The Sociology Research Seminar is the main venue for scholars from around the world to present work in progress at the Department. It is open to all, and strives to feature innovative sociological research from a variety of perspectives.

All seminars are currently taking place online.

The latest schedule can be found here: Research Seminar Series

Reading Group: Decolonising Sociology

Tuesday 30 March

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Reading Group: Bullshit Jobs

Friday 26 March
Led by Dr Ayça Çubukçu (LSE)

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On Jihad, Empire and Solidarity

Friday 26 March
Speakers: Dr Catherine Baker (University of Hull), Professor Tarak Barkawi (LSE) and Dr Darryl Li (University of Chicago)
Chair: Dr Mahvish Ahmad (LSE)

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Inflections of Anti-Racism in Latin America

Part of our Research Seminar Series

Wednesday 24 March
Speakers: Dr Mónica Moreno Figueroa (University of Cambridge) and Professor Peter Wade (University of Manchester)

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Climate Futures’ Past: Insurance, Cyclones and Weather Knowledge in the Indian Ocean World

Part of the Social Life of Climate Change Seminar Series

Tuesday 23 March
Speaker: Dr Debjani Bhattacharyya (Drexel University)

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Decolonising Sociology Reading Group

Tuesday 2 March

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Underwater: Loss, Flood Insurance, and the Moral Economy of Climate Change in the United States

Thursday 25 February
Speaker: Prof Eric Klinenberg (New York University); Prof Paula Jarzabkowski (Cass Business School); Dr Daniel Aldana Cohen (University of Pennsylvania); Dr Rebecca Elliott (LSE)
Chair: Dr Austin Zeiderman (LSE)

Watch the recording

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A Polity Divided: empire, nation, and the construction of the British welfare state

Annual British Journal of Sociology Lecture

Wednesday 24 February
Speaker: Professor Gurminder K Bhambra (University of Sussex)
Chair: Professor Nigel Dodd (LSE)

Listen to the podcast

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At the Island’s Edge: Living and Learning Within Intersectional Ecologies

Part of the Social Life of Climate Change Seminar Series

Tuesday 16 February
Speaker: Dr Amelia Moore (University of Rhode Island)

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Reading Group: Decolonising Sociology

Tuesday 9 February

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Reading Group: The Democracy Project

Friday 5 February

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Encountering Climate in Models and Materials

Part of the Social Life of Climate Change Seminar Series

Tuesday 26 January
Speaker: Dr Hannah Knox (UCL)

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Have We Reached The End Of The 1951 Refugee Convention?

Annual Human Rights Day Lecture

Monday 7 December
Speaker: Professor Seyla Benhabib (Yale University)
Chair: Dr Ayça Çubukçu (LSE)

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Decolonising Sociology: The Black Radical Tradition, past and present

Wednesday 2 December

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Water Beings: From Nature Worship to the Current Environmental Crisis

Part of the Social Life of Climate Change seminar series

Tuesday 1 December
Speaker: Professor Veronica Strang (Institute of Advanced Study, Durham University)

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Reading Group: Direct Action: An Ethnography

Friday 27 November

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Decolonising Sociology: The Black Radical Tradition, past and present

Wednesday 11 November

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Damages Done: The Long-Term Impacts of Rising Disaster Costs on Wealth Inequality

Part of the Social Life of Climate Change seminar series

Tuesday 10 November
Speaker: Professor James R. Elliott (Department of Sociology, Rice University)

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Decolonising Sociology: The Black Radical Tradition, past and present

Wednesday 21 October

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Reading Group: Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology

Tuesday 20 October

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The Human in Human Rights

Co-hosted with LSE Human Rights

Monday 19 October
Speaker: Professor Craig Calhoun (Arizona State University and LSE)
Chair: Dr Monika Krause (LSE)

Listen to the podcast

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The New U.S. Climate Battleground: Actors and Coalitions in the States

Part of the Social Life of Climate Change seminar series

Tuesday 13 October
Speaker: Professor J. Timmons Roberts (Department of Sociology and Institute at Brown for Environment & Society, Brown University)

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Book Launch: Anticolonial Afterlives

