Sociology
Sociology focuses on the relationships between individuals and society. It examines how personal attitudes and experiences relate to wider issues, understanding how group phenomena can give collective meaning to an individual’s actions.
Sociologists in our Department are conducting research in a range of subject areas, including: gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, migration, health and illness, criminology, everyday life, and science and technology. Moreover, their works are shaping contemporary social theory and social research methodology.
Key projects
A wide range of empirical projects are currently underway in the department funded by a range of funders, including the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) (e.g. Brexit and Family Life), The Leverhulme Trust (e.g. Decolonisation and Asylum), British Academy (e.g. Talking Politics: Brexit and Everyday (Inter)generational Family Relationships), Nuffield (e.g. Re-analysing the Child Welfare Inequalities Project quantitative datasets using multilevel modelling), Barnados (e.g. Muslim men and the racialisation of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham), and Wellcome Trust (e.g. Health inequalities and Roma populations: Deconstructing a European policy ‘problem’).
A number of sociology staff hold fellowships, including:
- ESRC postdoctoral fellowships;
- Philip Leverhulme Prize;
- Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships;
- Wellcome Trust Fellowships;
- NIHR Postdoctoral Fellowships.
Professional activities
Sociology staff play an important role in the wider sociological research community. Staff convene the Family and Relationships and Science and Technology study groups of the British Sociological Association and are founding members of the Fourth Quadrant Research Network.
Our sociology staff members hold editorial roles for a number of international journals, including Ethnographic Studies, Current Sociology, Sociology, Families, Relationships and Societies, Sociology of Health and Illness, Organised Crime and Urban Crime, Frontiers in Sociology, and Science as Culture.
Prizes and awards
Sociology staff have received a number of prizes and awards for their research including:
- Philip Leverhulme Prize Dr Lucy Mayblin awarded prestigious Philip Leverhulme Prize for asylum and migration research | Sociological Studies | The University of Sheffield
- Sage Prize for Innovation and ExcellenceProfessor Sarah Neal receives prestigious Sage Prize for Excellence and Innovation | Sociological Studies | The University of Sheffield
- ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize Baby loss research wins ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize 2019 | Faculty of Social Sciences | The University of Sheffield
Changing practices and supporting parents for infant post-mortems
Medical and sociological research, led by Professor Kate Reed, into non-invasive baby post-mortem using MRI imaging has changed NHS training and post-mortem care processes, increased uptake in post-mortem consent by parents, and initiated new bereavement support groups.
Recent and key publications
Sociologists in our department have published their research in leading journals, such as: Sociology; The Sociological Review; Journal of Gender Studies; Journal of Ethnic and Racial Studies; Families, Relationships and Societies; Social Science & Medicine; Social Media & Society; Criminology & Criminal Justice; Human Relations.
Moreover, our colleagues have authored numerous books in their areas of research:
- Impoverishment and Asylum: Social Policy as Slow Violence
- Is Gender Fluid? A Primer for the 21st Century
- Social Life: Contemporary Social Theory
- Bryman's Social Research Methods
- Friendship and Diversity: Class, Ethnicity and Social Relationships in the City
Our research students
Sociology PhD research students are currently researching topics, such as:
- Exploring the Lived Experiences of South Asian Muslim Lone Mothers and the Role of South Asian Women's Organisations in their Lives;
- Music in modernity: An exploration of the digital audio format through the sociology of Theodor Adorno;
- A theory-based approach to understanding the effect of ethnic density on mental ill health in England;onely but Never Alone: a qualitative exploration of parenthood and loneliness among young mothers;
- Brexit and the (Il)liberal Colonisation of Time: Structures of Feeling and Actually Existing Democracy.
People in the sociology research area include:
