Social Theory and the Politics of Austerity

A round table session from Discourses of Dissent, an event part funded by the Social Theory Centre, exploring how social theory can help us understand the politics of austerity. How do theoretical justifications of austerity work to constrain public debate? How does the current government’s incongruous blend of neoliberal realism and superficial progressivism relate to what went before it? What resources can we find in social theory to critique the coalition’s agenda and its relationship to the wider crisis of late capitalism?

Social Theory and the Politics of Austerity

A round table session from Discourses of Dissent, an event part funded by the Social Theory Centre, exploring how social theory can help us understand the politics of austerity. How do theoretical justifications of austerity work to constrain public debate? How does the current government’s incongruous blend of neoliberal realism and superficial progressivism relate to what went before it? What resources can we find in social theory to critique the coalition’s agenda and its relationship to the wider crisis of late capitalism?

The Sociology of Sleep

In this podcast Simon Williams talks about his new book the Politics of Sleep. While sleep is often taken to be a entirely private and natural part of human life, in recent years it has been the subject of a rich vein of interdisciplinary research.

As well as exploring the political dimensions to contemporary discourses and practices of sleep, the interview addresses some of the broader questions which sleep raises, situating these issues in terms of theories of modernity and human nature.

He also recently wrote an article on this research for the American Sociological Association’s Contexts magazine.