Author: Robert Dingwall

Robert Dingwall is an emeritus professor of sociology at Nottingham Trent University. He also serves as a consulting sociologist, providing research and advisory services particularly in relation to organizational strategy, public engagement and knowledge transfer. He is co-editor of the SAGE Handbook of Research Management.

Dickens’s Heart of Darkness – Not Your Muppet Christmas Carol
Ethics
January 7, 2020

Dickens’s Heart of Darkness – Not Your Muppet Christmas Carol

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Universities – What Is It Reasonable to Expect of Them?
Higher Education Reform
December 3, 2019

Universities – What Is It Reasonable to Expect of Them?

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Research on Research
Academic Funding
October 11, 2019

Research on Research

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The Academic Conference – and its Discontents
Career
September 23, 2019

The Academic Conference – and its Discontents

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Social Precognition and Sociology: The Case of Resistentialism and ANT

Social Precognition and Sociology: The Case of Resistentialism and ANT

In the last 20 years or so there has been much excitement, particularly in science and technology studies, about Actor-Network Theory. One of its most distinctive features is the way in which it ascribes agency to material objects. Perhaps we should not be crediting Bruno Latour or Michel Callon with the original insight – but an English humourist, Paul Jennings.

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Why Does the British Labour Party Struggle with Antisemitism?

Why Does the British Labour Party Struggle with Antisemitism?

Britain’s Labour Party historically had strong ties to the idea and later the state of Israel. Now a host of factors are challenging the traditional connection to Zionism and even raising concerns of antisemitism.

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Understanding the Slave Trade

Understanding the Slave Trade

Our Robert Dingwall says he has long thought that sociologists should read more history. It might correct some of their sweeping generalizations about the emergence and development of Western societies. This reflection has been reinforced by a recent book, ‘A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution.’

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Reflections on the Death of Doris Day

Reflections on the Death of Doris Day

Ruminating on the late Doris Day – and in particular her rendition of ‘Que sera sera’ – our Robert Dingwall draws a comparison with the Greek Stoics , Western educational trends and the restraint that was once a feature of sociological inquiry.

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What Counts as “Real Sociology”?

What Counts as “Real Sociology”?

In the course of a recent visit to Mainland Europe, I got talking to a young sociologist with a particular interest in […]

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Whatever Happened to Conservative Social Thought?

Whatever Happened to Conservative Social Thought?

In the wake of Brexit, Robert Dingwall asks a series of probing questions about the eclipse of Conservative Social Thought at universities, such as when did the social sciences last have a serious engagement with the institutions of the bourgeoisie, even though by income and status many of us would belong to that class?

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Why is Social Theory So Boring?

Why is Social Theory So Boring?

The roots of sociology lie among a group of engaged, engaging and vibrant people who often risked their well-being, or even their lives, to advance their ideas. So what happened to suck much of the life out of the discipline?

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The Civic Responsibility of Ethnographers

The Civic Responsibility of Ethnographers

What duty do social scientists have to report illegal activity that they witness as part of their fieldwork? If you answered quickly, you may not have thought about the issue all that deeply.

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