Doing public sociology in the classroom

Within this chapter I explore the manner in which public sociology (Burawoy, 2004) might be usefully employed to enhance teaching and learning. After arguing for an orientation to teaching that centralises students’ experiences by ‘starting from where they are’ I outline three practical stages in the doing of public sociology in the classroom. These overlapping stages are important as a means of supporting the development of foundational skills that enable more challenging work towards the end of undergraduate study. In conclusion, I suggest that by integrating elements of public sociology across a curriculum colleagues can enhance their degree programme in terms of employability, engagement and student satisfaction. I also suggest that this process offers some key avenues for tackling some of the pressures and challenges that sociology faces as a discipline

Teaching reforms: not all bad

Christopher R. Matthews argues that a consequence of the higher education reform is positive in that it improves teaching and plays to sociology's strength

Love fighting hate violence: an anti-violence program for martial arts and combat sports

This chapter outlines the Love Fighting Hate Violence (LFHV) project: an anti-violence initiative aimed at inspiring reflection and generating pedagogical interventions within martial arts and combat sports. The goal of LFHV is to harness the potential of these activities for educating people about violence, specifically with respect to understanding the principles of consent and violation. The chapter provides a theoretical overview of the project’s core philosophy by way of an interactionist reading of fights as social encounters. It then turns to discussing some of the practical materials already developed for use within LFHV. These draw on the aforementioned theory, as well as a values-based teaching methodology, to frame the potential contribution that this project can make to anti-violence education

The personal and the political in teaching, research and activism

In this essay, we consider the ways in which Sugden's outline of critical proactivism plays out within our specific areas of research, teaching and activism. In particular, we consider how our understanding of "critical, practical, [and] empirical engagement, rather than fixating upon abstract debate and unmovable theoretical principles" (Sugden, 2010, 267) allows us to refine and develop as scholars and practitioners. We use personal narratives to demonstrate the self-reflective nature of our long-term engagement with a critical reading of sport, social justice, and different forms of activism. When considered together, these separate stories offer some insight into the ways in which critical proactivism is embedded within our work at the University of Brighton and will hopefully offer readers practical illustrations of the implementation of such strategies

Understanding sports violence: revisiting foundational explorations

Within this paper we discuss the importance of attending to definitions of ‘violence’. Through a return to a selection of important foundational works, we attempt to unpack the fundamental meanings of violence in a general sense, and sport violence in particular. With a specific focus on the need for definitional clarity, and particular attention to the ‘ritual’ dimensions of sport violence, we argue that engaging with these concepts is essential when conducting research in ‘violent’ contexts. Based on a critical reading of a small selection of relatively recent scholarship in sports settings, we ultimately argue that without careful consideration of what can constitute ‘violence’, scholars risk misrepresenting the social worlds they investigate. In conclusion we call for researchers to enter into a dialogue with foundational explorations of violence and to pays far greater heed to the definitions favoured by practitioners who engage with apparent ‘violence’ on a regular basis

Learning & teaching in sociology - a report by the British Sociological Association

The following discussion around issues in learning and teaching is based on data collected during four focus groups with sociologists currently employed in a variety of ‘post 92’ universities in England. The participants were either employed within sociology departments or taught sociology to students studying degrees in different areas. The participants are coded with a letter to represent their focus group (A-D) and a number. While this is certainly not a representative sample there are a variety of interesting discussions and comments that help to inform a broad discussion about issues in learning and teaching. Any conclusions must be contextualised by the limited nature of the sample that is presented here. We have tried to reflect the main themes that reoccurred across the meetings. In order to capture some of the nuance and details of comments and ideas that the participants offered, extended quotes are often used. There are six overlapping sections that follow the format of the key questions that each focus group was asked to consider