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Latest stories from the Department of Sociology

               

News 2023-2024


olivia-rutazibwa

Dr Olivia U. Rutazibwa Awarded the Global Research Fund

With the support of the Global Research FundDr Rutazibwa will advance her collaborative project with researchers from Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, titled “Reading-Through: Towards a Methodology for Political Sciences Otherwise.”

Hakan Sandal Wilson

LSE Sociology Impact Grant fund Awarded to Dr Hakan Sandal-Wilson

We are thrilled to announce that Dr Hakan Sandal-Wilson has been awarded the LSE Sociology Impact Grant in the Winter Term round, supported by the LSE Knowledge Exchange and Impact (KEI) funds. Hakan will be working on the project titled “Pilot Community Engagement Project with London's Turkish-speaking LGBTI+ Migrants.”

Don Slater

Dr Don Slater's project receives fund uplift under the International Science Partnerships Fund

Dr Don Slater’s current KEI Large Bid project, “Social Lighting and Urban Design in Southeast Asia: Changing Professional Practices”, has been selected for an uplift in funds from International Science Partnership Fund for a maximum of £7,000. Conducted in collaboration with Dr Elettra Bordonaro (Senior Visiting Fellow, LSE), Dr Joanne Entwistle (KCL) and local project partner KMUTT, the project seeks to foster “social lighting” and socially-driven urban design in Southeast Asia. The group has recently held a series of workshops in Bangkok, with the final night of workshops involving a presentation to an invited audience of local residents, city officials, and other stakeholders. This project is part of the wider work conducted by the Configuring Light research group. More information here.

Annette-Lareau

Professor Annette Lareau

We are delighted to welcome Professor Annette Lareau, from the University of Pennsylvania, who is joining the department in January 2024 for six months, following the award of a prestigious Leverhulme Visiting Professorship. Professor Lareau is one of the world’s leading qualitative researchers, renowned for her study of the impact of class and parenting practices. More recently, she has been conducting research on the family lives and strategies of wealthy American families.
 
During her Fellowship, Professor Lareau will collaborate with Professor Mike Savage and Professor Sam Friedman, as well as work alongside scholars at the International Inequalities Institute. She will also provide valuable methodological expertise in the area of qualitative methods and use her Fellowship as an opportunity to bring together young scholars and more senior scholars to present their current works-in-progress in the area of elite studies.

 

News 2022-23

Rebecca Elliot

Dr Rebecca Elliott Awarded the 2023 Philip Leverhulme Prize in Sociology

With the support of the Leverhulme Prize, Rebecca will be launching a new project tentatively called "Commemorative Climates," which will be the subject of her second book. The project investigates how heritage conservation institutions are responding to climate change as they confront questions about what to preserve versus what to let go, and how to memorialise what cannot or will not be saved from coastal erosion, rising sea levels, or recurrent flooding. The project will examine how a destabilising climate complicates already fragile and contentious efforts to stabilise a historical narrative or a landscape and to render its artefacts durable.

Chetan Bhatt 2018

LSE proudly appoints Professor Chetan Bhatt as Anthony Giddens Professor in Social Theory.

This named chair was established in 2004 with a commitment to social theory addressing specific empirical issues. The chair has been previously held by Professor Paul Gilroy and Professor Judy Wajcman. It is an honour for the Department of Sociology to host this named chair, and a recognition of Professor Bhatt's contribution as a scholar and educator whose work brings social theory and philosophy into dialogue with urgent contemporary issues and major societal dynamics. Congratulations, Professor Bhatt!

Annette-Lareau

Professor Annette Lareau

Professors Sam Friedman and Mike Savage have succeeded in winning a prestigious Leverhulme Visiting Professorship award to host Professor Annette Lareau, from the University of Pennsylvania, in LSE Sociology from January to June 2024. Annette is one of the world’s leading qualitative researchers, renowned for her study of the impact of class and parenting practices. More recently she has been conducting research on the family lives and strategies of wealthy American families, an interest which will fit closely with the social inequalities cluster in the Department. During her stay, Annette will be assisting with teaching qualitative methods, in working with Mike (and Maria-Luisa Mendez, Santiago, Chile) in editing an Oxford Handbook on the Sociology of Global Elites, and will be giving various talks. More information about Annette can be found here.

Faiza-Shaheen-e1667578683456

Dr Faiza Shaheen

The LSE Department of Sociology is delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Faiza Shaheen to be Course Tutor during the 2023-2024 academic year. She will be working closely with Professors Sam Friedman and Mike Savage on the MSc Inequalities and Social Science, as well as pursuing collaborative projects with the International Inequalities Institute and the Atlantic Fellows Programme in Social and Economic Equity. Faiza is one of the UK’s leading critical voices, having been Director of the Centre for Labour and Social Studies (CLASS) think tank between 2016 and 2020, and from 2021-2023 being Program Head for the Inequality and Exclusion Grand Challenge of the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University. The recent launch of her book "Know Your Place" was the only LSE Public Event of this academic year to be entirely fully seated with people having to be turned away. You can watch a podcast here. Faiza was a parliamentary candidate for the Labour Party in Chingford and Woodford Green in the 2019 election and will be contesting the seat in the next election.

Welcome Faiza!

