Evidence from MYPLACE (www.fp7-myplace.eu) suggests that interest in politics, political attitudes and behaviour varies according to dimensions such as locality, class, gender, ethnicity, religion and age. In other words, political interest and engagement links closely to a young person’s economic, social and cultural capital. This sets significant challenges for policy makers and suggests the need for a differentiated policy approach that takes account of social structural inequality and diversity.

Watch the documentary on our website.

Monday 26th January 2015, The Arts Centre Cinema, 5pm (followed by refreshments and a discussion in Social Sciences S0.21)

Evidence from MYPLACE suggests that interest in politics, political attitudes and behaviour varies according to dimensions such as locality, class, gender, ethnicity, religion and age. In other words, political interest and engagement links closely to a young person’s economic, social and cultural capital. This sets significant challenges for policy makers and suggests the need for a differentiated policy approach that takes account of social structural inequality and diversity.

If the good news is that, on the whole, young people have a fairly substantial interest in politics and political issues, the bad news is that this does not translate into comparable levels of engagement with formal politics and the political system. The most important reasons to emerge from the research to date are low levels of trust and high levels of cynicism in most of the MYPLACE countries towards politics, politicians and the political system. While there is general support for democracy as a system, many young people seem to feel that it is not working well for them. A significant number believe that politicians are corrupt, and there is an overriding feeling that politicians are not interested in young people ‘like them’.

Whatever the causes, MYPLACE has revealed a vicious circle in which young people feel that the political system is not responsive to their needs and therefore do not try to influence it.

"Not My Place" draws on the MYPLACE research data and explores some of the key findings on political participation with a group of young people who are active and engaged in local political issues and youth democracy. Further comment and insight is provided by elected politicians and practitioners. Through the film, we hope to pull out some of the policy implications of the findings through the reflections of young people and policy makers, and also to suggest some constructive ways forward to address the challenges that the findings present.”

Since smaller academic departments still need access to the same level of strategic capacity as larger units, how best to deliver such capacity in an affordable and sustainable way? The answer: Collaborative working between Academic Departments and the central Administration. Find out more on the We've Simplified! page.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM (GMT)

A0.23 (Social Sciences)

• Dr. Conor Farrington (Cambridge) - The Sensemaking Spectrum: Understanding User Interactions with the Artificial Pancreas
• Prof. Deborah Lupton (Canberra) - Critical Digital Health Studies: A Research Agenda
• Sam Martin (Warwick) - Twitter: Re-Writing The City Landscape With Health Knowledge
• Dr. Marrian Hardy (Durham) - TBC

The University of Warwick is thrilled to have held 7th place in the 2014 Research Excellent Framework (REF).

The REF is run by the UK’s Higher Education Funding Councils, to assess the quality of UK research and to inform the distribution of public funds for research for the next six years

This lecture by Professor Deborah Lupton addresses Digital Sociology and its implications for the social sciences. Digital sociology is a relatively new term, having been in use for only a few years. It has gradually gathered momentum over that time, however, and her new book Digital Sociology is part of this trajectory. In this talk she will discuss her interpretation of the term ‘digital sociology’ and the confluences and continuances as well as the departures that this version has with previous iterations of the sociology of new information technologies/cyberspace and so on.

Dr. Mark Carrigan (Centre for Social Ontology) and Dr. Emma Uprichard (Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies) will act as respondents.

Deborah Lupton is Centenary Research Professor at the University of Canberra. She is the author of 13 books and over 130 journal articles and book chapters on topics including the social and cultural dimensions of medicine and public health; risk; the body; parenting cultures; digital technologies; food; obesity politics; and the emotions. She is the co-convenor of the Australian Digital Sociology Network and the international Self-Tracking and Self-Quantification Research Network and member of the Technology and Society Network and the Network for Bodies, Organs and Tissues.

10:30am - 4:00pm in the IAS Seminar Room (F204)

Cultural participation has been a longstanding topic of fascination for scholars in the social sciences and humanities. However, established intellectual boundaries - between high culture and popular media, between different cultural genres and academic disciplines - may prevent dialogue between researchers studying different cultural forms and institutions.

This one-day symposium aims to promote conversation between scholars researching cultural participation from different intellectual traditions. It hosts four speakers who are engaging with new areas of research as well as new methodological challenges. The event will explore topics like cultural taste and digital media, the emergence of festival networks in popular music, the role of museums in exhibiting national-political memory, and the rise of 'creative industries training' in Higher Education.

A concluding roundtable will ask participants why cultural participation 'matters', and why trans and interdisciplinary dialogue may be beneficial for studying it.

The event is funded by the IAS and the Department of Sociology; it will take place in the IAS Seminar Room (F204). Attendance is free and lunch will be provided, but places are limited. To register a place, please email: s.varriale@warwick.ac.uk

The interim research findings from ESRC research mapping the effects of government anti-immigration campaigns are now available to read online.

Some key findings:

Read the results online, and don't forget to follow the research project on Twitter (@MICresearch)

Register now for the Narcissism and Melancholia Symposium on the 11th and 12th March 2015.

Keynote Speakers:

• Stephen Frosh (Birkbeck College)

• Ranjana Khanna (Duke University)

• Elizabeth Lunbeck (Vanderbilt University)

All welcome!

Friday, November 21st, Milburn House (G55)

This workshop will be led by Amy Godfrey and Louisa Harvey. It will contain a lively mix of discussion and creative activism, and create a space in which we can exchange, be entertained, and formulate ideas for change, in a world where too often other people make our bodies their business.