Monday 12 October
Speakers: Dr Adam Elliott-Cooper is (University of Greenwich), Dr Dina Makram-Ebeid (American University in Cairo), Dr Adam Hanieh (SOAS), Professor Laleh Khalili (Queen Mary, University of London), Dr Sara Salem (LSE)
Chair: Professor John Chalcraft (LSE)

Watch the recording

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American Resistance

Thursday 8 October
Speakers: Professor Dana Fisher (University of Maryland)
Chair: Dr David Madden (LSE)

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Time to fire the canon? Sociology and the coloniality of knowledge

Wednesday 22 July
Speaker: Dr Ali Meghji (University of Cambridge)
Chair: Dr Clive James Nwonka (LSE)

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Humankind: a hopeful history

Co-hosted with the International Inequalities Institute

Wednesday 1 July
Speaker: Rutger Bregman (Historian and author)
Chair: Dr Poornima Paidipaty (LSE)

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Set the Night on Fire: LA in the sixties

Monday 8 June
Speakers: Professor Mike Davis (University of California), Professor Jon Wiener (UC Irvine)
Discussant: Professor Robin D G Kelley (UCLA)
Chair: Dr Glyn Robbins (LSE) 

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The Fate of Internationalism: talking solidarity in a pandemic

Thursday 7 May
Speakers: Dr Anthony Alessanddrini (The City University of New York), Dr Noura Erakat (Rutgers University), Dr Christina Heatherton (Barnard College, Columbia University)
Chair: Dr Ayça Çubukçu (LSE) 

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Radiographies of the Human and the Inhuman: victims and perpetrators of Mexico's drugs wars

Wednesday 19 February 
Speaker: Dr Ernesto Schwartz-Marin (University of Exeter)
Chair: Dr Claire Moon (LSE)

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Conceptualizing Declining Reproduction: exploring old and new fertilities within assisted reproduction in India

Monday 9 December
Speaker: Dr Anindita Majumdar ( Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad)

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The Rights of Aliens Under International Law: towards a critical history
Annual Human Rights Day Lecture

Monday 2 December
Speaker: Professor Antony Anghie (University of Utah)
Chair: Dr Ayça Cubucku (LSE) 

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The Icon Project: a book launch

Thursday 28 November
Speaker: Professor Leslie Sklair (LSE), Discussant: Professor Ricky Burdett (LSE)
Chair: Professor Fran Tonkiss (LSE) 

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Coloniality, Whiteness and Curricula: theorising with students on LSE’s racial attainment gaps

This Seminar is part of our Decolonise! Seminar Series

Wednesday 27 November
Speaker: Dr Sara Camacho-Felix (LSE)

Ruined Skylines: a book launch

Wednesday 20 November
Speaker: Dr Günter Gassner (Cardiff University),  Professor Esther Leslie (Birkbeck), Professor Christoph Lindner (The Bartlett, UCL)
Chair: Dr David Madden (LSE) 

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The End of Working-Class Solidarity? The Chinese Workers and Students in Struggle

Thursday 14 November
Speaker: Professor Pun Ngai (University of Hong Kong)
Chair: Dr Robin Archer (LSE)

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Ordinal Citizenship
Annual British Journal of Sociology Lecture

Friday 25 October 
Speaker: Professor Marion Fourcade (University of California-Berkeley)
Chair: Professor Nigel Dodd (LSE)

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Decolonising the University: Thinking Through a Collective Project

This event forms part of our Decolonise! Seminar Series

Wednesday 23 October
Speaker: Dr Meera Sabaratnam (SOAS)

Black and Postcolonial Feminist Connections

Wednesday 16 October
Speakers: Professor Saidiya Hartman (Columbia) Dr Rafeef Ziadah (SOAS) Dr Gail Lewis (Birkbeck), Dr Suki Ali (LSE)
Chair: Dr Sara Salem (LSE)

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Veiled Threats: prevent, populism and patriarchy

Tuesday 15 October
Speaker: Dr Naaz Rashid (Sussex), Fatima Ahdash (LSE), Samayya Afza (Muslim Council of Britain)
Chair: Dr Suki Ali (LSE)

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Racism, Gender Relations and Miscegenation: rethinking Flame in the Streets