Bridget Hutter-April23

In memory of Professor Bridget Hutter 

We are deeply saddened by the passing of our colleague, Professor Bridget Hutter, who died peacefully on Monday, 10 April. Bridget joined the Department of Sociology in 1996, becoming Professor of Risk Regulation in 2000. She was a leading figure in the study of risk and regulation, and a founding Co-Director of LSE's Centre for the Analysis of Risk and Regulation, which she directed between 2000 and 2010. Bridget was Editor of the British Journal of Sociology from 2002-2007.  

Alongside her great distinction as a scholar, Bridget was a committed member and leader of the department. Bridget retired in 2019 and had held the status of emeritus professor since then. She will be greatly missed. 

2022 Seigfried Landshut Prize by the Hamburg Institute for Social Research

Congratulations to Professor Mike Savage, who has been awarded the 2022 Seigfried Landshut prize by the Hamburg Institute for Social Research. The prize is awarded in memory of the German Jewish political scientist Siegfried Landshut, who was instrumental during his lifetime in establishing a historically oriented social science in Germany. Previous winners include Michael Mann, George Steinmetz, and Marion Fourcade. Mike is the first UK based academic to be awarded this prize which will be presented during his visit to Hamburg at the end of June. His recent book The Return of Inequality: Social Change and the Weight of the Past is being translated into German as part of this prize, and will be published by Hamburger Press. The award provides funding for doctoral students and early career staff nominated by Mike to visit the HIS. LSE colleagues who think they may benefit from such a visit are encouraged to contact Mike to discuss their interest.

Class Teaching Awards

A huge congratulations to our Graduate Teaching Assistants Limichi Okamoto and Matt Reynolds for receiving an LSE Class Teacher Award! Daniela Perez Aguilar, David Kampmann and Yasmine Kherfi were also highly commended for their contribution to teaching. More information here.

We are now accepting applications for ESRC Postdoctoral Fellows!

The ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) at LSE has been awarded funding from the ESRC to appoint seven Postdoctoral Fellows for the 2023-24 academic year. Further information and application guidance can be found here. Submit your application here.

There Never Was a West and Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology

Dr Ayça Çubukçu wrote the introduction to the German translation of David Graeber's There Never Was a West and Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology, which is now available from Unrast Verlag Press.

Long Reads Podcast

During the 1980s, Japan seemed like it might overtake the US to become the world’s largest economy. But since a property bubble burst in the early 90s, Japan has become a by-word for economic stagnation. That hasn’t prevented the ruling Liberal Democratic Party from maintaining its status as the most successful political party in the rich capitalist world. Listen to Dr Kristin Surak’s podcast for Jacobin Magazine here.

Anticolonial Feminist Imaginaries

Dr Sara Salem guest edited Kohl journal's special issue Anticolonial Feminist Imaginaries with Alina Sajed. This 19-article collection aims to revisit and reimagine the location of gender and sexual politics in anticolonial revolutionary struggles. It’s open access, in English and Arabic. Read here.

Let Me Be Your Stimy Toy’: Fashioning Disability, Cripping Fashion

Dr Jana Melkumova-Reynolds recently published a chapter “‘Let Me Be Your Stimy Toy’: Fashioning Disability, Cripping Fashion” in Mahawatte, R. and Willson, J. (eds.), Dangerous Bodies: New Global Perspectives on Fashion and Transgression (2022). You can access the chapter here

Decolonising Global Health

Dr Olivia Rutazibwa recently published 'Decolonising Global Health: An Introduction', Bulletin of the Netherland Society for Tropical Medicine and International Health. Access the article here

Justice Visions Podcast

Can historical truth be a tool for decolonisation? Dr Cira Palli-Aspero talks to Dr Olivia Rutazibwa about truth-seeking initiatives' potential to contribute to decolonisation, accountability & social change. Tune in to the Justice Visions podcast (Ghent University). Listen here

Supporting Early Career Researchers: Annalena Oppel's Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship

With the guidance of LSE Research Support, Annalena Oppel, an LSE Fellow at the Department of Sociology and a Faculty Associate at the International Inequalities Institute, was awarded a prestigious Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (ECF) in the 2022 round.

SAGE Prize for Innovation/Excellence

Huge congratulations to Christopher Upton-Hansen, Kristina Kolbe and Mike Savage, our SAGE prizewinners for Innovation & Excellence!  Read their paper on the impact of inequality on the art world & the politics of restitution here

The Citizenship Industry: How the Market in Golden Passports Works

Kristin Surak delivered the keynote address at the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies & Sussex Center for Migration Research annual conference at Sussex University. Kristin was also quoted in a France 24 article on "Citizenship for the Rich". You can the article here.

Stay Down

Dr Sam Friedman's class pay gap research has been used as part of a campaign run by an organisation called the Department of Opportunities to end workplace classism. This year they've produced a horror film to coincide with Halloween and spotlight the issue with some well-known actors. You can find the film here.

The Securitisation of Muslims in Britain

As a part of their ESRC Fellowship at LSE Sociology in 2021-2022, Dr Shereen Fernandez is involved in a collaboration with the organisation Maslaha. The project looks at the securitisation of Muslims in Britain since the War on Terror. The aim is to shed light on how counter-extremism and counter-terror measures have shaped the everyday lives of Muslims in Britain.

