In the last couple of years, prominent commentators have increasingly claimed there is a crisis of free speech in higher education. Well meaning participants in reasoned debate are apparently unable to move without being accosted by left-wing activists keen to shut them… Read More ›
Archive for March 2017
Social Imaginaries: The re-invention of social research
Social Imaginaries: The re-invention of social research Panel discussion and book launch of Digital Sociology by Noortje Marres Date and Time: 9 May, 5-7pm Location: Central Saint Martins, Granary Building, Granary Square, London N1C 4AA Hosted by: – Innovation Insights Hub, University… Read More ›
The centralisation of the web and the constraints on academic speech
A great essay by Ethan Zuckerman, which raises the crucial question of infrastructural dependency within the digital university. We can overcome this partly through cultural change (e.g. the importance of a domain of one’s own and boycotting companies like academia.edu) but… Read More ›
The ambivalent promise of higher education
In the latest collection of talks from Audrey Watters, The Curse of the Monsters of Educational Technology, she addresses an uncomfortable issue in higher education: the unrealistic claims made about the transformative aspect of university attendance. From loc 397-413: These… Read More ›
The Sociological Review Annual Public Lecture 2017: Cities and the Political Imagination
The Sociological Review Annual Lecture 2017 Friday 28th April, 2017 Time: 5:45pm – 8:00pm, followed by wine reception Location: Manchester Museum, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL Cities and the Political Imagination Keynote Speaker: Professor Rivke Jaffe Responses by Professor Claire… Read More ›
The Future of ‘Impact’ in the UK
I’m reading through the Stern review in preparation for various impact related things I’m doing in the next few weeks. It takes the view that the 6,975 impact case studies produced and £55 million estimated to have been spent on the impact… Read More ›
Youth employment in the ‘gig’ economy, isolation and @youthloneliness
Isolation at the beginning of working lives As part of the @YouthLoneliness project (Twitter/Tumblr), we are interested to find out more about young people’s working lives, their casual employment, their experience of self-employment and their involvement in the ‘gig economy.’… Read More ›
What is ‘Post-Truth’? What Can We Do About It?
An interesting panel run by Sage.
Beautiful new words to describe obscure emotions
A fabulous talk about a subject that has always fascinated me. Perhaps there should be a word for the pleasure that comes from remembering that not all TED talks are overhyped nonsense? There’s much more here on The Dictionary of… Read More ›
To understand social media for academics, we have to kill the idea of social media for academics
In the 30+ talks I have done about social media in the last year, I have discussed many things. But the one theme that has been most prominent is the extrinsic, rather than intrinsic, complexity of the subject matter. There… Read More ›
Pierre Bourdieu, liberal thought and the ontology of collectives
Well over a decade ago, I was due to start a PhD in Political Philosophy looking at ideas of the individual within liberal thought. There are many reasons why I ultimately moved into a Sociology department instead, though my lack… Read More ›
Cities and the Political Imagination
The Sociological Review Annual Lecture 2017 How can we recognize the political in the city? How might social scientists engage with forms of politics outside of established sites of research such as those associated with representative democracy or collective mobilizations?… Read More ›
CfP: Queer Studies Conference
Looking Back, Looking Forward Friday 30th June 2017, University of Surrey, Guildford BSA Early Career Forum Regional Event Contemporary queer studies increasingly focus on broad areas of sociological concern. It is therefore common to find early career researchers working on… Read More ›
The Porous University – A critical exploration of openness, space and place in Higher Education
Call for participation Monday 8th and Tuesday 9th May 2017 University of the Highlands and Islands, Inverness Campus This two-day symposium arose out of a series of conversations and reflections on the nature of openness within Higher Education. It started… Read More ›
The Ontology of Fateful Moments
In his On the Ontological Mystery, Gabriel Marcel describes the experience of “an irresistible appeal which overturns the habitual perspectives just as a gust of wind might tumble down the panels of a stage set”. He is talking of a… Read More ›
The Technology of Intellectual Work
In 1988 Pierre Bourdieu chaired a commission reviewing the curriculum at the behest of the minister of national education. The scope of the review was broad, encompassing a revision of subjects taught in order to strengthen the coherence and unity… Read More ›
