It may or may not be related to the fact that I’ve just turned 73 that I’ve found myself more often reflecting – or introspecting – on what it is I do when I write. I think fatigue has something to do with it. I tend to write in bursts, most notably in cafes on… Read More »
This is my 400th blog, another milestone of sorts. In the past I’ve ruminated on the pluses and minuses of blogging, but I’ve little new to add, so here’s a quick one on the companion rewards of buying power by donating to the Conservative Party. You get cultural kudos as well as favourable policy shifts.… Read More »
Not In the Mood You can’t turn it on and off like a tap, you’re either grabbed by the throat, a rabbit cornered by a hungry stoat, or you’re totally lost without a map. This is the way when a pristine sheet of white paper stares back at you, daring you to commit… Read More »
I have always had concerns about the emergence and consolidation of the concept of ‘hate speech’ in the UK (and indeed elsewhere). It is obvious that it resists easy definition, so let’s start with the current guidelines proffered by the Crown Prosecution Service. ‘Hate crime’ is defined as ‘any criminal offence which is perceived by… Read More »
Reading Wolfgang Streeck’s recent collection, Critical Encounters, I was struck by his brief account of Darwin’s Origin of Species. Why? Because Darwin’s stance on science seems to me to bear a strong resemblance to that espoused by critical realists (like myself). Let me start with a quote from Streeck: ‘taking a fresh look at Origin… Read More »
I have repeatedly dug my heels in to retain the classic concept of ‘ideology’ for sociology. In the proverbial nutshell this refers to a view of the world that reflects the vested interests of – powerful capitalist or elite – members of a society. It does NOT refer to any view of the world held… Read More »
I have always been overly keen to begin new writing projects, be they books, chapters, papers, blogs or, nowadays, poems (have you acquired a copy of my Rhythmic Musings yet – proceeds to Medecins Sans Frontieres?). Well, at the moment I’m sitting in a local café in Dorking, having just completed a draft chapter on… Read More »
In their Social Class in Europe Hugree, Penissat and Spire have performed a useful service. They are fully cognisant – and open – about the methodological (and consequent theoretical) difficulties of measurement across very different European countries. They used the European Socio-Economic Groups (ESEG) classification and ended up with a breakdown into three main social… Read More »
I have reflected before on my personal background. Briefly, I was born to parents whose middle-class lives had been disrupted by the WW2. My father had been in line for promotion to the board of a company specialising in German shipping. After a brief period in Hamburg helping wrap up what little was left of… Read More »