Co-hosted with the Department of Gender Studies

Tuesday 8 October
Speakers: Dr Clive James Nwonka (LSE), Professor Laura Mulvey (Birkbeck)
Chair: Dr Sadie Wearing (LSE)

Black Pedagogy: Teaching Race in Higher Education

Hosted with LSE EmbRace

Tuesday 1 October
Speakers: Dr Abenaa Owusu-Bempah (LSE), Dr Coretta Philips (LSE), Dr Clive James Nwonka (LSE), Dr Suki Ali (LSE)

Decolonise! A Long Table Seminar Series

Wednesday 12th June
Speaker: Dr Adam Elliott-Cooper (Kings College London)

Rethinking Human Rights: a southern response to western critics

Hosted by LSE Human Rights

Wednesday 22 May
Speaker: Muthoni Wanyeki (Open Society Foundations)
Chair: Dr Bronwen Manby (LSE)

Listen to the Podcast

Internationale Blues: revolutionary pessimism and the politics of solidarity

Hosted by LSE Human Rights

Friday 17 May
Speaker: Professor Robin D G Kelley (UCLA)
Chair: Dr Ayça Çubukçu (LSE)

Listen to the Podcast

Raquel Rolnik: Urban Warfare - housing under the empire of finance

Monday 25 March
Speaker: Professor Raquel Rolnik (University of São Paulo)
Discussants: Dr Glyn Robbins (Defend Council Housing) and Dr David Madden (LSE)
Chair: Dr Suzanne Hall (LSE)

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Workshop: The Knowledge of Human Rights

Hosted by LSE Human Rights

Friday 22 March

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Human Rights Knowledges: a pluralist and legal realist view

Hosted by LSE Human Rights

Thursday 21st March
Speakers: Professor Richard A. Wilson (UConn Law)
Chair: Dr Monika Krause (LSE)

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White Screens/Black Images: James Snead and Black America in Film

Tuesday 12 March
Speakers: Professor Colin MacCabe (University of Pittsburgh)
Chair: Dr Clive Nwonka (LSE)

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Law in a World of Struggle

Hosted by LSE Human Rights and the Department of Law

Thursday 7 March
Speaker: Professor David Kennedy (Harvard Law School)
Chair: Professor Gerry Simpson (LSE)

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Racial Inequality in Britain: the Macpherson Report 20 years on

Thursday 7 February
Speakers: Professor Kalwant Bhopal (University of Birmingham), David Lammy MP (Labour Party), Dr Clive James Nwonka (LSE), Dr Faiza Shaheen (Centre for Labour and Social Studies)
Chair: Dr Coretta Phillips (LSE)

Listen to the podcast or watch the video

The Class Ceiling: why it pays to be privileged

Hosted with the International Inequalities Institute

Monday 28 January
Speakers: Dr Sam Friedman (LSE), Dr Daniel Laurison (Swarthmore College) 
Discussants: Dr Louise Ashley (Royal Holloway),Dr Faiza Shaheen (Centre for Labour and Social Sudies)
Chair: Professor Mike Savage (LSE)

Listen to the podcast or watch the video

Tabula Rasa Regeneration

Wednesday 23 January
Speakers: Alberto Duman (Middlesex University), Dan Hancox, Malcolm James (University of Sussex), Anna Minton (University of East London) 
Chair: Dr David Madden (LSE)

Listen to the Podcast

Book launch: Citizenship in Africa: The Law of Belonging

Thursday 15 November 
Speaker: Dr Bronwen Manby (LSE)
Respondents: Dr Chaloka Beyani (LSE), Professor Nic Cheeseman (University of Birmingham)
Chair: Professor Chetan Bhatt (LSE)

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From "having" to "being": self worth and the current crisis of American society

Annual British Journal of Sociology Lecture

Thursday 25 October
Speakers: Professor Michèle Lamont (Harvard) 
Chair: Dr Rebecca Elliott (LSE)

Listen to the podcast

199Z: Diversity Revisited and Fashion at the Saatchi Gallery

Thursday 16 October
Speakers: Dr Anna-Mari Almila (London College of Fashion), Dr Agnes Rocamora (London College of Fashion), Jake Young Shim, Jamall Osterholm, Dr Serkan Delice (London College of Fashion)
Chair: Dr Don Slater (LSE)

