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.

Academic Morale and Ponzi Schemes
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December 5, 2018

Academic Morale and Ponzi Schemes

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Reflections on the Centenary of the Armistice
News
November 14, 2018

Reflections on the Centenary of the Armistice

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Why the Chinese Government Should Read Herbert Spencer
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August 3, 2018

Why the Chinese Government Should Read Herbert Spencer

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Sir Cliff Richard, the BBC and the Ethics of Interviewing
News
July 19, 2018

Sir Cliff Richard, the BBC and 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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Open Access and Learned Societies: An Update

Open Access and Learned Societies: An Update

Publishing remains a key part of the mission of many British learned societies, as does disseminating scholarship and staying afloat. A new report appearing in December, and previewed at a September meeting, will offer some direction for organizations trying to reduce the tension that open access may create among those goals.

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Presumed Consent to Organ Donation – Gesture Politics?

Presumed Consent to Organ Donation – Gesture Politics?

England is looking at changing its organ transplant permission process from on opt-in to an opt out model. While this looks like an easy answer, says our Robert Dingwall, who part of a working group on the issue in the 90s, he doubts such a change will make any significant difference and may actually be counter-productive in terms of public confidence in the system.

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Managing Universities: Dodging the Dead Cat

Managing Universities: Dodging the Dead Cat

Academics have been disengaged, disengaged themselves, or never been engaged with the challenges of working in, and for, very complex organizations, says our Robert Dingwall. Their distaste for administration in its various forms is a liability.

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