… troubling infection rates and daily death counts, although impossible to ignore, are not the only way to understand this pandemic and our attempts to defeat it. After all, there is real hope for the future thanks to the creation of new vaccines. But we still need clear heads if we want to phase out… Read More »
…A big problem of Covid-19 management in the UK has been its lack of clarity about precisely this: when do we stop lockdowns, face coverings and social distancing, and dial our lives back to 2019?… The challenge that faces us as a society now is to decide between two views of the future. Are we… Read More »
One particular loss in the present emergency is Georg Simmel’s discussion of the case for cities, in his 1902 essay ‘The Metropolis and Mental Life’…it presents crucial arguments against the break-up of urban life that is envisioned by some contemporary Utopians: the case against the 15-minute city needs to be heard… Simmel composed this lecture… Read More »
No English government has tried to regulate the people’s Christmas since 1655 and 1656 – and that did not go well. After the English Civil War, the country was divided into regions administered by Major-Generals – religious zealots who thought Christmas should be a time for sobriety and reflection rather than joy and celebration. Their… Read More »
I have just posted a link to a lengthy video interview with Dr Clemens Heni, a German political scientist, which you can access on YourTube via my video page. If you are interested, there are two other interviews in text available online. These formats make it possible to give a more reasoned account of my… Read More »
Humans have lived with infectious diseases for at least 15,000 years. Many of these are shared with animals. They infect us, we infect them and, from time to time, there is a new crossover, as with Covid-19…. Humanity has a long history of dealing with these things. What history shows us is that the only… Read More »
Now available online – a recording of the presentation at the Virtual Conference of the British Sociological Association’s Medical Sociology Group on 10 September 2020, chaired by Jen Remnant and featuring Professor Graham Martin (Cambridge) Dr Esmee Hanna (De Montfort) and Professor Robert Dingwall (NTU/Dingwall Enterprises). Prompted originally by the scientific dispute over the value… Read More »
Now published – with pandemic update squeezed in as it went to press and added to the supporting website! Covering the entire research process – from understanding theory to writing up your project – this book provides students with an easy-to-follow introduction to qualitative methods in nursing and healthcare. It offers straightforward guidance on key… Read More »
Sociologists of Science and Technology take science fiction very seriously. Although it is often dismissed as a cheap literary form, it represents an important way in which contemporary societies try to think about and shape their futures. In this respect, it stands alongside more ‘respectable’ literary forms like modelling or scenario planning. Science fiction emerges… Read More »
Would the world be a better place if it were governed by physicians instead of politicians? The Greek scholar, Plato, asked that question 2,500 years ago. After all, physicians focus on healing the sick and promoting the health of the well. Why would you not want to put them in charge? That focus, Plato says,… Read More »