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Renewing Sociology in the Digital Age

Thursday 11 October
Speakers: Professor Susan Halford (President, British Sociological Association)
Chair: Professor Mike Savage (LSE)

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199Z: Diversity Revisited and Fashion at LSE

Monday 8 October
Speakers: Dr Mukulika Banerjee (LSE), Professor Sandy Black (London College of Fashion), Professor Ben Voyer (LSE), Dr Joanne Entwistle (King's College London), Dr Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas (University of the Arts London)
Chair: Dr Don Slater (LSE)

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For the Love of Humanity: the World Tribunal on Iraq

Thursday 4 October
Speakers: Dr Ayça Çubukçu (LSE), Professor David Graeber (LSE), Haifa Zangana, Professor Kimberly Hutchings (Queen Mary), Dr Tor Krever (Warwick), and Dr Lori Allen (SOAS)
Chair: Professor Tarak Barkawi (LSE)

Listen to the podcast 

Strangers in Their Own Land: bridging a growing divide

Monday 30 October
Speaker: Professor Arlie Russell Hochschild
Chair: Dr Rebecca Elliott

The Social Life of DNA: racial reconciliation and institutional morality 

Annual British Journal of Sociology Lecture

Thursday 26 October
Speakers: Professor Alondra Nelson
Chair: Professor Nigel Dodd

What Is Housing for?

Monday 23 October
Speakers: Anna Minton (UEL), Alex Vasudevan (Oxford), David Madden (LSE)
Chair: Suzanne Hall (LSE)

Mao Zedong and Cultural Revolution: history versus myth

Thursday 16 March 
Speaker: Andrew Walder
Chair: Robin Archer (LSE)

Housing, Financialisation, and Human Rights: A conversation with Leilani Farha, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing

Monday 6 March
Speaker: Leilani Farha
Chair: David Madden (LSE)

Understanding Self-Injury: A Symposium for National Self-Injury Awareness Day

Wednesday 1 March
Speakers: Kay Inckle (LSE), Conor McCafferty and Noella McConnellogue (Zest, NI), Wedge (LifeSIGNS UK). 
Chair: Kay Inckle

Sociologies of Competition

Tuesday 21 February

A workshop organized by the Economic, Technology and Expertise Research Cluster

A Material Sociology of Markets: the Case of ‘Futures Lag’ in High-Frequency Trading

Thursday 23 February
Speaker: Professor Donald MacKenzie
Chair: Dr Bryan W. Roberts (LSE)

The Big Picture: The People vs. America

Department of Sociology and Al Jazeera Film Screening

Tuesday 7 February 
Moderator: Richard Gizbert (Al Jazeera)
Chair: Dr Michael McQuarrie (LSE)

Do We Really Live in an Acceleration Society?

Thursday 12 January
Speaker: Professor Hartmut Rosa
Discussant: Professor Judy Wajcman (LSE)
Chair: Professor Nigel Dodd (LSE)         

Society and Politics in the Age of Trump: Sociological reflections and critical discussion

Thursday 8 December

Department of Sociology Open Discussion

In Defense of Housing

Wednesday 25 October
Speaker: Dr David Madden (LSE)
Discussants: Dr Melissa Fernandez, Dr Suzanne Hall (LSE), Dr Paul Watt
Chair: Dr Hyun Bang Shin (LSE)

Sociology of WE Du Bois: why Du Bois is the founder of American scientific sociology

Thursday 20 October
Speaker: Professor Aldon Morris
Chair: Professor Nigel Dodd (LSE)

Sociology After Brexit

Monday 10 October
Speakers: Professor Craig Calhoun, Professor William Outhwaite, Professor Gurminder K. Bhambra, Dr Will Davies, Dr Lucy Mayblin, Dr Lisa McKenzie.

Resist: Festival of Ideas and Actions

Department of Sociology Festival

Launching on 26 September with a public lecture by fashion designer and activist Vivienne Westwood, followed by three days of events from 28 to 30 September.