Sociology, Social Enterprise and Innovation
Sociology and Innovation Studies are dynamic and diverse multidisciplinary subjects, which offer exciting and challenging programmes in three main areas: Sociology, Innovation and Social Enterprise.
The academics that teach these subjects are involved with a range of research activities, including:
• looking at finding better, practical, solutions to social problems
• understanding the relationships between personal narratives and the social world
• analyzing processes of urban regeneration, especially in East London
• studying transport and sustainability, in particular looking at culture, identity, and inequality
• understanding the relationship between technology and society
• looking at new models of achieving practical social change through social enterprise
Our active engagement in research is reflected in the enthusiasm of our teaching, shown in the continued positive evaluation of students.
Subject area: Sociology, Social Enterprise and Innovation
Courses
- Community Services and Enterprise (BA (Hons))
- Information and Communication Technologies in International Development (BSc (Hons))
- Innovation Studies (BA (when combined with one other subject area) (Joint and Minor Combined Honours Programmes))
- Social Enterprise (BA (Hons))
- Sociology (BA (Hons))
- Sociology (Professional Development) (BSc (Hons))
Research news
October 2011
Michael Skey’s monograph, entitled ‘National Belonging and Everyday Life: The Significance of Nationhood in an Uncertain World’ was published by Palgrave in October. Drawing on insights from sociology, social psychology and anthropology, this work addresses the following questions;
Why do so many people take-for-granted the idea that they live in and belong to a nation?
Do national identities matter and, if so, to whom?
To what extent are processes of globalisation undermining or reinforcing attachments to the nation?
Through an examination of the views and attitudes of a group that has been overlooked in much of the recent literature, the ethnic majority, Skey demonstrates the link between a more settled sense of national belonging and claims to key material and psycho-social resources.
By analysing what is at stake for the majority, the book offers a more complete understanding of recent controversies over immigration, multiculturalism and community cohesion in Western settings, as well as a framework for theorising the significance of nationhood in the contemporary era.
Find out more information about the book or contact Dr Skey
November 2011
Michael Skey was invited by the Association for the Study of Ethnicity & Nationalism (ASEN) to discus his new book. The seminar, which took place on Wednesday 9th November at the London School of Economics, was attended by around 60 people and provoked some lively discussions, among academics, students and policy makers.
Research and Expertise seminars
Michael Skey has been invited to present a papar at a conference focusing on; Cosmopolitanism in a Wider Context: Conceptualizing Past and Present. His paper, entitled; Are we all cosmopolitan now?’: An Examination of the Varying Meaningfulness and Commensurability of Everyday Engagements with ‘Otherness’, offers a critique of much of the current literature on cosmopolitan, arguing that we need to focus more on the conditional nature of many of these engagements, the resources and constraints that different actors operate with or under and, as a result, the varying commitments they have to different ‘others’. The event will be hosted by Södertörn University/The Nobel Museum, Stockholm between 24–26 November 2011.
December 2011
The British Psychological Society (Welsh Branch) has invited Michael Skey to present arguments from his recent book at a seminar in Cardiff County Hall on Wednesday 7th December 2011. For more information.
February 2012
Michael Skey is the joint convenor of a symposia on ‘Everyday Belongings: Theorising the Self, Society and Social Change’ which will take place at the Morgan Centre, University of Manchester on Friday 17th February 2012. The event, which is co-hosted by the Centre for Research on Migrantion, Refugees & Belonging, draws together experts from a range of disciplines and will conclude with a round-table discussion featuring some of the leading scholars currently working in the field, including; Professor Richard Jenkins (Sheffield), Professor Gill Valentine (Leeds) and Professor Nira Yuval-Davis (UEL). For more information, contact: Dr Michael Skey or Dr Vanessa May
