Department of Sociology

By Rachel Brooks A cursory glance at the website or prospectus of most British universities will reveal the important place ‘international agendas’ occupy within contemporary higher education. Universities are typically keen to demonstrate: their close links with overseas institutions; the international composition of their student body; opportunities for overseas study and work placements; and, sometimes, […]

By Sarah Earthy Look for a card for someone who is ill or has had an operation and the likelihood is that the message on the front will read ‘Get well soon’, perhaps followed by ‘Wishing you a speedy recovery’ inside. A stereotypical accompanying image might be a cartoon of a patient, probably male, sitting […]

By Jon Garland and Paul Hodkinson Claire describes being approached and questioned about her goth appearance by a group of young people and, after the interrogation turned more aggressive, finding herself on the receiving end of a thrown bottle. Eleanor explains that she became afraid to go into town on her own because of a series […]

By Robert Meadows The BBC NEWS website recently carried a story on couples’ sleep.  Research, we were told, had found that happy couples sleep nearer to each other than unhappy couples.  As the article put it: “Partners who sleep less than an inch apart were more likely to be happy with their relationship than those […]

By Carrie Dunn Female fandom has been one of the most neglected aspects of football scholarship. My  forthcoming book, ‘Female Football Fandom: Community, Identity and Sexism’ (Palgrave Pivot) represents an attempt to begin to redress this imbalance. Few other studies focus on the experiential as narrated by the participants themselves, but it seems evident from […]

By Alex Seal Love it or hate it, the popular saying “YOLO” (an acronym for You Only Live Once) has gained increased prominence in current discourse. This week alone has seen it used in hundreds of thousands of twitter posts, often used to justify a person’s actions because, as the motto states, ‘you only live […]