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.

Whatever Happened to Conservative Social Thought?
Brexit
April 16, 2019

Whatever Happened to Conservative Social Thought?

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Why is Social Theory So Boring?
Higher Education Reform
February 17, 2019

Why is Social Theory So Boring?

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The Civic Responsibility of Ethnographers
Research Ethics
January 9, 2019

The Civic Responsibility of Ethnographers

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Academic Morale and Ponzi Schemes
News
December 5, 2018

Academic Morale and Ponzi Schemes

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Reflections on the Centenary of the Armistice

Reflections on the Centenary of the Armistice

At the 100th anniversary of the end of World War, Robert Dingwall asks how has English sociology asked questions about the experiences and the legacy of the war — or if it even has broached those issues.

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Why the Chinese Government Should Read Herbert Spencer

Why the Chinese Government Should Read Herbert Spencer

Herbert Spencer’s examination of ‘militant’ societies, argues our Robert Dingwall, proves to be a cautionary tale for the present Chinese government and its attempts to micro-manage society through the ‘social credit’ scheme.

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Sir Cliff Richard, the BBC and the Ethics of Interviewing

Sir Cliff Richard, the BBC and the Ethics of Interviewing

The recent brouhaha involving the BBC and the singer points out something the journalists and qualitative researchers share: the need to develop a common approach to the ethics of interviewing.

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Paying for the Good Stuff

Paying for the Good Stuff

When Robert Dingwall was younger, sociology departments routinely taught a course on ‘industry,’, ‘work’ or ‘economic life.’ “Most of this turf has now been abandoned to business schools in the form of organization studies, where it increasingly struggles to resist the expansion of finance and accounting studies,” he says, and to our detriment.

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The Other Dead of 1918

The Other Dead of 1918

Although it won’t see the memorials and centenary events that the World War I Armistice will, it’s worth thinking back to the ravages of the ‘Spanish flu’ of a century ago and the implications that that pandemic of the past has for infections of the future.

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Should Universities Be Parents?

Should Universities Be Parents?

Increasingly, says Robert Dingwall, UK universities are taking a more paternal role in the lives of their students, taking — or perhaps resuming — more active roles in addressing their charges’ mental health, criminal conduct and self-care.

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Interrogating Ethnography – and Coming Up with the Wrong Answers?

Interrogating Ethnography – and Coming Up with the Wrong Answers?

A recent critique of Alice Goffman’s influential 2014 book, “On the Run,” has, in effect, put ethnography conducted in the United states on trial. Here, our Robert Dingwall argues a case for the defense.

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Sexual Harassment and Universities

Sexual Harassment and Universities

Developing an effective response to sexual harassment in the academic industry — by no means a new phenomenon, notes Robert Dingwall — requires us to consider questions about institutional memory, occupational cultures, and organizational silos, rather than badly behaved individuals.

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