Author: Daniel Nehring

My career so far has taken me to a fairly wide range of places, and this has allowed me to experience a wide range of approaches to sociology and social science. In my blog, I reflect on this diversity and its implications for the future of the discipline. Over the last few years, I have also become interested in exploring the contours of academic life under neoliberal hegemony. Far-reaching transformations are taking place at universities around the world, in terms of organisational structures, patterns of authority, and forms of intellectual activity. With my posts, I hope to draw attention to some of these transformations.

The Decline of Public Debates About Higher Education in Britain
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August 21, 2012

The Decline of Public Debates About Higher Education in Britain

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“The author has asked not to be identified in case this further affects his career prospects.”
Career
August 7, 2012

“The author has asked not to be identified in case this further affects his career prospects.”

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Writing the North Atlantic Bubble: Part 1
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August 7, 2012

Writing the North Atlantic Bubble: Part 1

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What Makes Sociology Textbooks Original?
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July 23, 2012

What Makes Sociology Textbooks Original?

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Textbook World

Textbook World

Textbooks now play a crucial role in teaching in the social sciences. Their importance is mirrored by their abundance; there is an enormous variety of textbooks on the most commonly taught subjects. The rise of the ‘textbook industry’ is not necessarily a good thing, though.

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The Politics of Dissent

The Politics of Dissent

Recently, The Independent published a brief piece on the ‘slave-like’ working conditions of PhD students at UK universities. This sounds dramatic, but it’s hardly news – the problem has been around for years. The question arises why dissent did not emerge earlier and more forcefully.

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What Do Higher Education Consumers Want?

What Do Higher Education Consumers Want?

The Guardian yesterday published a set of worrying facts. Even though consumers of higher education pay almost three times as much in tuition fees than they did six years ago, face-to-face with lecturers in class has barely increased

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What are the prospects for global sociology?

What are the prospects for global sociology?

For there to be some sort of global sociology there would need to a recognition of socio-culturally disparate forms of knowledge and institutional settings.

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The Guardian’s Simon Jenkins is completely wrong.

The Guardian’s Simon Jenkins is completely wrong.

A response to Sir Simon Jenkins’ article on the value of public universities.

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Global Sociology Without a Global Audience

Global Sociology Without a Global Audience

I find it ironic that interesting current debates about sociology’s Eurocentrism and calls for a more truly global sociology take place in journals and books that are likely to be inaccessible at many, many universities around the world.

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What should an Early-Career Research Agenda Look Like?

What should an Early-Career Research Agenda Look Like?

How to approach the years beyond the PhD. Some thoughts on alignment, coherence, breadth, and depth.

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Conclusion: The New Common Sense

Conclusion: The New Common Sense

The connection between money, degrees, employability, and the ‘real-world’ relevance of academic work has been hammered so relentlessly into our minds that is has become virtually possible to eschew.

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