News

Morphogenesis and the Crisis of Normativity
Edited by Margaret S. Archer

This volume explores the development and consequences of morphogenesis on normative regulation. It starts out by describing the great normative transformations from morphostasis, as the precondition of a harmonious relationship between legal validity and normative consensus in society, to morphogenesis, which tends to strongly undermine existing laws, norms, rules, rights and obligations because of the new variety it introduces. Next, it studies the decline of normative consensus resulting from the changes in the social contexts that made previous forms of normativity, based upon ‘habits, ‘habitus’ and ‘routine action’, unhelpfully misleading because they no longer constituted relevant guidelines to action. It shows how this led to the ‘Reflexive Imperative’ with subjects having to work out their own purposeful actions in relation to their objective social circumstances and their personal concerns, if they were to be active rather than passive agents. Finally, the book analyses what makes for chance in normativity, and what will underwrite future social regulation. It discusses whether it is possible to establish a new corpus of laws, norms and rules, given that intense morphogenesis denies the durability of any new stable context.

See more on the publisher's website: http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-28439-2

Thursday, June 23^rd will bring one of the most important votes in the country's history - a referendum to decide whether the UK will remain in, or leave, the European Union. The decision will have significant effects on British society and economics, on British identity and on the lives of millions of people, Brits and non-Brits, within and beyond the UK.

Because it is such a momentous social and political occasion, it is important to think about the referendum sociologically. Indeed, as sociologists, we have an important role to play in this debate, because we can raise awareness of the sociological issues at stake in a decision about EU membership and the sociological factors shaping the current discourses and debate in the UK about that membership. Unfortunately, sociological thinking has often been absent from the debate, and as a result a very important issue is being discussed in simplistic, problematic and at times very dangerous and toxic ways.

Staff in the department have been following the debates closely and reflecting on the referendum sociologically, and we have decided to compile some of those reflections in one page. You can access them here.

You are warmly invited to the launch of Deborah Lynn Steinberg's latest book, Genes and the Bioimaginary: Science, Spectacle, Culture (Ashgate/Routledge).

Professor Elizabeth Ettorre (Liverpool University) and Professor Stuart Murray (Carleton University, Canada) will be talking about the book and its significance. Deborah will also say a few words.

The launch is taking place on June 14th at 5.30 in Ramphal Builing, Room 1.04, University of Warwick.

Wine, soft drinks and refreshments will be served.

Thank you for all of the entries which we received to our photo competition 2016. We saw some excellent interpretations of the theme, and we look forward to using your photographs to promote our department.

We are very pleased to announce the winners of our competition ‘What Sociology means to me’ are as follows:

The judges were highly impressed with these creative, innovative and intelligent entries - a big congratulations goes to the above people! We will be printing their images and putting them up within the department.

Also, a big thank you goes to all those who have taken part in this year’s competition!

Best wishes

Andre Celtel (Director of Student Experience and Progression, Philosophy) and Kat Moore (Senior Marketing Assistant, Philosophy)

One of the outcomes of the "Twilight People" project, co-sponsored by the University of Warwick's Centre for the Study of Women and Gender and the Department of Sociology, is a touring exhibiton. The exhibition was launched in February 2016 for LGBT History Month at Islington Museum and is now touring the UK. It will be shown in Coventry from May 4th to June 6th in The Pod (more details below). The exhibition will then tour the UK (for more information, click here).

Exhibition Details:

The exhibition will be in Coventry from May 4th to June 6th, in The Pod.

The Pod
1A Lamb Street
CV1 4AE
Coventry

Opening hours: Monday to Thursday - 8.30am to 4.30pm. Friday - 8.30am to 4pm.

For more information on The Pod, see: http://www.coventry.gov.uk/thepod

For more information on the exhibition and the "Twilight People" project, see http://www.facebook.com/events/1681451395440386/ and http://www.twilightpeople.com/exhibition-tour-launches-in-coventry/

Tweet #TPexhibition

Free Admission

The third edition of our online magainze Toxic News is now available to view.

Special Nuclear Edition to mark the 30th Anniversary of Chernobyl

A symposium organised jointly by the University of Leicester and the University of Warwick

 To be held at College Court, University of Leicester May 19-20 2016

 The symposium will consist of 16 participants, all leading figures in current debates about the place and significance of the study of non-human animals for the social sciences. It will consider why, and the extent to which, the social sciences have excluded nonhuman animals from their ontologies and their accounts of the social world, and will explore the ways in which they might respond to the challenge of fully incorporating nonhuman animals.

For further details please contact:

Bob Carter

Department of Sociology,

University of Leicester

Email: rc300@leicester.ac.uk

Nickie Charles

Department of Sociology

University of Warwick

Email: nickie.charles@warwick.ac.uk

Issues of pollution are often raised within debates about global environmental governance, but primarily in relation to smog and climate change, rather than global health.

This informal roundtable discussion invites panellists from different fields to discuss the important theme of pollution, health, and global environmental governance. Refreshments available throughout the event and wine and nibbles afterwards.

Social Justice Research Cluster Graduate Seminar Series

Inequality and Social Justice In Education: Issues of Class, Race, Gender and Sexuality.

Social Justice Research Cluster, Department of Sociology, University of Warwick.

PG students from all universities welcome. May 2016.

 Event Outline

In an epoch constrained by labour market opportunities for young people and high levels of precarious employment and unemployment, the acquisition of educational qualifications gains increasing significance within an increasingly globalized and highly skilled economy that young people now find themselves competing in. Young people today are barraged with the pervasive public discourse that asserts success in work and life more generally with high levels of formal education. Politically, educational success and failure is increasingly framed in terms of individual agency, the winners and losers within education system are merely those who have worked hard and those who have not. However, academic research has long provided evidence illustrating that different individuals and groups have different educational experiences and outcomes with much research seeking to address the question of why this is. The seminar series will explore research-addressing issues of social justice and inequality within primary, secondary and higher education both in terms of a UK context and overseas. There will be a meticulous focus on issues relation to social class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion and disability.

Event details and speakers can be found here.

Visit the event Facebook page for updates: http://tinyurl.com/gsoh5jx

BSA Regional Postgraduate Event: ‘Close to home: moral dilemmas, ethical practice and complexities of reflexivity in ethnographic research.’

Friday 3 June 2016, London School of Economics

Confirmed speakers: Claire Alexander (University of Manchester), Michaela Benson (Goldsmiths), Karen Lumsden (Loughborough University), Lisa Mckenzie (LSE), Laurie Taylor (BBC Radio 4).

Ethnography as a methodological tool is founded in a long tradition of social science research and over the past decade ethnography has moved once again to forefront of sociological concern. Considered one of the few research methods able to escape the shackles of the academy in full form, in recent months ethnographic accounts have both topped the best sellers lists internationally alongside attracting much academic and lay commentary and critique (Goffman, 2015; Martin, 2015; Mckenzie, 2015). Central to such debates is the concern and question regarding who is permitted to conduct ethnographic research citing the occupational hazard ethnographers risk in eroticising or misrepresenting their research subjects and sites. Appreciating the diverse forms that ethnographic research can take, this event explores the role of the researcher in ethnographic research, reflecting on the challenges the researcher faces in the collection and presentation of data. The event opens with the question of how the researcher can facilitate critical thought and provide valuable contribution to the discipline, whilst avoiding inaccuracies or enacting symbolic violence, however unintentional. Critically reflecting on the concept of reflexivity, the event looks to investigate power dynamics alongside the emotional experience of the research field.

For more information, click here.