Gender and South Korea

A seminar is being run by the Sociology Departments Gender, Sexuality and Inequalities Research Cluster in association with the Centre for Women's Studies and the Asian Research Network. 

Professor Chang Kyung-Sup from Seoul National University, South Korea will be presenting on:

‘Another Gender Perspective on South Korean’s Industrial Miracle: The Material Contradictions of Proletarian Patriarchy’.

Time: Tuesday 17^th November 5:00-6:30

Venue: Berrick Saul Treehouse

New Post - Research Associate in York Sociology Department

‘Unsettling Scientific Stories: expertise, narrative and future histories’ is an AHRC funded project which investigates how the history of the future was written over the course of the 20^th century. It examines the different ways in which the sciences were used by novelists, commentators, politicians and academics to envision the future history of western society, and how the public both informed and responded to these conceptualisations.

Working under the supervision of the project’s Principal Investigator this role will contribute to developing one of the project’s key outcomes: an interactive imaginative participant ethnography, housed within the project’s website. 

This innovative methodology combines data generation with public engagement, building on the popular appetite for speculative fiction to encourage a two-way dialogue between the project and wider expert and lay publics. Additionally, you will cooperate closely with other project members (based in Newcastle and Aberystwyth) in order to develop the other project components, including other elements of the project website, be lead author on at least one peer-reviewed article arising out of the project’s work and assist in the organisation of conferences and meetings linked to the project.

You will need a PhD in the history/sociology of science, or a related discipline, or equivalent experience and you will need to find reading (or writing) SF an absorbing, fascinating and exciting pastime.

The salary will be £30,434 per year and the position is available for a period of up to 30 months.

Follow the link for more information: http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AMG651/research-associate/

Women talking about Class

On Wednesday 28th October between 3-5pm in W/243 Lena Sohl from Linköpings universitet will delivering a session for the Sociology Deparment Seminar Series.

Lena is presenting on her research where she has been interviewing middle and upper class women about class. See her abstract below: 

Dr Lena Sohl

”I don´t really like that question”. Interviewing middle class and upper class women about class

Studying elite groups is not a new phenomenon in sociology. However, there is a renewed interest in elite groups within sociology. For instance, Mike Savage (2015) want to “redress the neglect of elite studies within broader class analysis”. I use my interviews and participant observations of a group of middle- and upper class Swedish women to explore understandings of class in a Swedish context. Departing from the women’s understanding of themselves as “classless”, I argue that the women try to downplay their class privileges, in order not to have their class positions questioned. 

Any questions about the sociology department seminar series please contact: laurie.hanquinet@york.ac.uk

Visiting Researcher and Reproductive Justice in Britain and South Africa

We're delighted to have Ryan du Toit visiting the department from South Africa for this term.  Ryan is a PhD student and Researcher from the Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproduction (CSSR) programme at Rhodes University.  He forms part of a collaborative research team involving Merran Toerien, Sian Beynon-Jones and researchers from Rhodes University, headed by Professor Macleod, who also visited York earlier this year. 

The overarching aim of the research project, which is funded by the British Academy, is to critically examine how pre-abortion consultations are conducted in the public health sector in both South Africa and in Great Britain. It is envisioned that the findings from both contexts can be used to develop a ‘reproductive justice’ framework for thinking about abortion practices. 

During his visit he will be attending courses in conversation analysis and engaging in data sessions held by the department of Sociology. You can read more about the CSSR @ https://www.ru.ac.za/criticalstudies/about. Ryan will also be talking about the wider project as part of the department of Sociology's Unpolished Papers programme on November 18th from 3-4pm.  

New Publications on Marshall Berman

Gareth Millington has recently published a second paper on the work of Marshall Berman (1940-2013), author of key Marxist Humanist texts on the city such as All That Is Solid Melts Into Air: The Experience of Modernity (1982) and On The Town: One Hundred Years of Spectacle in Times Square (2006). 

Gareth’s paper, titled ‘The Right to the City (If You Want It): Marshall Berman and Urban Culture’, appears in the Journal of Urban Cultural Studies. Gareth’s earlier article on Marshall Berman appeared in CITY and is titled ‘Remaining Faithful to the City: Marshall Berman’s Provocative Optimism’. These publications are the latest products of Gareth’s long term and ongoing interest in the work of Marshall Berman.

Sociology triumphs in National Student Survey 2015

We are one of the UK’s top departments in National Student Survey (NSS) 2015

The recently published 2015 NSS results show that 91% of our students are satisfied with the quality of their Sociology course here at York.

Our students rate us

94% of final year sociology students said their experience in the Department was enhanced by the quality of the teaching on their course as well as by the enthusiasm of our lecturers.

Hannah Pinsent

2015 Graduate (BA Sociology with Social Psychology)

Student view:

 “The strong support I received from the staff throughout my course and their willingness to listen to student opinions is what I believe makes Sociology at York so excellent.”

Professor Ellen Annandale

Ellen Annandale, the Head of Department of Sociology is delighted with the recent National Student Survey (NSS) results. 

“These are outstanding results which demonstrate the very high quality of the sociology student experience here at York".

As well as achieving 91% overall satisfaction – this year’s results show an increase in student satisfaction within the Department across the board in every individual category of the survey.

We will continue to build on these excellent new NSS results.

Kirsteen Paton: Housing Austerity and Value in Land

Kirsteen Paton (University of Leeds) is presenting on 21st October to the Sociology Department as part of the Seminar Series run by Laurie Hanquinet.

Kirsteen will be talking about:

Poverty Porn' to 'Property Porn'?: Housing austerity and the logic of value in land and people

The logic of capital ostensibly commodifies every aspect of our lives:  this is evident no more so than in our relationship with land. The distinctly urban nature of the economic crisis has surfaced gross inequalities. While glib, if media representations of class are dubbed ‘poverty porn’ we might refer to this gratuitous commodification of land as ‘property porn’. Land value is a key form of capital and so the management of (working-class) places and people forms a crucial part of neoliberal governance. ‘Problem people’ ‘problem places’ are cast as deviant and recalcitrant barriers to neoliberalisng processes and are submitted to the logic of capital and rationalising discourses. Here, the value of land and the (de) value of people coalesce. This paper draws from research in Glasgow in different neighbourhoods with different regeneration projects – one pre-crisis, one post-crisis – and under different governments. This comparison reveals the evolution of state-led gentrification and its wider and deeper impacts and how this project matures. This involves devaluing the poor to achieve a revalorisation of land values and as means of governance – the crucial axis where territorial stigmatisation and gentrification meet.