Any description of the natural, life or social worlds we inhabit, independently of its putative level of sophistication, presumes an element of theory. This is because none of us starts with a blank slate, but rather draws on a symbolic framework handed down and absorbed as if by osmosis from previous generations, lay or expert.… Read More »
I have often pondered on what I have, or more to the point haven’t, contributed to the socialist movement. My record of activism is certainly parsimonious compared with others I know. I once blogged on what I see as an elective affinity between sociology, education and socialism, at the back of my mind a sense… Read More »
The main emphasis of my own contributions on the theory and ‘measurement’ of social class have been on that fraction of the 1% that can and does deploy capital to sway state policy and practice. In the process I have often reiterated two linked points: first, the causal role of class as a social structure… Read More »
I confess that I first came across the notion of ‘necropolitics’ whilst reading the work of a talented colleague, Eileen Yuk-ha Tsang, whose recent article on gay sex workers and Chinese medical care makes use of Mbembe’s concept. I should add that Tsang’s book China’s Commercial Sexscapes: Rethinking Intimacy, Masculinity and Criminal Justice was also… Read More »
I have always had a quiet interest in what was once openly discussed and occasionally commended as ‘muckraking sociology’. This may not surprise those who have read my previous blogs. But I was recently reminded of the existence of a book called ‘Muckraking Sociology: Research as Social Criticism’, edited by Gary Marx and published in… Read More »
I used to say to my students ‘never underestimate the cynicism of governments, whetever their political complexion’. Ok, this was shorthand: I didn’t strictly mean ‘cynicism’. Now perhaps I can clarify what I meant, having just read John Bolton’s The Room Where it Happened. What is abundantly clear from Bolton’s careful and well written account of… Read More »
The temptation to dismiss people who act against their own interests as ‘stupid’ should be resisted. How often did we hear that working-class ‘northerners’ who voted Brexit, or for an Old Etonian charlatan as PM, were ‘beyond stupid’ and deserved their inevitable punishment? Of course there exists a long history of sociologists trying to explain… Read More »
In a recent paper – presently under peer review – I wrote about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the UK. I argued, as I have repeatedly, that the UK was a ‘fractured society’ when it arrived and that it is taking a damaging if predictable course. I will not repeat myself here. What… Read More »
I have been reading Lefebvre’s little summative book on ‘rhythmanalysis’. I found it intriguing and irritating in equal measure. It was intriguing because I can see potential in using rhythms in understanding and explaining social phenomena, and it was irritating because there was a singular failure to illustrate just how and why this might be… Read More »
Two sets of conversations come to mind, the first with a longstanding friend and colleague, an academic in social and health policy who served as chair of important NHS Trusts; and the second an academic in social epidemiology who conducts research and leads national and international efforts to reduce health inequity. Both dialogues reflected tensions,… Read More »