In this new feature the Sociological Imagination invites short (2500 word max) contributions reflecting on any aspect of sociological craft. We use the term ‘craft’ in the broad sense conveyed by Richard Sennett: Craftsmanship names an enduring, basic human impulse, the desire to do a… Read More ›
Archive for June 2013
CfP: Gender violence and virtual worlds: brave new world(s) of regulation?
Virtual Worlds and Online Games now play a large part in society and social past times; they are popular and mass culture. Women actively participate in various online environments and Virtual Worlds, forming a significant part of these communities. However,… Read More ›
The Project So Far: Visual Sociology and the Sociological Imagination
“Visual Sociology and the Sociological Imagination” on Bundlr
3 tips for managing institutional, project and group twitter feeds in #HigherEd
In the last few years I’ve jointly or solely managed a whole range of twitter feeds – including @sociowarwick, @bsatheory, @bsapgform, @bsadigitalsoc, @lsepoliticsblog, @bsarealism, @digital_change, @soc_imagination, @asexstudies, @dis_of_dissent, @warwicksocsci and probably some others that I’ve forgotten about. Along the way I’ve… Read More ›
Some reflections on editing books and special issues while doing a PhD
I co-edited an edited book (see below) early in my PhD, with an existing project inviting me onboard as a fourth editor – largely, I assume, because my knowledge of the asexuality literature was useful to the project. It was a great… Read More ›
A Society Carried by Ships
25 June is the international day of the seafarer. Did you know that almost 1.5 million people worldwide work on ships? Or that over 90% of all goods we use have at one point been carried on board of a… Read More ›
Reflections on writing book chapters
By Pat Thompson I like writing book chapters. If you look at my publications – well I don’t mean you to do this literally – but IF you did, you’d see that I’ve written quite a lot of them. In… Read More ›
German Sociological Association: Yes to Evaluation, No to University Ranking (June 21, 2013)
On 21 June, the German Sociological Association has published a statement against the CHE (Centre for Higher Education Development) University Ranking which is a subject-level classification covering a range of academic disciplines that has been published annually since 1998. According… Read More ›
“A vain EU-topia seated in the brain?”: A conversation about Europe with Gerard Delanty
‘A vain Eutopia, seated in the brain’; Thus concludes The Moral of Bernard Mandeville’s 1705 poem The Grumbling Hive, a six-penny pamphlet which owes its fame to the 1714 edition of Mandeville’s most known oeuvre, The Fable of the Bees…. Read More ›
Calculative Devices in the Digital Age: a call for papers
Call for Papers: Calculative Devices in the Digital Age Department of Geography Durham University 21-22 November 2013 Keynote speakers (tbc): Prof. Pat O’Malley (Sydney) Prof. Marieke de Goede (Amsterdam) Prof. Rita Raley (UCSB) The Securing against Future Events project is… Read More ›
An introduction to the sociological blogosphere
“Online Sociology” on Bundlr
On which side of history? (Visual Sociology #010)
On which side of history? by the Idle Ethnographer I took this photo through the glass doors of the US embassy in Berlin. The division between East and West Berlin isn’t that stark anymore; and now I wouldn’t… Read More ›
The World Population Clock (Visual Sociology #009)
Do you know exactly how many people there are in the world? At least almost exactly? A good estimate? You can look it up (and keep looking it up) on the World Population Clock. This may be visualised demography rather… Read More ›
The Digital Academic: Social and Other Digital Media for Academics
The Digital Academic: Social and Other Digital Media for Academics from Deborah Lupton
“What do you wish you’d known when you started your PhD?”
@mark_carrigan ok! how to manage reading overload, finding a million relevant things, the sense there is always more to read, think about — Natalie (@projectnat) June 7, 2013 @mark_carrigan @Soc_Imagination That writing processes take time and can’t be rushed/squeezed like… Read More ›
The Work of Richard Sennett: Public Life and Public Policy
This panel discussion was part of an LSE event two years ago celebrating the work of Richard Sennett and exploring its broader significance:
Sociology – professional or pragmatic?
Once again I came away from the BSA Conference with the message that sociology was in crisis but at the same time at a moment of great opportunity if only it could sort out precisely what it is and what it’s for…. Read More ›
CfP: The Sociological Craft Project
In this new feature the Sociological Imagination invites short (2500 word max) contributions reflecting on any aspect of sociological craft. We use the term ‘craft’ in the broad sense conveyed by Richard Sennett: Craftsmanship names an enduring, basic human impulse, the desire to… Read More ›
Some reflections on being a book review editor
I’ve been the reviews editor for the journal Information, Communication & Society for a year or so. Things are going well with the journal. We get a very high number of article views and we are accessible through plenty of libraries throughout… Read More ›
What is Digital Sociology? July 16th in London
Tuesday 16th July 2013 BSA Meeting Room, Suite 2, 2 Station Court Imperial Wharf, Fulham, London SW6 2PY This inaugural event for the BSA’s Digital Sociology Group brings together a diverse range of speakers who, in a variety of ways,… Read More ›
From the craft of songwriting to the craft of sociology
I wrote a couple of weeks ago about my interest in sociological craft and increasing preoccupation with the idea of creating a forum (probably as part of this website) within which accomplished sociologists could reflect on the processes underlying their work. Hopefully… Read More ›
Rethinking the craft of social research
“It is still the case that most social scientists view the research encounter as an interface between an observer and the observed, producing either quantitative or qualitative data. Equally, the dissemination of research findings are confined to conventional paper forms… Read More ›
Attempting the Impossible (Visual Sociology #008)
Artwork: Alice Santoro (www.alycesantoro.com) Attempting the impossible by Alyce Santoro, “a delicate empiricist” Shifts in society reflect shifts in the social imaginary: excerpt of the Manifesto for the Obvious International (the full text can be read here): “In philosophy, the… Read More ›
Governments, the internet and freedom
Current events in Turkey have raised a lot of questions – questions that strike at the very roots of government legitimacy. One of those questions is about how governments deal with the internet. Turkish PM Erdogan has ‘blasted’ twitter and… Read More ›
Visual cultural analytics
Gillian Rose responds to an event on visual methods on her blog. She focuses in particular on Lev Manovich’s work at the Software Studies Initiative. I’ve been trying to follow their work for a while, in particular the creative means they have… Read More ›
“Stephen, you just don’t get it” – a personal reflection on coming to use social media
I have been greatly influenced by a colleague who was once, moons ago, a student of mine and who has now well surpassed my achievements–Deborah Lupton [@DALupton]. She said to me, very nicely, when I said I liked the internet… Read More ›
No, no, no… That Ain’t No ‘Turkish Spring’! That is Chapullin
“What is it these people are protesting against?” foreign press members are continuously asking to the reporters. That is a very understandable enquiry as this movement is quite unique and complicated in many ways. But the answer to that question… Read More ›
The Accidental Sociologist: disciplinarity and academic identity
Originally this column was intended to chart my way through my first formal study of sociology. I’d tripped from one degree to another, with some arty, creative, musical projects in between and ended up in sociology. Apparently, accidentally. When I… Read More ›
Is social media becoming mainstream within UK sociology?
I wrote a short article for the BSA Teaching Journal last week arguing that we are seeing the early stages of social media use becoming mainstream within UK sociology. I’m interested to know what others think of this argument so here is… Read More ›
The Convention for Higher Education
Organised by the Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics (CAPPE), University of Brighton, and co-sponsored by the Campaign for Public Universities, the Council for the Defence of British Universities, and the UCU at the University of Brighton, this two-day… Read More ›