Sociology

Following the tragedy in Essex last month, where 39 people were found in a lorry container, Alice Bloch, Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester, examines the complex issue of migration. Migration is not a new phenomena and nor are the immigration polices that try and restrict migration or those that make the lives Read More

In Social Innovation: How Societies Find Power to Change, out later this month, Geoff Mulgan explains how the phenomena provides answers to the most pressing global, social, economic and sustainability problems. In this extract from the book he describes why society needs both disruptors and cleaners to make social innovation happen. This idea plays out Read More

In this episode of the Transforming Society podcast we speak to Sam Wren-Lewis, author of The Happiness Problem: Expecting Better in an Uncertain World. In his book, Sam argues that the way we’re thinking about happiness in modern societies is wrong. We’re not seeing the bigger picture because we’re so focused on control and distracted Read More

Paul Stubbs is a UK-born sociologist and currently a Senior Research Fellow in the Institute of Economics, Zagreb, Croatia. Here he looks at the work of Stuart Hall, and how John Clarke, author of Critical Dialogues: Thinking Together in Turbulent Times, built on this to guide us through spatio-temporal shifts in the UK and beyond, Read More

Sam Wren-Lewis talks about his book The Happiness Problem: Expecting Better in an Uncertain World.  He argues that we are thinking about happiness in the wrong way, but that by changing our approach away from control and towards understanding, we might have a chance of transforming society for the better.   The Happiness Problem by Read More

John Clarke’s book, Critical Dialogues: Thinking Together in Turbulent Times, celebrates the productive possibilities of what he terms ‘thinking together’. His work can be used to challenge the idea of identity as singular, fixed and immutable – an idea in which people are assumed to have their own, unique, authentic identity, and to belong to Read More

Zoe Young, author of Women’s Work: How Mothers Manage Flexible Working in Careers and Family Life speaks to Jess Miles about work-life balance being an unattainable dream and how choice is an illusion for professional mothers. They discuss how policy and organisation change can make flexible working arrangements ‘work’ for women and families, and for Read More

With the Global Climate Strike starting on Friday, this week we’re bringing you articles on climate change from Bristol University Press authors. Here, Sarah Nash, author of Negotiating Migration in the Context of Climate Change, explains the need to disentangle the relationships between phenomena such as human mobility and climate change in order to bring Read More

Social scientists aren’t always very good at remembering their own history. Also, their research doesn’t build as intelligently on what has gone before, as research in some other disciplines. This means that texts which were trail-blazing and influential at the time, and which are still relevant today, can be forgotten unless active attempts are made Read More

In a world marked by political and economic uncertainty, debt appears to be a constant, an enormous dark cloud weighing upon our lives. We are always in debt, struggling to make ends meet, maintain repayments, and balance the books. In the wake of financial crash of 2008 debt was big news and many imagined the Read More