Revolutionary Papers

Dr Mahvish Ahmad's article "Revolutionary papers: an exploration of anticolonial and anti-imperial journals" is featured in LSE's Research for the World. Read the article here

David Morgan Prize

Dr Ursula Henz's 2020 article "Couples’ daily childcare schedules: gendered patterns and variations" in Families, Relationships and Societies has been shortlisted for the David Morgan prize. The shortlisted articles and the winning article have now been announced on the journal’s webpage, access here.

Breaking the Class Ceiling

Professor Sam Friedman will be appearing in the two-part BBC2 documentary about breaking the class ceiling. The programme is scheduled to air on Tuesday 6 December 2022. Find out more here. Professor Friedman was also featured on the LSE IQ Podcast about class. Listen here. He co-authored this article on the power of elite girls schools which was featured in The Times and elsewhere.

Gerry Simpson’s The Sentimental Life of International Law

Dr Ayça Çubukçu, co-editor of the journal Humanity, invited five scholars to take part in a symposium responding to Gerry Simpson’s The Sentimental Life of International Law. These five scholars will reflect on Simpson’s creative approach to the discipline of International Law, and the symposium will conclude with a response from the author.

On Left Internationalism

Dr Ayça Çubukçu delivered a lecture "On Left Internationalism" at the Institute for Philosophy, Freie Universitat-Berlin, where she held a resident fellowship for a week sponsored by the Transforming Solidarities Consortium.

News 2021-22

In memory of Professor Nigel Dodd 

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the death of our colleague and friend, Professor Nigel Dodd, who died peacefully on 12 August 2022. Nigel was Professor of Sociology and Editor in Chief of the British Journal of Sociology. He was a brilliant thinker, writer and teacher who made major contributions to the fields of economic sociology and classical and contemporary social thought, particularly in his ground-breaking scholarship on the sociology of money and on the work of Georg Simmel. Nigel was a champion for Sociology both within and outside the LSE. He will be missed very deeply.

Nigel Dodd

 

Professor Mike Savage's co-authored article wins SAGE Prize for Innovation 

Congratulations to Professor Mike Savage whose co-authored article ‘Social polarisation at the local level’ has won the outstanding paper in Sociology for 2021. The research was conducted by anthropologists, geographers, and sociologists from not only the LSE but also from Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Manchester.

Dr Gözde Güran's PhD wins the Malcolm H.Kerr Dissertation Award 

We’re delighted to announce that Dr Gözde Güran, who’s recently joined the Sociology department as an Assistant Professor, has been awarded this year’s Malcolm Kerr Dissertation Award in the Social Sciences from the Middle East Studies Association

News 2020-21

We're fourth in the UK for Sociology in the Complete University Guide 2022

We've been ranked fourth in the UK for Sociology, and LSE has been ranked third in the UK, in the Complete University Guide 2022.

ENLIGHTENme Project Hosts International Conference “Shaping Light for Health and Wellbeing in Cities” – Call for Extended Abstracts Now Open!

From 16-17 December 2021 the recently launched EU project ENLIGHTENme will host the international conference “Shaping light for health and wellbeing in cities”. The virtual event will bring together representatives from academia, industry and local administration from across Europe for discussions around the latest findings on urban lighting in relation to citizen’s health and wellbeing. Researchers are now invited to participate in the open calls to submit extended abstract until 4 October 2021.

LSE Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre UK Postgraduate Dissertation Prize Winner

We're delighted to announce that Madhumitha Ardhanari (MSc in Inequalities and Social Science) has been awarded the LSE Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre Dissertation Prize for Sand extractivism and its inequalities: Elite scripts in the Singaporean demand for sand.

The prize recognises outstanding social science research on Southeast Asia from postgraduate students in the UK.

We're third in the world for Sociology in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021

We've been ranked third in the World - and second in the UK - for Sociology. LSE also ranked top in Europe - and second in the world - in social sciences and management subjects for the ninth consecutive year in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021.

We are now accepting applications for ESRC Postdoctoral Fellows

The ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) at LSE has been awarded funding from the ESRC to appoint seven Postdoctoral Fellows for the 2021-22 academic year. Further information and application guidance can be found here. Submit your application here.

LSE Africa Dissertation Award Winners

We're delighted to announce that two sociology students have been awarded an LSE Africa Annual Dissertation Prize.

Simon Marcus (MSc Inequalities and Social Science) recieved the Innovative Research Techniques award for The intersectionality of COVID-19: A Quantitative analysis of COVID-19 in a South African urban settlement. 

Isabel Paolini (MSc Human Rights) recieved the Outstanding Dissertation award for Rights for the Rightless: Synthesizing an Interdisciplinary Framework Explaining Accession to the Statelessness Conventions.

Visiting Fellow Dr Glyn Robbins awarded a Fulbright Scholarship

Glyn’s Fulbright research will focus on the impact of housing/urban policy in New York City and how it compares with his home city of London. Read more about Glyn's Fulbright Award research here.

Your Journey to LSE Photo Competition: Winners Announced

We are pleased to announce the winners of our offer holder photo competition. Congratulations to Congratulations to Louis Norris (MSc Political Sociology), Macarena Cano (MSc Human Rights) and Miles Parker Hirozawa (MSc Economy, Risk and Society) for your winning entries. You can view the winning photos and find out more about the competition here.

