Canterbury Christ Church University 10th Annual Postgraduate Conferenceh Friday 17th June 2011 This year’s CCCU PGRA Annual Conference theme explores: “The Evolution of Research: Adapting to Survive in the Changing World?”. Encouraging reflection upon how the ever-changing nature of the… Read More ›
Archive for April 2011
Snapshots of Britishness
The Idle Ethnographer loiters at a Royal Wedding celebration at Warwick University, striving to catch that elusive spirit of Britishness. For more photos: click here.
University aspirations
Superb cartoon shared from the Guardian website.
Critical Issues in Irish Society Network
Critical Issues in Irish Society is a fascinating new initiative which aims to connect research students in Ireland. Started in early 2011 by a number of PhD students in the School of Sociology at the University of Dublin, it aims… 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 ›
Defend academic freedom: Join thousands of UK academics calling for the release of Dr Beltran
Please join thousands of UK academics who have signed an open letter calling for the release of Dr Miguel Beltran: http://www.ucu.org.uk/Beltranopenletter. Dr Miguel Beltran is s respected academic who has now been detained by the Colombian government without conviction for… Read More ›
The Social Science Centre
A couple of months ago Steve Fuller posted here about a radical educational project based in Lincoln. The Social Science Centre (SSC) is a not-for-profit co-operative university which will offer a participatory and co-operative education in the social sciences, at… Read More ›
Bridging the gender gap in Lesotho
Lesotho is surprisingly high in world gender equality rankings (8th in the world by the World Economic Forum, WEF, ranking). But does this gender equality translate into the lives of ordinary women? This article explores: Has Lesotho really bridged the… Read More ›
A New Model for Peer-Reviewing Monographs?
Earlier this month in London at the British Sociological Association Annual Conference, during a panel for early career researchers, I asked John Holmwood why the RAE/REF does not seem to rate scholarly monographs as highly as journal articles. Both a… Read More ›
Confessions of a Dystopian Marxist
“It was foul, and I loved it,” says Saint Augustine for stealing pears along with “some lewd young fellows” adding further “I loved to perish.” With the Roman Empire sacked by the Goths on the verge of collapse, it is… Read More ›
Follow SI on facebook and Twitter!
This is a reminder that the Sociological Imagination has a presence on facebook. Please do add us as a friend and feel free to get in contact. We’re always open to ideas and suggestions so please don’t hesitate if there’s… Read More ›
The Future of WikiLeaks?
A fascinating talk by Evgeny Morozov who describes WikiLeaks as being driven by a mix of cyber utopianism and political romanticism. If you find this discussion interesting then check out the animated version.
Egotism & Society
What makes our society function? What ties hold us together? These questions have assumed greater importance in a post-modern, morally relative era, an era in which everyone’s beliefs can seem wildly different. At the same time, we find ourselves witnessing… Read More ›
Sociological Imagination day school: social media and academic practice
In June 2011 the Sociological Imagination will host its first day school at the University of Warwick. Encompassing workshops, seminars, talks and brainstorming sessions, it will explore the potential which social media holds for all aspects of academic practice: learning,… Read More ›
Post 2012: Opening up Oxbridge and Russell Group Universities
Previous research has shown that a large proportion of ethnic minorities in the Higher Education system are represented in undergraduate study in the new (post-1992) university sector. More prestigious universities such as Oxbridge and universities under the Russell Group banner… Read More ›
Communication or Credentialing? On the Value of Academic Publishing
Nobody outside of the profession reads scholarly books and journal articles. It’s become a common complaint in the academic world, and among some disciplines such as sociology it’s also de rigueur to take the complaint a step further: Nobody listens… Read More ›
Follow SI on facebook and Twitter!
This is a reminder that the Sociological Imagination has a presence on facebook. Please do add us as a friend and feel free to get in contact. We’re always open to ideas and suggestions so please don’t hesitate if there’s… Read More ›
Call for Papers: what does the Sociological Imagination mean today?
It has been over 50 years since C. Wright Mills wrote the Sociological Imagination. In that time the world has changed beyond recognition: the Cold War ended, the Keynesian consensus broke down, a globalizing neoliberalism rose to the ascendancy and… Read More ›
The Anarchist Film Archive
As political theories go, it’s fair to say that anarchism is more misunderstood than most. Often seen as the preserve of nihilistic terrorists, there’s actually a rich vein of anarchist social thought. There’s also an equally rich social and political… Read More ›
Podcast: Interview with Danny Birchall from the Wellcome Collection
In this podcast Mark Carrigan interviews Danny Birchall, web editor at the Wellcome Collection. The interview discusses the process and thinking behind the Collection’s innovative use of digital media, as well as the recent High Society exhibition in particular. Interview… Read More ›
Call for Papers: what does the Sociological Imagination mean today?
It has been over 50 years since C. Wright Mills wrote the Sociological Imagination. In that time the world has changed beyond recognition: the Cold War ended, the Keynesian consensus broke down, a globalizing neoliberalism rose to the ascendancy and… Read More ›
SI Presents – an introduction to asexuality
In this podcast Mark Carrigan (a researcher focused on asexuality) and Michael Dore (an asexual mathematician) lead an introductory workshop about asexuality. For more information about asexuality visit www.asexuality.org, the Asexuality Visibility and Education Network. An introduction to Asexuality A… Read More ›
A reminder about our two Calls for Papers
Social Research in an Age of Austerity A new coalition government pledges an unparalleled age of fiscal austerity and a new universities minister promises radical ‘reform’ of higher education: what does the future hold for the British university in an… Read More ›
David Deutsch on our place in the cosmos
This video is somewhat outside the usual remit of Sociological Imagination but we thought at least a few readers would find it as interesting as we did:
Straight men kissing more?
An interesting Guardian article which talks to the sociologist Eric Anderson about the decline of homophobia amongst young people in Britain. His findings are rather interesting to say the least: “I started going through my students’ Facebook profiles, with their… Read More ›
An SI author on TV (three times!)
Leon Moosavi from Lancaster University whose article ‘Manifestations of Islamophobia and the Loyalty of Muslim Converts’ was published on SI a few months ago has made a number of recent TV appearances talking about his research. Given that Leon’s article… Read More ›
Why study Sociology? What will I learn?
Here’s the Guardian’s answer to this interesting and important question: Academics claim sociology is more than a subject – it’s a whole way of seeing the world. From the topics studied on sociology degrees, they may just be right. Sociology… Read More ›
OXBRIDGE REDIVIVUS
Introduction: Social immobility What is the point of different forms of indirect democracy if MPs do not represent the electorate anyway, viz. Clegg – fees? And if government and opposition are both headed by male Oxbridge humanities graduates – Cameron,… Read More ›
Critics, Criticism, and Civil Society
I have worked as a critic, and I am socially acquainted with other critics. I have enjoyed many a pleasant meal with critics (the ones who write reviews of anime and manga, at least). I have read hundreds of thousands… Read More ›