has developed in the western world has it as its goal to develop, catalog, understand, and organize human behavior. Sociology, Political Science, Psychology, Philosophy, Anthropology, Communications, and all the other social sciences seek to make sense… Read More ›
One Man’s Story (Visual Sociology #002)
Taos alone by Michael V. Miller The title of this work is “Taos alone”. Shot by Michael V. Miller with telephoto lens on Pentax 35 mm SLR at side of mission church in Taos Pueblo, northern New Mexico, June, 1982. He… Read More ›
Painting Primates (Visual Sociology #001)
“Painting primates” by Justin Goodman and Joseph Klett Welcome to the first article in our visual sociology column! It introduces a less widely known area of sociology: the study of animals and society. Do check out the website of the American Sociological… Read More ›
The sociology of intimate tourism: Paula Bialski
Have you even been couchsurfing? Met new friends whilst travelling? Used a travel-share website? Sleeping on a friend’s – or acquaintance’s – floor while visiting a new place? If you’ve done it, chances are, a sociologist somewhere has studied it… Read More ›
Why do I care about my research and activism?
I am a third-year PhD student currently attached to the University of Durham and am publicly known as an activist for women’s issues in Hong Kong. I would like to briefly share my research, activism and thoughts on these. While… Read More ›
What does a career in social research entail?
So what do social researchers do? RSUK has launched a website about careers in science, exploring different possibilities of life as a researcher and the different career paths which UK researchers take. The website features researchers from all seven Research Councils… Read More ›
The man who wanted to change the world: RIP Eric Hobsbawm
He was a true encyclopaedic mind: as the Independent once wrote, ‘No historian now writing in English can match his overwhelming command of fact and source.’ Many could disagree with his leaning to the left, but none could ignore his arguments…. Read More ›
Window on Research: Dave O’Brien on Cultural Consumption in Contemporary Society
This podcast discusses cultural consumption in contemporary British society, exploring who does what and why, against the backdrop of the ethos of creative workers. The cultural ‘omnivore’ thesis is outlined and critiqued, suggesting the importance of expertise, social status and… Read More ›
SI SPORT WEEK #5-1: Rock Climbing and Gendered Identity (Victoria Robinson)
Today we present a selection of sociological resources on rock climbing and introduce the work of Victoria Robinson on climbing identities.
SI SPORT WEEK #4-1: Researcher’s profile: Deborah Butler discusses Careers in the Racing Industry
Most people may have heard about Arkle, Red Rum, even Desert Orchid. How many people will have given a thought about the individuals who made sure these equine athletes made it the racetrack, fit and ready to race? It is… Read More ›
SI SPORT WEEK #1-1: Sport and Social Identities (edited by Andrew Parker and John Harris)
Welcome to the first post from this week! We begin by introducing an important collection on the sociology of sport. Sport and Social Identities (edited by John Harris and Andrew Parker) Sport and Social Identities, by A. Parker and J.Harris… Read More ›
Royalty, weddings, gender, and class: What is so middle-class about Kate Middleton?
Don’t miss the Live Chat by Warwick PhD student Sam Lyle at the Warwick University Knowledge Centre (today, Wednesday 27th April, at 2 pm), regardless of whether you are interested, amused, baffled, or repulsed, by the imminent royal wedding. The… Read More ›
Emotional management during research: A personal reflection
Dickson-Smith et al (2009: 61) suggest that ‘undertaking qualitative research is an embodied experience and that researchers may be emotionally affected by the work that they do’. They also state that this ‘emotional work’ (Hochschild 1983) is rarely theoretically or… Read More ›
Casting My Net wide*: Ethnography and today’s ‘Knowing Capitalism’
Traditional anthropology and ethnography are all about daring researchers originating from civilised Western European countries venturing into unknown territories to spend half their lives living with fascinating, backward tribes. They defy the comfy practice of armchair theorising and instead theorise… Read More ›
Why am I doing a PhD? By Sarah Smart
As I sit in my quiet but chaotic study, staring out of the window and wondering whether I can justify stopping for another cup of tea, I find myself wondering why I have spent the last three years doing social… Read More ›
From Journalist to Sociologist: Some Reflections
I never, ever wanted to be a journalist. But when an editor of a niche entertainment magazine about to go monthly came knocking at my door about a year and a half after receiving my bachelor’s degree, I was in… Read More ›
Indigenizing Approaches to Research
What does it mean to see the world through Indigenous eyes, to come to understand the ontological worldview that Indigenous peoples assert as an essential component of their existences? These questions have more than just theoretical relevance; for Settler peoples,… Read More ›
I Am Redneck, Hear Me Roar
Y’all call me Bubba. Some years ago — never mind how long precisely — having little or no money, and nothing particular to interest me in Southeast Missouri, I thought I would move away, get an education, get a job,… Read More ›
Reclaiming Learning – a return to Vygotsky
We are confronted by and complicit in war, misery, poverty and that acute and chronic crisis, climate change. The complex inter relationship of these chronic crises is a material basis for the acute crisis that could lead to species extinction…. Read More ›
Reclaiming Learning – introduction
The Challenge: “Given that structures function to give persons powers, the specific use that agents make of these structural capacities is not pre determined by the nature of the structures themselves. Alternative courses are open to agents: they may simply… Read More ›