Professor Siniša Malešević at the launch of “ The Rise of Organised Brutality: A Historical Sociology of Violence”

Professor Siniša Malešević from the School of Sociology pictured above at the successful launch of
 “ The Rise of Organised Brutality: A Historical Sociology of Violence”
The book was launched by Professor Sylvia Walby from Lancaster University last Wednesday 20th September in UCD. Thank you to all who attended.

The book is available to buy now through Cambridge University Press

The Social Simulation Conference 2017 will take place in UCD next week

The Social Simulation Conference 2017 takes place next week, it will be held in the O' Brien Centre in UCD, Dublin on 25 – 29 September, 2017

This is the 13th Annual Conference of the European Social Simulation Association (ESSA) which is the main European scientific society to promote social simulation and computational social science.

The aim of this international conference is to share and foster a deeper understanding of how complex social problems can be understood through computational simulations and techniques.
This year’s conference will explore the theme “Social Simulation for a Digital Society” through stimulating cross-disciplinary research and using applied and methodological tools in a transforming society.

Please visit the website for more information regarding the programme and speakers attending.

Life raft debate: Arts vs Science with Dr. Grund, today 6pm, Fitzgerald Chamber

Recent publications by faculty from the UCD School of Sociology

Recent publications by faculty from the UCD School of Sociology in the Journal of Visual Studies.

Introduction to a visual sociology of smaller nations in Europe
Gerard Boucher & Iarfhlaith Watson

Fortress Europe as Empire and Ireland’s National Diaspora Centre
Gerard Boucher & Iarfhlaith Watson

Review of The Political Theory of Judith N. Shklar: Exile from Exile, Palgrave Macmillan: New York by Andreas Hess
Reviewed by: Christian Dayé, University of Klagenfurt, Austria

Full review is available from SAGE Journals

Theorising Changes in Violence, a seminar by Professor Sylvia Walby and a book launch by Professor Siniša Malešević

Two events taking place tomorrow Wednesday 20 September,  School of Sociology

A book launch by Professor Siniša Malešević (UCD Sociology) "The Rise of Organised Brutality: A Historical Sociology of Violence" with Cambridge University Press. 

5pm in the UCD Common Room, B104, Newman Building

Also as part of the School of Sociology Seminar series

Theorising Changes in Violence by Professor Sylvia Walby (Lancaster University)

3pm, D418, Newman Building

All are welcome to both events.

Dr Grund publishes new article on criminal networks

Dr. Thomas Grund (School of Sociology, UCD) just published a new article on criminal networks. The article can be accessed freely here.

Grund, T. and Morselli, C. (20017)  Overlapping crime: Stability and specialization of co-offending relationships. Social Networks, Volume 51, October 2017, Pages 14-22.

Abstract:

Dyadic analyses of relationships between criminals have mostly ignored the multiplex nature of criminal ties. This study attempts to provide a more complete assessment of co-offending networks by incorporating the different types of crime that relate individuals with each other. Drawing on a large dataset of arrests in Quebec between 2003 and 2009, we focus on co-offending stability and specialization and illustrate how co-offending networks based on different types of criminal activities overlap. We portray a pattern of co-offending, which extends debate of criminal specialization/versatility to the dyadic level. Our study illustrates the ways in which the frequency and spectrum of crime include a relational component. More generally, the article emphasizes the need to consider the semantics of network ties, and further, the association between different types of networks, which ultimately offers a reassessment of social structure.

TCD/UCD Public Lecture Series 2017-2018 - Professor Mike Savage, The Politics of Nationalism and White Racism in the UK

TCD/UCD Public Lecture Series 2017-2018

The Department of Sociology at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), in collaboration with University College Dublin (UCD), has initiated a series of public lectures in which internationally acclaimed speakers will discuss contemporary sociological issues. The aim of this TCD-UCD Sociology Public Lecture Series is to promote informed and non-partisan debate and to offer new ideas on cutting-edge sociological issues including but not limited to responses to the current crisis. It provides a platform to deepen research and teaching synergies between TCD and UCD especially in light of HEA’s policy ‘Towards a Future Higher Education Landscape’. The series features two public lectures per term with one event hosted at TCD and the other at UCD.

Speaker: Professor Mike Savage (LSE)
Title: The Politics of Nationalism and White Racism in the UK 
Date and time: 4th October 2017, 7pm
Venue: Thomas Davis Theatre, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin

AbstractProfessor Mike Savage
The rise of populist nationalism in many parts of the developed world testifies to the resurgence of fears around intensified immigration and the renewed power of racism. My paper draws on a mixed methods study of the National Child Development study to consider, in the British case, how racist and nationalist attitudes intersect with social inequalities. My paper disputes the view that racism as a product of the ‘left behind’ white working class. I emphasise the continued power of ‘imperial nationalism’ amongst economically advantaged white Britons, and draw attention to the anti-establishment nationalism of the most disadvantaged which need not have strong racist overtones. This inter-twining of racism with other social and economic inequalities is intense and has the potential to generate increasingly visceral and volatile forms of political identification.

