Think a city cannot surprise you? I thought so, until I found Michael Wolf’s work. Here are some of his pretty ugly – or pretty in their ugliness, depending on your viewpoint – photos of HK urban highrise blocks of flats…. Read More ›
Tag Archive for ‘Sociology’
Making The Familiar Strange: A Festival of Critical Ideas
Last week I attended re: publica in Berlin for the first time. For those not familiar with it, it’s a vast conference about internet and society incorporating activists, journalists, hackers, academics, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists in a melange of sessions… Read More ›
The sociology of climate change (in blues format)!
by Bill Carroll In January 2015, scientists recorded atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide above 400 parts per million on a regular basis – the first time such a level had been reached so early in the calendar year. It… Read More ›
The place of sociology in the Second Machine Age
We’ve recently seen an emerging discourse of the ‘second machine age’ considering the potential implications of advances in robots and computational technologies for employment. In a recent London Review of Books essay, John Lanchester offers an insightful overview of this… Read More ›
The most popular posts over the last 5 years of Sociological Imagination
Home page / Archives Charles Wright Mills’ Sociological Imagination and why we fail to match it today How to write a good sociology essay (and not panic) About Is someone you care about involved with post structuralism? Making the familiar… Read More ›
The Promise of Sociology in 2015
Earlier this month, I spoke to Nicholas Gane (Warwick) and Les Back (Goldsmiths) about an article they published in Theory, Culture & Society. It was called C. Wright Mills 50 Years On: The Promise and Craft of Sociology Revisited and, as you can… Read More ›
Syndicalist Sociology: The Forgotten Work of Guillaume De Greef
by Jeff Shantz, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Vancouver Radical perspectives, particularly those that have connections with or roots in actual movements for social change and resistance, often find their contributions unacknowledged or marginalized within formal academic disciplines such as the social sciences…. Read More ›
What makes a discipline “successful”? Thoughts on the counter-productive anarchy of UK sociology
Colin Mills from Oxford Sociology has posted an interesting response to Steve Fuller’s piece here last week about the fortunes of Sociology in the UK’s research assessment exercise. Many of the complaints that have followed the REF concern the peer review… Read More ›
Some thoughts on sociological blogging
The potential value and dangers of sociological blogging arise because of an environment in which the demands of audit culture incentivise the production of ‘unread’ and ‘unloved’ publications which are too often written to be counted rather than to be… Read More ›
Does Sociology as a Discipline Have a Future in the UK after the REF?
The British Sociological Association (BSA), the main professional body for sociology as a discipline in this country, has recently called for some calm soul-searching about the results of the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF), in which the lowest ever number… Read More ›
The wisdom of sociology
Can Sociology be life changing? That’s what Sam Richards argues in this thought provoking TED talk which explores how the discipline can lead us to reimagine our circumstances and see those connections which we otherwise miss – it reveals hidden commonalities and… Read More ›
Book Review: Liminality and the Modern, Living Through the In-Between by BjØrn Thomassen
Book Review by Bradley Williams With Liminality and the Modern, BjØrn Thomassen has provided an invaluable resource for researchers of all types of ritualistic processes in different social settings. As Thomassen notes, the concept of liminality is under-utilized in anthropology… Read More ›
Call for Proposals: Sociological Review monograph series
The Sociological Review, the UK’s oldest sociology journal, publishes a series of monographs encompassing a diverse range of topics. They’re now seeking proposals for the next round of monographs: The key international journal The Sociological Review is home to a prestigious Monograph Series that… Read More ›
Being a sociologist means never having to be bored
The social theorist Randall Collins offers a lovely account of Sociology’s distinctive worth in this short article from Contemporary Sociology. There’s a PDF of the article available online here: Sociology, like everything else, is a product of particular historical conditions. But… Read More ›
Sociology as the Science of Human Uplift: The Sacred Project of UK Sociology?