MSc City Design and Social Science Publication 

This year, the MSc City Design studio investigated the redevelopment of the Woodberry Down estate in North London. Over the course of five months, City Design students worked in groups and investigated issues ranging from the risk of flooding and the climate crisis to how council estate redevelopments could better address London’s housing shortage. The studio publication, Reclaiming, Recommoning, Reimagining, Reprogramming: Regeneration at Woodberry is the result of these investigations, as well as the work of editors Noah Powers and Armando Salvador-Delgado.

We're ranked eighth for Sociology in the Guardian League Table

We've ranked 8th for Sociology in the UK and LSE has been ranked the 5th best university overall in the Guardian's Best UK Universities 2021 league table.

Professor Fran Tonkiss is our new Head of Department

We are very pleased to announce Professor Fran Tonkiss as our new Head of Department. We are pleased to announce Dr Suki Ali as the new Deputy Head of Department.

News 2019-20

Gendered harassment in public and the potential for a ‘zero-tolerance’ culture

Dr Ioanna Gouseti has been awarded the Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship to conduct research on the topic of sexual harassment in public spaces in the UK. Here, she summarises the project.

Department of Sociology win 'Key Stakeholder' award for Green Impacts

Congratulations to the Sociology Green Impacts team for their work on encouraging environmentally and socially sustainable practice within the Department. Find out more about Green Impacts here.

Dr Fabien Accominotti has been awarded the Charles Tilly Award for best article in Comparative-Historical Sociology

Congratulations to Fabien Accominotti who won the award for his work on the emergence of cultural hierarchy: "How Cultural Capital Emerged in Gilded Age America: Musical Purification and Cross-Class Inclusion at the New York Philharmonic".

Researching Sociology Photo Competition: Winners Announced

We are pleased to announce the winners of our first student photo competition. Congratulations to Hannah Bennet (MSc Culture and Society), Kanon Tsuda (MSc Human Rights and Politics) and Noah Powers (MSc City Design and Social Science). You can view the winning photos and find out more about the competition here.

TEDxTalk: When social policies fail in a time of economic crisis

Dr Liene Ozoliņa gave a TEDxTalk which asked how social policies can bolster or break social connections, with a particular focus on the 2008 economic crisis. Watch the talk here.

Unis should play bigger role in reversing gender bias in computer programmes

Professor Judy Wajcman spoke to the Sydney Morning Herald about the role of universities in reversing gender-biased culture in the development of robotics and artificial intelligence. Read the interview here.

We've ranked third in the World for Sociology in the QS World University Rankings 2020

LSE also ranked top in Europe - and second in the world - in social science and management subjects. Read more here.

LSEIQ Podcast: How do we stop knife crime?

Dr Janet Foster joined Kerris Cooper, Tom Kirchmaier, Yvonne Lawson and Carmen Villa-Llera to discuss knife crime and what can be done to prevent it. Listen here.

Dr Liene Ozoliņa has been awarded the 2019 Vilis Vītols Award

Liene won the award for her article "Embracing Austerity? An Ethnographic Perspective on the Latvian Public’s Acceptance of Austerity Politics”. The Vilis Vītols annual award is presented to the author of the best article in a given year of the Journal of Baltic Studies.  

MSc Human Rights Alumna Joanna Natasegara nominated in the Best Documentary Category at the 92nd Academy Awards

Joanna Natasegara produced the 2019 Film 'The Edge of Democracy' which explores recent politics in Brazil.

Dr Sam Friedman has been awarded the Russell Prize 2019

Sam Friedman has been awarded the Russell Prize 2019 for his Guardian Long Read 'The Class Ceiling: Why it Pays to be Privileged'. The Long Read was extracted from his book of the same title co-written with Dr Daniel Laurinson. Read the Long Read here.

Dr Sam Friedman and Dr Sara Salem win Excellence in Education Awards 2019

Sam Friedman and Sara Salem have won an LSE Excellence in Education Award for their outstanding teaching contribution in the last year. This will be presented at a ceremony on 21 November 2019.

News 2018-19

Dr Suzi Hall and Dr Huda Tayob have developed an open-access curriculum on ‘Race, Space and Architecture’

The project asks what a curriculum on race-making and space-making might look like, with architecture and the designed world as a key reference point. 

They have created a shared resource to use and adapt as necessary, read the curriculum here.

Dr Fabien Accominotti receives Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award Honorable Mention from the American Sociological Association’s section on Consumers and Consumption

Fabien's article “How Cultural Capital Emerged in Gilded Age America: Musical Purification and Cross-Class Inclusion at the New York Philharmonic” examines the emergence of cultural hierarchy in the United States and its role in entrenching the regime of extreme social and economic inequality characteristic of the Gilded Age.

Read the article here.

Dr Rebecca Elliott awarded 2019 ASA Section on Environmental Sociology's Allan Schnaiberg Outstanding Publication Award

Rebecca won the award for her article 'The Sociology of Climate Change as a Sociology of Loss'.

Read the article here.

Dr Monika Krause awarded 2019 Lewis A. Coser Memorial Award for Theoretical Agenda-Setting

Monika is the first recipient of this prestigious award who is not based at an American university (prior recipients include: Marion Fourcade, Loic Wacquant, George Steinmetz, Peggy Somers, Julian Go, and Rogers Brubaker). The recipient of the award gives a lecture at the following ASA meeting and often the Coser lectures are themselves important theoretical statements. If you are interested in what Monika comes up with, she will be presenting the Coser lecture at the 2020 ASA meeting in San Francisco.