Biography
Mike Savage is Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics where he is also co-director of the International Inequalities Institute. His recent books include the co-authored, and best selling Social Class in the 21st Century (2015) and Identities and Social Change in Britain since 1940: the politics of method (2010).

Programme orientation for MSc Comparative Social Change students

Welcoming our new group of students onto the MSc Comparative Social Change programme. This programme is jointly delivered by UCD School of Sociology and Trinity's Department of Sociology.
Best wishes to all of our students with your studies in the year ahead.

World Vision Ireland and UCD School of Sociology invite you to the screening of "Human" Theater L, Thursday 21 September, 6.30pm

“HUMAN” A film by Mr. Yann Arthus-Bertrand is being

screened in UCD,

In celebration of International Day of Peace,

On Thursday 21 September 2017, at 6.30 pm at

UCD, Theatre L, Newman Building (ARTS BLOCK)

Please be seated by 6:15 p.m.

The film will be followed by a discussion.

RSVP: via EventBrite or wvIreland@wvi.org before 19 September as the space is limited. 

Free Entrance

Why Now?

Each year, #PeaceDay is observed around the world on 21 September. The General Assembly of the United Nations has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples.” This year the theme is “Together for Peace: Respect,

Safety and Dignity for All.” In an ever more divided society, where inhumane conflicts and crises are unfolding before our eyes, we may feel powerless. But... Could power be found by exploring what it

means to be HUMAN? Could this understanding help strengthen the unity of our fractured society?

This event is co-hosted by World Vision Ireland and UCD School of Sociology. All UCD staff and students welcome.

Associate Professor Kieran Allen has published a new book on Emile Durkheim

Associate Professor Kieran Allen (UCD Sociology) has published a new book together with Brian O’ Boyle (NUIG). The book is titled “Durkheim: A Critical Introduction”

Emile Durkheim, along with Karl Marx and Max Weber, is one of the three ‘founding fathers of sociology’. This is the first book to situate his sociology in the context of his republican politics, freeing his ideas from more conventional studies and allowing the reader to see his ideas afresh.

This critical introduction argues that Durkheim’s defence of Republican France in the 1890s had a considerable influence on his sociology, which cannot be fully understood when removed from its historical and political context. His dismissal of economic factors in suicide rates, the influence of his anti-feminist position on his findings on marriage rates, and the idealism behind his claim that religion is the key determinant in shaping society are all discussed.

Through analysing his writings, including The Division of Labour in Society, Suicide and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, this book provides a fascinating, critical counterpoint to the existing works on this key figure of sociology.

The book will be released by PlutoPress on September 20th, 2017 and is available to Pre-order here.

Seminar: Pathological Integration - How East Europeans Use Racism to Become British

UCD School of Sociology – Seminar Series 2017-2018

Pathological Integration: How East Europeans Use Racism to Become British
Dr. Jon Fox – University of Bristol

Thursday 14th September 2017, 1.00PM
D418, Newman Building

For the last decade, East Europeans have been quietly integrating into life in the UK. Part of this process entails learning to get along with their new neighbours, the diverse segments of the British population. But part of it also involves not getting along with certain neighbours. Integration isn’t confined to benevolent forms of everyday cosmopolitanism, multiculturalism, and conviviality; it can also include more pathological forms, like racism. Whilst integration is generally seen as desirable, the elements of acculturation it involves necessarily include the adoption of multiple practices and norms, including those deemed less desirable. The aim of this paper is to show how East Europeans in the UK have been acquiring specifically British competencies of racism. This doesn’t mean all East Europeans are racist or they always use racism; it does mean, however, that racism is one part of the integration equation. We focus on the racist and racialising practices of Poles, Hungarians, and Romanians in Bristol in the UK. These East Europeans are not simply deploying the variants of racism they learned and used in their countries of origin. Rather, they are learning to use new forms of racism that they have been acquiring since coming to Britain. (The paper is co-authored with Magda Mogilnicka).


All are Welcome!

The School of Sociology is delighted to welcome the new MSocSc Students for 2017

The School of Sociology is delighted to welcome the new MSocSc Students to their programme orientation this morning.
Wishing you all the best of luck with your studies during the year ahead.

Congratulations to former MSc Comparative Social Change student Niall Foster

The School of Sociology would like to Congratulate one of our former Students from last year's Comparative Social Change programme; Niall Foster. Niall has been selected as one of 7 Irish citizens to participate in the International Youth Development Exchange Programme, which is funded by the Japanese Government.

The programme will take place in Japan from the 26th of September to 11th October 2017. The purpose of the programme is to promote mutual friendship and understanding between Japanese youth and youth from overseas countries. Also, to nurture the development of global leaders for the future. It offers a unique opportunity for Irish youths to be introduced to Japan, it’s culture and its society while also fostering career development.

Congratulations Niall and best wishes on the trip!