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 »
The current lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic has, I am sure, led many people to re-assess their circumstances, projects and aspirations. The first thing to say in this very personal and hence circumscribed re-appraisal is that I am exceptionally fortunate in my starting point. I am only too aware that a confinement between walls… Read More »