Professor Judy Wajcman joins Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg

Judy Wajcman is joining the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg as a FRIAS External Senior Fellow from June 10 until July 31 2019.

Dr Clive Nwonka wins the 'Rising Star' Award and is runner up for 'Inspirational Teaching' Award

Clive Nwonka has been announced as the winner of the 'Rising Star' award and runner up for the category of 'Inspirational Teaching' in LSESU's the 2019 Student-led Teaching Excellence Awards.

Read the full list of winners and runners up here.

Professor Judy Wajcman appointed Principal Investigator for Women in Data Science and AI Project at Alan Turing Institute 

The Women in Data Science and AI Project aims to redress the gender imbalance in data science and AI. Digital technologies are changing the way in which we live our lives and it is imperative for women to be equal partners in developing the algorithms, setting the research agendas, and building the applications underpinned by data science and AI.

Find out more about the project here.

Dr Sam Friedman discusses 'The Class Ceiling' on BBC Radio 4

The Class Ceiling: Why it pays to be privileged. Drawing on four in-depth case studies – acting, accountancy, architecture and television – Sam Friedman, Associate Professor in Sociology at the LSE, argues that the ‘class ceiling’ in the elite professions can only be partially attributed to conventional measures of ‘merit’. Instead, he suggests that more powerful drivers include the misrecognition of classed self-presentation as ‘talent’ and the affordances of the ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’. He's joined by Louise Ashley, Senior Lecturer in Organization Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London and Anna Williams, Director of Research, Advocacy and Communications at the Sutton Trust.

Listen here

Camps revisited: Multifaceted Spatialities of a Modern Political Technology

A new book by Dr Irit Katz, Diana Martin and Claudio Minca offers a geographical reflection on ‘the camp’, as a modern institution and as a spatial bio-political technology.

This book focuses on past and present camp geographies and on the dispositifs that make them an ever-present spatial formation in the management of unwanted populations characterizing many authoritarian regimes as well as many contemporary democracies. It also offers and investigates possible ways to resist the present-day proliferating manifestations of camps and ‘camp thinking’, by calling for the incorporation of ‘camp studies’ into the broader field of political geography and to consider the geographies of the camp as constitutive of much broader modern geo-political economies.

Dr Rebecca Elliott - Can we afford our consumer society?

Dr Rebecca Elliott, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology featured on a recent LSE IQ Podcast discussing whether we can afford our consumer society.

Economic growth has helped millions out of poverty. The jobs it creates mean rising incomes and consumers who buy more. This drives further growth and higher living standards, including better health and education. Yet WWF, the World Wildlife Fund, has recently warned that exploding human consumption is the driving force behind unprecedented planetary change, through increased demand for energy, land and water.

Listen to the podcast here.

Dr Robin Archer - The radical left in the US

Robin Archer,  Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, was recently interviewed at length for a two part radio series on the history and prospects of the American left. The program was broadcast as part of the ‘Rear Vision’ program on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Radio National. ABC Radio National is the Australian equivalent of BBC Radio 4. You can listen to part one of the programme here and part two here.

Dr Sam Friedman wins 2018 European Academy of Sociology Best Article Award

Sam Friedman, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, and co-authors Aaron Reeves (joint lead author), Charles Rahal and Magne Flemmen have been awarded the 2018 European Academy of Sociology Distinguished Publication Prize for their article ‘The Decline and Persistence of the Old Boy: Private Schools and Elite Recruitment 1897-2016’ in the American Sociological Review. Read the article.

Professor Lesie Sklair - the Anthropocene and climate change

At the end of October Emeritus Professor Leslie Sklair delivered a public lecture ‘We need to talk about the Anthropocene’ organised by the University of Technology Sydney, and gave the keynote address on ‘Climate and energy: global dynamics’ at a two day workshop in Sydney sponsored by the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.

Dr Sam Friedman joins Social Mobility Commission

Sam Friedman, Associate Professor of Sociology, has been appointed one of the new commissioners of the UK Government’s Social Mobility Commission. Read more.

Dr Rebecca Elliott wins Excellence in Education Award 2018

Rebecca Elliott, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, has won an LSE Excellence in Education Award for her outstanding teaching contribution in the last year. This will be presented at a ceremony on 31 October 2018.

Professor Judy Wajcman wins OII Lifetime Achievement Award 2018

Judy Wajcman, Anthony Giddens Professor of Sociology at LSE, is to receive the Oxford Internet Institute's 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award 'in recognition of her contributions to the field of the social study of science and technology'. Congratulations Judy!

News 2017-18

Emeritus Professor Frances Heidensohn awarded the British Society of Criminology Outstanding Achievement Award 

Emeritus Professor Frances Heidensohn has received the British Society of Criminology Outstanding Achievement Award 2018. The award is intended to celebrate outstanding contributions made to the discipline of Criminology. More information can be found here. Congratulations Frances!

Monika Krause elected as Secretary Treasurer of the Global and Transnational Sociology Section of the ASA

Monika Krause has been newly elected as Secretary Treasurer of the Global and Transnational Sociology Section of the ASA, with her 3-year term beginning in 2018. More information on the ASA election results can be found here. Congratulations Monika!

Monika Krause elected as a Council Member of the ASA Theory Section 2018

Monika Krause has been newly elected as a Council Member of the ASA Theory Section, with her 3-year term beginning in 2018. More information on the ASA Theory Section can be found here. Congratulations Monika!

