Social Theory and Social Transformation

Staff across the Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology engage in vibrant and innovative writing and research which contributes to our understanding of critical theories of modernity, technology, the state, democracy and neoliberalism. Our work explores political identities and ideologies, gender identities, behaviour, ‘knowledge’, technology, inequalities, (right-wing) social movements and social justice.

Theme Lead: Dr Frankie Rogan

Publications

2018

Abbinnett, R. (2018). Living After Auschwitz: Memory, Culture and Biopolitics in the Work of Bernard Stiegler and Giorgio Agamben, Theory, Culture, Societyhttps://doi.org/10.1177/0263276418790362

Budgeon, S. (2018). The Resonance of Feminism and the Gendered Relations of Austerity (forthcoming) Gender, Work and Organisation. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12315

Budgeon, S. (2018). ‘Sex/Gender and the Social: Feminist Theory’, in Peter Kivisto (ed). Cambridge Handbook of Social Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. In press.

Rogan, F. and Budgeon, S. (2018). The Personal is Political: Assessing Feminist Fundamentals in the Digital Age, Social Sciences 7(8), 132. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7080132

2017

Cruickshank, J. and Sassower, R. (2017). Democratic Problem-Solving: Dialogues in Social Epistemology (London: Rowman and Littlefield [Philosophy: 'Collective Studies in Knowledge and Society' series]). 

Cruickshank, J. (2017). Meritocracy and ReificationSocial Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 6 (5): 4-19. [Commentary, stemming from the book’s discussion]. 

Farnhill, T. (2017). Union Renewal and Workplace Greening — Three Case StudiesBritish Journal of Industrial Relations

Knops, A. (2017). Validity and scope as criteria for deliberative epistemic quality across pluralism, Social Epistemology. 31(3): 340-350.

2016

Budgeon, S. (2016). The "Problem” with Single Women: Choice, Accountability and Social Change, The Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, vol. 33(3) 401–418.

Cruickshank, J. (2016). ‘Critical Realism’ in L. McIntyre and A. Rosenberg (eds), pp. 270-280. Routledge Companion To Philosophy Of Social Science. New York: Routledge.

Cruickshank, J. Rowan Williams And Hans-Georg Gadamer Contra Jürgen Habermas (2016). Rethinking The Problem Of Religion For Liberals As A Problem Of Dialogue. Current Perspectives In Social Theory vol. 35 (Restructuring Social Theory, History and Practice): 171-191.

Cruickshank, J. et al. (2016). The Alternative White Paper For Higher Education. In Defence Of Public Higher Education: Knowledge For a Successful Society. A Response To ‘Success As A Knowledge Economy’, BIS (2016). J. Holmwood, T. Hickey, R. Cohen and S. Wallis (eds). London: Convention for Higher Education. Available at: https://heconvention2.wordpress.com/alternative/

Cruickshank, J. (2016). Dialogue And The Development Of Ideas In The Political And Social Sciences: From Critical Realism To Problem-Solving Via Colin Hay And The Rejection Of The Epistemic Fallacy, European Journal Of Cultural And Political Sociology (3): 1. Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23254823.2016.1162664

Cruickshank, J. (2016). Putting Business At The Heart Of Higher Education: On Neoliberal Interventionism And Audit Culture In UK Universities, Open Library Of Humanities (special issue: ‘The Abolition Of The University’), edited by L. Dear (Glasgow) and M. Eve (Birkbeck), 2 (1): 1-33. Available at: https://olh.openlibhums.org/articles/10.16995/olh.77/

Farnhill, T. (2016). The Characteristics of UK Unions' Environmental Activism, Global Labour Journal, 7 (3)

Farnhill, T. (2016). A small-N cross-sectional study of British Unions’ environmental attitudes and activism – and the prospect of a green-led renewal, Cogent Social Sciences, 2 (1)

Gregory, J., Mullins, D., Redman, P. and Alan Murie (2016). Social Housing and the Good Society, Policy Futures Report.

Gregory, J. (2016). How not to be an egalitarian: the politics of homeownership and property-owning democracy, International Journal of Housing Policy.

Knops, A. (2016). Deliberative networks, Critical Policy Studies. 10(3): 305-324

Leggett, W. (2016). Politics and Social Theory: The Inescapably Social, the Irreducibly Political, Basingstoke: Palgrave. 

Members of the Social Theory and Social Transformation theme

Dr Ross Abbinnett

Senior Lecturer in Sociology

Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology

His work lies on the intersection of three intellectual traditions: recent continental philosophy (particularly Levinas, Derrida, Baudrillard and Stiegler), German Idealism (especially Kant and Hegel), and the Frankfurt School critique of culture, technology and capitalization.