Work, Employment and Society Journal – Seeking New Editors
Invitation to edit BSA Journal Work, Employment and Society Dear colleagues, Work, Employment and Society (WES) is reopening the call for Editors and invites applications from individuals (who would be prepared to work as part of a team) as… Read More ›
CfP: Third International Cultural Political Economy Conference, University of Lancaster, 6-8 September 2017
Third International Cultural Political Economy Conference Call for Papers Taking Issues In/With Cultural Political Economy: Neoliberalism, Democracy and Crises 6-8 September 2017 at Lancaster University, UK Plenaries: Jonathan Joseph (Sheffield), Bob Jessop and Ngai-Ling Sum (Lancaster) Cultural Political Economy (CPE)… Read More ›
CfP: A dialogue between STS and Political Communication
CfP: Panel: Automated social-media bots and the non-human: opening a dialogue between Political Communication and Science and Technology Studies CfP now open for the 11th Annual Science in Public Conference, 10th-12th July, at the University of Sheffield. #SIPsheff17 Information and submission… Read More ›
Pierre Bourdieu, post-war Algeria and the existential conditions for collective action
In an early essay on post-war Algeria, Pierre Bourdieu reflected on the existential experience of the urban sub-proletariat and its political significance. This is reproduced on pg 16 of Political Interventions: Social Science and Political Action: Habituation to prolonged unemployment and… Read More ›
Donald Trump: Everyday Tactics of Post-Truth
In The Making of Donald Trump, David Johnston identifies the tactics used by Trump to deflect inquiries into his many shady dealings and questionable decisions. Sometimes this is a matter of outright threats, with an enthusiasm for litigation (1,900 suits as… Read More ›
Call for Applications: Visiting Postdoctoral Fellowships “Algorithmed Public Spheres”
***Visiting Postdoctoral Fellowships “Algorithmed Public Spheres” (Deadline: April 1st)*** SUMMARY: The Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research in Hamburg, Germany, invites applications for international postdoctoral research fellows who will conduct innovative research on the social and cultural impact of algorithms… Read More ›
Social Media Training Workshop
Social Media Training Workshop Led by Holly Powell Jones City University, London EC1V 0HB Monday 8 May 2017, 12.30 – 4.00 pm This workshop will be of interest and assistance if you wish to use social media to disseminate… Read More ›
International Journal of Social Research Methodology Seminar Competition
The Board of the International Journal of Social Research Methodology (IJSRM) is pleased to announce the launch of the 2017 Seminar Competition. Our aim is to support the development of critical and innovative approaches to on-going and emerging methodological debates… Read More ›
CfP: Watchful Citizens: Policing from Below and Digital Vigilantism Université de Montréal, 2-3 November 2017
CFP: Watchful Citizens: Policing from Below and Digital Vigilantism Université de Montréal, 2-3 November 2017 http://www.cicc.umontreal.ca/en/events/colloques/cicc--scientific-launch In Europe and America, political mobilizations have emboldened citizens to monitor and harass individuals based on categories of suspicion, for instance illegal aliens. These… Read More ›
Public sociology and the role of the researcher: engagement, communication and academic activism
A Postgraduate Forum Regional Event 29 March 2017 De Montfort University, Leicester – FULL DETAILS & PROGRAMME What is the role of the researcher outside the academy? This event invites Postgraduate and Early Career Researchers to innovate and critically reflect… Read More ›
Margaret Archer and Bernard Lahire as post-Bourdieusian social theorists
In an interesting chapter Frederic Vandenberghe explores the role of the individual in Bourdieu’s Sociology, as well as the critiques which Margaret Archer and Bernard Lahire make of it. His intention is to respond to a sociology he sees as hegemonic by… Read More ›
Social media didn’t create the ambition to rethink scholarly communication, it gave us the tools to do it effectively
When we talk about the possibilities which social media offer for rethinking scholarly communication, it’s easy to slip into the trap of thinking this ambition is a new one. We counterpoise the ‘new’ and the ‘old’, the innovative and the traditional, the digital… Read More ›
The ‘Sharing Economy’ as Disembedding Mechanism
As some reading this may be aware, I’m fairly critical of the account Giddens gives of late modernity, seeing it as a wrong-turning for many qualitative researchers who sought to situate their findings in a socio-historical context. Nonetheless, I’ve been… Read More ›