Monika Krause awarded a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship

Monika Krause has been awarded a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship to conduct research on “Ideosyncratic Ties: Mission Agencies and the Future of Transnational Relations” and to complete a manuscript based on in-depth interviews with managers in mission agencies, participant observation, and site visits. This will describe the work of contemporary mission agencies on their own terms and will argue that our thinking about transnationalism needs to take into account the kind of ties they establish.

Congratulations Monika!

Student-Led Teaching Excellence Awards 2018 

Congratulations to Janet Foster who achieved Runner Up for the LSESU Award for Innovative Teaching and Daniel James who was highly commended for the LSESU Award for Excellent Welfare and Pastoral Support.

Congratulations Janet and Daniel!

Dr Claire Moon - Visiting Fellow at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) in Aguascalientes, México

Dr Claire Moon was a Visiting Fellow at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) in Aguascalientes, México during February and March 2018. During her residency Dr Moon conducted research with her co-author, Dr Javier Treviño-Rangel (a sociologist at CIDE) on the social denial of atrocities perpetrated by security services and organised criminal gangs in the context of México’s war on drugs. In addition, she presented a paper at CIDE entitled ‘Last rights: forensic deathwork and the human rights of the dead’, and led a staff seminar on research ethics and risky fieldwork.

Emeritus Professor Leslie Sklair - Lecture on Architecture and Globalisation at the MAXXI Museum in Rome

On 7 April 2018, Emeritus Professor Leslie Sklair delivered a lecture on 'Iconic Architecture and Capitalist Globalization: Contamination or Creativity?' at the MAXXI Museum in Rome. The MAXXI was one of Zaha Hadid's last major projects and the lecture was part of a series on 'Storia dell'Architettura Contemporanea' (History of Contemporary Architecture').

Dr Martina Klett-Davies - Higher Education Conference for Sixth Form Students

In January 2018, Dr Martina Klett-Davies participated in a Higher Education Conference for sixth form students at The Camden School for Girls, North London. Joining academics from institutions across the UK, Martina represented the LSE and the Department of Sociology. Her talk covered what it's like to study sociology at undergraduate level, with particular focus on the experience at LSE, as well as paths of progression after a sociology degree.  

Professor Bridget Hutter - Appointed as a FSANZ Fellow

In November 2017, Professor of Risk Regulation Bridget Hutter was appointed as a FSANZ Fellow, joining a network of experts who can provide the Food Standards Agency Australia New Zealand with objective expert advice and critical review. This follows on from her work on the governance of food safety and hygiene risks.

Dr Claire Moon - Winner of an LSE Excellence in Education Award 2016-17

For the second year running, Dr Claire Moon, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, has won an LSE Excellence in Education Award (2016-17). 

Designed to support the School’s aspiration of creating ‘a culture where excellence in teaching is valued and rewarded on a level with excellence in research’ (LSE Strategy 2020), the Excellence in Education Awards are made, on the recommendations of Heads of Department, to staff who have demonstrated outstanding teaching contribution and educational leadership in their departments.

Congratulations Claire!

Dr Suzi Hall - Winner of a Philip Leverhulme Prize 2017

Dr Suzi Hall has won a Philip Leverhulme Prize (2017). This award was set up by the Leverhulme Trust to "recognise the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising”.

Suzi’s winning submission consisted of a proposal to extend her ‘ordinary streets’ project to South Africa. It will be fascinating  to see how her core research question – how migrants inhabit the city – plays out in urban centres of the global south, particularly with the complex political and social history of Cape Town.

Congratulations Suzi!

LSE Human Rights

Important and exciting changes are planned for the Centre for the Study of Human Rights, LSE. In Michaelmas Term 2017, the Centre will move to the Department of Sociology and be relaunched as LSE Human Rights. Read the full announcement here.

News 2016-17

Judy Wajcman wins 2017 Ludwik Fleck Prize

Congratulations to Professor Judy Wajcman, who has won the 2017 Ludwik Fleck prize for her book Pressed for Time: The Acceleration of Life in Digital Capitalism (2015, University of Chicago Press). The Fleck Prize is the Society for Social Studies of Science’s oldest book prize, awarded to an outstanding book across the breadth of science and technology studies. Read more on the Society's webpage.

Sam Friedman wins 2017 ASA IPM Award for Outstanding Article

Congratulations to both Dr Sam Friedman and former LSE Sociologist Dr Daniel Laurison, who have been awarded the ‘Outstanding Article Award’ by the Inequality, Poverty and Mobility Section of the American Sociological Association. The award is for their article in the American Sociological Review entitled: 'The Class Pay Gap in Higher Professional and Managerial Occupations'. In this article they demonstrate that even when those from working-class backgrounds get into top professions in the UK they face a powerful ‘class ceiling’ in terms of earnings.

Read the article

LSE Sociology faculty highly commended for Student-Led Teaching Excellence Awards 2017

Dr Claire Moon has been highly commended in the category of Welfare and Pastoral Support, Professor Mike Savage has been highly commended for the award of Sharing Subject Knowledge and guest lecturer Dr Martina Klett-Davies has been highly commended in the category of Feedback and Communication, and has received the Class Teaching Award. Congratulations to them all!