His work is located in the critical tradition of social theory that began with the Frankfurt School. This tradition is ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 7707
Email
r.abbinnett@bham.ac.uk

Dr Nathaniel Barron

Teaching Associate in Sociology

Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology

Nathaniel Barron joined the Department in August 2019. He previously worked at Richmond & Hillcroft Adult Community College, teaching in various areas of Philosophy, including Ancient Philosophy, Political Philosophy, and the Philosophy of Religion. His research is primarily focused on German Social Thought and Continental Philosophy.

Email
n.j.p.barron@bham.ac.uk

Dr Shelley Budgeon

Dr Shelley Budgeon

Honorary Senior Lecturer

Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology

Dr Shelley Budgeon is an Honorary Associate Professor in Sociology who specializes in gender and feminist theory. Her research analyses the impact of various forces of social change on the constitution of gender relations and the performance of gendered identities. Her expertise encompasses theories of gendered subjectivity; feminist politics; gender, postfeminism and neoliberalism; sexuality and ...

Email
s.budgeon@bham.ac.uk

Dr Justin Cruickshank

Dr Justin Cruickshank

Senior Lecturer
Department Director of MA Admissions

Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology

Justin entered higher education as a mature student studying an interdisciplinary social science foundation course with the Open University and then went to the University of Kent as a full time student to study for a degree in Politics and Sociology. After that he went to the University of Warwick to study for an MA in Philosophy and Social Theory followed by a PhD in Sociology.

He ...

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 6063
Email
j.cruickshank@bham.ac.uk

Dr Tom Farnhill

Dr Tom Farnhill

Lecturer in Social Policy

Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology

Tom teaches on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules and is also the School’s Director of Placements and Employability.

Email
t.farnhill@bham.ac.uk

Dr James Gregory

Dr James Gregory

Senior Research Fellow

Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology

Dr James Gregory received his doctorate in political theory before moving into social and housing policy research.  His housing research started at the Fabian Society, where he was a Senior Research Fellow. James is interested in homeownership, asset-based welfare, and neighbourhood research. In addition to a number of think-tank reports, James has recently published papers in Critical ...

Telephone
+44(0)121 414 6212
Email
j.gregory@bham.ac.uk

Tina Hearn

Lecturer in Social Policy
Director of Widening Participation and Outreach

Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology

Tina is a Lecturer in Social Policy and Director of Widening Participation and Outreach.  She has a particular commitment to the University's widening participation programmes and facilitating the inclusion of a diverse range of students within higher education, through a range of Outreach activities.

 

Telephone
+44(0)121 414 2505
Email
t.hearn@bham.ac.uk

Dr Andrew Knops

Dr Andrew Knops

Lecturer in Sociology
Departmental Extenuating Circumstances Officer

Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology

Andrew lectures in Sociology. His interests lie broadly in political sociology, especially the theory and practice of democracy, although he also teaches research methods. Andrew came to Birmingham as a research fellow in 2000, and was appointed as a lecturer in 2002.

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 2728
Email
a.knops@bham.ac.uk

Professor Will Leggett

Professor Will Leggett

Professor of Political Sociology
Head of the Department of Social Policy, Sociology & Criminology (SPSC)

Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology

Will Leggett researches and teaches in the areas of political sociology and social and political theory, with a particular focus on the relationship between social change, ideology and political identities and action.

 

Telephone
+44 (0)121 415 8628
Email
w.p.leggett@bham.ac.uk

Dr Frankie Rogan

Dr Frankie Rogan

Associate Professor of Sociology
Deputy Head of Department

Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology

Frankie is a Lecturer in Sociology and Director of Undergraduate Admissions in the School of Social Policy.

Her research focuses largely on the role of new media technologies in producing gendered identities, particularly new femininities and new masculinities. Frankie has also collaborated with colleagues in the Birmingham Business School, researching alongside Professor Isabelle Szmigin on ...

Email
f.rogan.1@bham.ac.uk

Professor Nando Sigona

Professor Nando Sigona

Chair of International Migration and Forced Displacement
Director of IRiS

Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology

Professor Nando Sigona has over twenty years of research experience in the field of migration and forced displacement.

He is Chair of International Migration and Forced Displacement at the University of Birmingham, UK where he teaches sociology of migration, displacement and citizenship. He is the Director of the Institute for Research into International Migration and Superdiversity(IRIS). ...

Telephone
+44(0)121 415 8030
Email
n.sigona@bham.ac.uk