In this keynote talk from the 2014 British Sociological Association conference, Steve Fuller talks about “Sociology as the Science of Human Uplift”. I was struck when listening to his discussion of the early history of the discipline in the UK,… Read More ›
Should graduate school be producing technicians or public intellectuals?
In his rather contentious book about the current state of American sociology, Christian Smith makes an important argument about graduate training in sociology and the kinds of scholars US graduate schools will tend to produce. It echoes an argument I’ve read… Read More ›
Computers and Intellectual Craftsmanship
by Jim Kemeny I still remember the large number of personnel needed to input and analyse data in the 1950s: “Computers were giant mechanical assemblages, big enough to take up an entire warehouse, programmed in advance with punch cards. In… Read More ›
Sociologies of Everyday Life – Still Time to Submit Your Paper
Sociology A journal of the British Sociological Association Sociologies of Everyday Life Special Issue Call for Papers Deadline for submissions: 31 August 2014 Everyday life sociology is a well-established tradition in the discipline and interest in ways of understanding day-to-day worlds… Read More ›
An Alternative History of Sociological Thought
This idea occurred to me earlier today when I read this great article on Harriet Martineau for a second time. I’d first heard of Martineau through a conversation on twitter, ultimately leading to this proposal by Steve Fuller. The longer… Read More ›
Jeffrey Weeks interviews Carol Smart
This is better than a festschrift!
What is the Capability Approach about?
The capability approach (CA), developed by Amartya Sen, Martha Nussbaum and other social theorists is a broad, human-centred normative framework for the evaluation of individual and group well-being, quality of life and social justice. Sen and Nussbaum’s ideas have influenced… Read More ›
Constructing a Sociological career: An eternally complex autobiographical practice
It wasn’t billed as an early careers master-class and pep talk, but from my personal perspective, this was precisely what the recent ‘Conversations with David Morgan and Friends’ event delivered, as well as interesting insights into current research at the… Read More ›
Lacuna – a new online magazine which commits sociology
We would like to introduce you to a new favourite online magazine of ours – Lacuna. “Lacuna is an online magazine that challenges indifference to suffering and promotes human rights. Its aim is to fill the gap between the short-term… Read More ›
The Public Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu
The thing I like most about Bourdieu is his conception of public sociology. It seems clear to me that Bourdieu was a public sociologist, though others are less certain about this and I suspect it’s not a term he would have chosen to use himself…. Read More ›
Some reflections on #BritSoc14 by @ptubaro
I was back last week from the annual conference of British Sociological Association (BSA) in Leeds, and as usual, I try to put down my impressions as long as they’re still fresh in my mind. I wasn’t very quick, though, and the… Read More ›
Some reflections on #BritSoc14 by @chrishtill
Last week I attended the British Sociological Association Annual Conference held at the University of Leeds. I found this to be a particularly engaging event which made me quite hopeful for the direction of sociology. Not because there are not significant social,… Read More ›
CfP: Not Your Typical Call for Papers
With the 2014 Volume, the Berkeley Journal of Sociology will focus its efforts on writing a “history of the present.” The journal will no longer publish academic research articles. Instead, we seek compelling essays, insightful commentaries, critical analyses, and topical symposiums on… Read More ›
Howard Becker on the Craft of Sociology
This great podcast is from an event at Goldsmiths a few years ago. It’s introduced by Les Back and the talk covers a lot of ground. The video below shows Howard Becker engaged in a different craft. http://magiclantern.gold.ac.uk/movs/sociology/howie-the-craft-sociology.mp3
Recollections on working with Howard Becker
In this interesting video, Clinton Sanders reflects on his experiences of being taught by Howard Becker. It sheds light on Becker as a teacher and person but also offers insights into US sociology in the 1960s.
Not Your Typical Call for Papers
With the 2014 Volume, the Berkeley Journal of Sociology will focus its efforts on writing a “history of the present.” The journal will no longer publish academic research articles. Instead, we seek compelling essays, insightful commentaries, critical analyses, and topical symposiums on… Read More ›