The award provides the opportunity for students to offer feedback to those staff that have made a positive and significant difference to their learning journey. The process this year led to over 1100 individual nominations, with 450 members of staff being nominated. A review panel comprising of SSLC reps and Students’ Union officers reviewed the nomination feedback to shortlist nominees against criteria for excellent teaching and support. 

Rebecca Elliott published in June issue of Harper's Magazine

Dr Rebecca Elliott has published a feature in the June issue of Harper's Magazine, in collaboration with journalist Elizabeth Rush. "Stormy Waters: The fight over New York City's flood lines" traces recent contestation between the U.S. federal government and the municipal government of New York City over the boundaries of New York City's high-risk flood zones. The feature is based in part on Dr Elliott's ongoing research into how individuals and communities are adapting to a future defined by climate change.  To read the article follow link above (you will need to log in/subscribe to Harper's).

Regulatory Crisis: negotiating the consequences of risk, disasters and crises

A new book by Professor Bridget Hutter and Professor Sally Lloyd-Bostock has been published by Cambridge University Press. Using a new concept - 'regulatory crisis' - this book examines how major crises may or may not affect regulation. The authors provide a detailed analysis of selected well-known disasters, tracing multiple interwoven sources of influence and competing narratives shaping crises and their impact. Their findings challenge currently influential ideas about 'regulatory failure', 'risk society' and the process of learning from disasters.

‘All future scholars of disaster, natural or otherwise, will have to consult this wide-ranging comparative study of the complex and multiple forces that aim to ignore, remediate or exploit this crucial species of public troubles. I know of no work that matches it in terms of thorough documentation and range across so wide variety of cases.’ Harvey Molotch, New York University.

Claire Moon receives Wellcome Trust Investigator Award

Dr Claire Moon, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Senior Research Associate in the Centre for the Study of Human Rights, has been awarded a prestigious Wellcome Trust Investigator Award in Humanities and Social Science for £385,000. The project is entitled ‘Human rights, human remains: forensic humanitarianism and the politics of the grave’ and she’ll be working on it for the next four years. The project addresses the power of forensic science to turn the dead body into to a witness to atrocity. It’s about the experts who make the dead speak. It’s about the families of the dead. And it’s about the dead, and what we owe them. It comprises a history of the ‘forensic turn’ in humanitarianism; an investigation of challenges and innovations in the field in the context of Mexico’s war against organised crime; and an exploration of whether, as a consequence of the forensic turn, it can be argued that the dead have human rights.

Bridget Hutter visits Chinese University of Hong Kong

Bridget Hutter, Professor of Risk Regulation,  is Distinguished Visiting Scholar at CUHK, where she is giving two presentations:  an MPUP Seminar on Regulatory Crises: Regulatory Encounters with Disaster, A Multi-disciplinary Approach on 28 March and a talk on  Risk Regulation Research and Risk Governance Practice:  The REF and Impact.  She is also participating in a programme review of the MSc Social Science Programme in Public Policy.

Promotions for Sam Friedman and Suzanne Hall

Congratulations to Dr Sam Friedman and Dr Suzi Hall from the Department of Sociology, who have both passed their Major Review and will be promoted to Associate Professor.  In addition, Suzi was awarded a Teaching Prize.  She is currently Director of the Cities Programme and is teaching on MSC City Design and Social Sciences core courses.  Sam is currently on leave working on a project, funded by an ESRC Future Research Leaders grant, examining social mobility into and within Britain’s elite occupations.  You can read more about them from their staff profiles.

Leslie Sklair awarded the Frantisek Palacky Honorary Medal 

At a ceremony in Prague on 22 February, Emeritus Professor Leslie Sklair received the Frantisek Palacky Honorary Medal for the Historical Sciences from the Czech Academy of Sciences. During his time in Prague, he delivered a public lecture on his new book, The Icon Project: Architecture, Cities, and Capitalist Globalization (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017), and was interviewed on Czech television and radio.

Honorary doctorate awarded to Charis Thompson

Congratulations to Professor Charis Thompson who has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in January in recognition of her significant scientific contributions to the social and cultural study of emerging technologies. The ceremony will take place in November.

Suzi Hall at the Teaching Café

On 2 February the Teaching and Learning Centre and Educational Strategy Unit’s Lent Term Teaching Café explored the connection between research and education, focusing on three examples of modules where students are supported to produce their own original research. Dr Suzi Hall  from LSE Sociology, pictured here with the publication Infrastructural Urbanism produced by MSc City Design and Social Science students in 2016, talked about the City Design Research Studio course. Read more about it.

New research uncovers 'class pay gap' in Britain's professions

People from working class backgrounds who get a professional job are paid an average of £6,800 (17 per cent) less each year than colleagues from more affluent backgrounds, research for the Social Mobility Commission has revealed. Using extensive data from the UK Labour Force Survey (LFS), Dr Sam Friedman and Dr Daniel Laurison of the Department of Sociology at LSE alongside academics from UCL, examined access to the professions and the impact of socio-economic background on earnings. Follow link above for more on this story. Read more about it.

Ricky Burdett awarded CBE

Ricky Burdett, Director of LSE Cities research centre and Urban Age and Professor of Urban Studies at LSE, has been awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) as part of the New Year’s Honours List for 2017. The Honours List recognises people who have made achievements in public life and committed themselves to serving and helping Britain. Professor Burdett’s CBE is for services to urban planning and design. Read more about it.

