THE BEST MODE OF DEFENCE IS ATTACK: SOCIOLOGY IN 21ST CENTURY UK GRAHAM SCAMBLER EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY, UCL Introduction The sociological project can and does take many different forms, but I will argue here that it remains crucially indebted to a ‘reconstructed’ version of its Enlightenment origins. I will start this contribution by clarifying… Read More »
I have over a year or two ruminated on the need for a manifesto setting out what in current terminology is termed a ‘road map’ leading to a ‘better’, if not the proverbial ‘good’, society. Given that my own writings over the years – decades – have been oriented to fellow academics rather than to… Read More »
I recall being taken off guard when a well-known and widely respected sociologist entering the third age seemed to be constantly fishing for compliments. I had considerable respect for him both personally and for his very real accomplishments within the discipline. But I quietly wished he’d desist. I didn’t want him to somehow diminish his… Read More »
Last year (16/6/23) I blogged about the fact, and dwelt on the ramifications of, the intrusion of private providers into the NHS, not least via general practice. I focused on Operose, formed in 2020 when its American parent company Centene Corporation brought together its UK subsidiaries, The Practice Group and Simply Health. In a nutshell,… Read More »
I have just read Wealth and Class Analysis: Exploitation, Closure and Exclusion by Nora Waitkus, Mike Savage and Maren Toft, newly published in Sociology in 2024. I was drawn to it by the authors’ central theme, namely, that class is a key factor in relation to wealth inequality but one that has been neglected, or… Read More »
I’m presently reading and enjoying Sean Sayers’ recollections of ‘the making of a Marxist philosopher’. He relays his experiences of the dull and conservative teaching of philosophy he experienced at Oxford and Cambridge and how he and a handful of colleagues sought to overcome this deadening influence when at Kent University. This included the founding… Read More »
I have just read Graham Greene’s final volume, comprising a selection of dreams culled from a ‘dream diary’ he wrote for many years. He contrasts events in the real world with those in his dream world. I suspect, having been psychoanalysed when younger, he attributed more significance to the contents of his dreams that this… Read More »
Parliament and Socialism The English parliament is an antidote to socialism: a vote for Labour affording respite care for self-destructing Tories in difficult times. When Corbyn promised mild reforms he was rapidly disposed of, not by the Tories but by the assiduity of Labour’s traitors, led by Starmer. Talking of Starmer, was… Read More »
Part and parcel of the politically calculated undermining of the NHS in England is the introduction of cheaper staff. As has become the pattern of late, it is a process conducted by stealth. In this bog I look at what is happening in the primary care sector. It serves as a rider to my recent… Read More »
1: Dialectical Critical Realism – Moving on from Hegel I have in earlier blogs introduced Bhaskar’s basic critical realism, going on to suggest it offers a way of coming to terms with interdisciplinarity. There are any number of commentators who find basic critical realism helpful. Some of these retain their enthusiasm for Bhaskar’s original philosophical excursions through… Read More »