Department of Sociology

The blog of the Department of Sociology at the University of Surrey

An Evaluation of the ‘Positive Futures’ Project: Motivating and empowering young people and reducing crime

Jon Garland and Karen Bullock Jon Garland and Karen Bullock collaborated with David Huse (a former Chair of Neighbourhood Watch who sponsored the research) and Surrey Police to develop, implement and investigate ways of motivating and empowering children and young people to engage with the police to devise initiatives aimed at reducing crime. Whilst the […]


A legacy of fear-based messaging: From ‘Just Say No’ to ‘Think Before You Share’

Dr Emily Setty (University of Surrey) and Jonny Hunt (University of Bedfordshire) The slogan ‘Just Say No’, championed by Nancy Reagan in the 1980s and featured in UK TV series Grange Hill, aimed to curb drug use through fear-based messaging. Despite data showing its minimal impact, this same fear-based approach persists in sex education for […]


Exploring social enterprises’ engagement in transdisciplinary research: a reflective analysis

Kim Graham, Kate Burningham and Anastasia Loukianov This blog examines challenges and benefits experienced by our social enterprise partners in the transdisciplinary research project on sustainable food systems. If we want to do transdisciplinary research well, it is essential to grasp the varied experiences and perspectives of different partners, understanding both the challenges they encounter and […]


Embodied Ethnography: Navigating Time, Space, and Self

Vera Spangler Ethnography is a field-based research method that requires personal engagement. During ethnographic fieldwork, we as researchers are expected to immerse ourselves into a social context and become embedded in the world of our fieldsites – physically, intellectually, and emotionally. Ethnographic fieldwork is often portrayed as an exhilarating adventure, a journey into the heart […]


Acceptance and Authenticity in Men’s Narratives of Hair Loss

Paul Hodkinson and Matt Hall Introduction The Journeys of Hair Loss project (BA/Leverhulme) has been examining men’s experiences of pattern baldness through qualitative interviews with 34 men aged between 18 and 49. Below, we reflect on how hair loss acceptance discourses punctuated many of the men’s accounts, exploring the opportunities and challenges associated with such […]


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