Jalal Pour highly commended in the Booth Prize at the LSE Research Festival 

Congratulations to MSc Sociology student Jalal Pour who was highly commended in the Booth Prize for his headlined abstract - Driving in the Gig Economy: road to freedom or bercapitalism? This was part of the LSE Research Festival, an annual celebration of LSE's social science research and its impact. As this year was the centenary of the death of pioneering social science reformer Charles Booth, the Research Festival had teamed up with the International Inequalities Institute who held a conference on Booth’s work on the same day. Professor Niki Lacey from the III was the judge of the Booth Prize, which was for the submission that best matched Charles Booth’s research themes of poverty and inequality. Read more here.

Judy Wajcman to speak at De Lange Conference X

On 6 December Professor Judy Wajcman will be speaking at the De Lange Conference X at Rice University. Her lecture, entitled 'Automation, Robotics and the Temporality of Everyday Life' will examine the ways in which robotics embody the desire to save valuable time by enabling us to complete tasks ever faster and more efficiently. Read more on the conference.

Pat McGovern on Brexit and immigration control

How many extra civil servants will Britain have to recruit in order to cope with Brexit? Dr Patrick Mcgovern says in the Financial Times “An increase will certainly be necessary because the volume of admissions work can only go up.” Read the article (you will need to log in or create an account, LSE staff and students can do so for free).

Pat McGovern seminar at Cornell on workplace research

On 1 November Dr Patrick McGovern was invited to give a seminar at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University on some of his latest research which relates to problems of generalization and theory in workplace case study research.

Claire Moon on the human rights of the dead

Claire Moon, Associate Professor in the Sociology Department and Senior Research Associate in the Centre for the Study of Human Rights, has just published an article entitled ‘Human rights, human remains: forensic humanitarianism and the human rights of the dead’. The article is the first to label, define and historicise a distinctive and growing trend in global humanitarian practice: what Moon calls ‘forensic humanitarianism’. This involves the forensic investigation of mass graves in the wake of state crimes, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The article also initiates a distinctive and controversial argument that, as a result of this recent humanitarian phenomenon, the dead have human rights. The article appears in a special issue of International Social Science Journal and is the result of a workshop reappraising contemporary humanitarianism at the Social Trends Institute in Barcelona in January 2015. The issue includes articles by Michael Barnett (George Washington), Peter Stamatov (Yale), Iain Wilkinson (Kent) and John Brewer (Queen’s University, Belfast). 

Mike Savage shortlisted for Times Higher Education Award 2016

Professor Mike Savage was shortlisted for the Times Higher Education (THE) Award 2016 for outstanding research supervisor of the year. The annual THE awards celebrates outstanding examples of best practice in higher education. The award criteria for outstanding research supervisor of the year is for the individual who has created "the most supportive, stimulating and inspirational research environment for PhD students”.

Suzi Hall: Are Migrants City-Takers or City-Makers?

In episode one of a six part series entitled 'Six Impossible Ideas (after Brexit)', Dr Suzi Hall walked us through her research on ordinary streets in UK cities that challenges the perceptions of migrants as a burden. From Peckham's Rye Lane, a super-diverse street in South London, Suzi talked about what streets like this mean for the economy and what we can learn about the ways migration shapes modern cities. This six part series (of which Suzi Hall's work is one component) draws on six LSE experts and explores different disciplinary perspectives on migration.

Watch the episode

Launch of the International Inequalities Institute Atlantic Fellows programme

Mike Savage, Co-Director of the LSE’s International Inequalities Institute (III) is delighted to announce the launch of the III’s Atlantic Fellows programme, a 20-year programme funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies to support leaders tackling inequalities. This is an ambitious programme designed to build a global community of leaders dedicated to changing policy, practice and public dialogue around inequalities. Follow the link above to read more. The Atlantic Fellows programme at the III is created with a grant of £64.4m from The Atlantic Philanthropies.This grant, the largest ever in the history of the LSE, will do much to inscribe critical social science at the heart of the LSE’s intellectual agenda. 

Read the press release

The Resist Festival of Ideas and Actions

The Department of Sociology is hosting the campus-wide three day festival entitled 'Resist: Festival of Ideas and Actions'  from 28-30 September. The festival will explore the distinct ways in which the theme of resistance has been interpreted and understood within academic research, the arts, grassroots activism campaigns, student debate and mainstream politics, through a variety of events including workshops, debates, street food, films, music and more. And on Monday 26th September fashion designer and activist Vivienne Westwood will get things going with a discussion about how we can resist propaganda through critical thinking, the collaboration of intellectuals and activists, and the arts. This event will start at 6.30pm at LSE's Hong Kong Theatre and is free and open to all but you will need a ticket.

Ayça Çubukçu on the Turkey coup attempt

Dr Ayça Çubukçu, Assistant Professor in Human Rights in the Department of Sociology, has written on the recent events in Turkey in the wake of the failed coup attempt on 15 July. Her piece, published in The Guardian, is entitled 'It’s the will of the Turkish people, Erdogan says. But which people?'.

Cities Programme News

Latest edition of Cities News published

The latest edition of Cities News has been published. Published twice a year, the newsletter runs through the latest developments, events and projects of the students, staff and alumni of the MSc City Design and Social Science programme.

Read Cities News September 2021 here

Previous editions of Cities News

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