Prof James Nazroo

I joined Sociology at the University of Manchester in October 2006. My interest in Sociology began while I was studying Medicine at St. George's Hospital Medical School in the early 1980s, when I became aware of a range of sociological inquiries into health and the health professions that problematised much that we take for granted – for example, work on the sick role, inequalities in health, occupational closure and professionalisation, and deviance, stigma and institutions. At that time the London Medical Schools offered an intercalated BSc in Medical Sociology, which I took and which hooked me on Sociology. After completing my medical training, I began my post-graduate training in Sociology, first studying on the Royal Holloway and Bedford New College MSc in Sociology of Health and Illness (while working part-time as a hospital doctor) and then a PhD in Sociology at UCL (while working as a researcher/lecturer).

Before coming to Manchester, I was a Research Fellow in the Department of Social Policy and Social Sciences at Royal Holloway – where I worked primarily on gender inequalities in mental health, and also on marital violence – a Research Fellow/Senior Research Fellow at the Policy Studies Institute – where I worked primarily on ethnic inequalities in health – and more recently a Senior Lecturer, Reader and then Professor of Medical Sociology in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at UCL – where I was head of the Health and Social Surveys Research Group and continued my research on ethnic inequalities in health, alongside a growing body of research on ageing. I continue to hold an honorary position at UCL.

Issues of inequality, social justice and underlying processes of stratification have been the primary focus of my research activities, which have centered on gender, ethnicity, ageing, and the intersections between these. My work on ethnic inequalities in health, which spans more than a decade, began with describing differences in health across and within broad ethnic groupings and assessing the contribution that social disadvantage might make to these differences. Central to this has been developing an understanding of the links between ethnicity, racism, class and inequality. This work draws on critical theory and critical realism, with an increasing focus on comparative analysis (across groups, time and place) to try and tap underlying processes. My research on ethnic inequalities in health covers a variety of dimensions, including general health, mental health, cardiovascular disease and sexual health, although my general approach is to use health as an outcome that marks social inequalities and allows us to investigate underlying processes. This work has been funded by the ESRC, MRC, the Department of Health, and the NHS Executive, among others, and involves collaborations with colleagues in the US , Canada , Europe and New Zealand – as well as the UK.

The second theme in my current work is social and health inequalities in aging populations, with a particular interest in the 'transmission' of inequalities across the lifecourse, patterns of 'retirement', and formal and informal social and civic participation. Here I have conducted studies on quality of life for older people among different ethnic goups in the UK (funded by the ESRC), on inequalities in health at older ages (also funded by the ESRC), and on routes into retirement and the impact of retirement on health and well-being (funded by the Nuffield Foundation). I am co-PI of the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (www.ifs.org.uk/elsa ), a multi-disciplinary panel study of those aged 50 and over covering economic position, health and social participation (funded by the US National Institutes of Health and a consortium of UK Government Departments). My work on this involves collaborations with colleagues in the US , Europe and Australia .

My currently (2006-7) funded projects include:

• Realities (REAL LIfe methods for reseaching relationaliTIES), Economic and Social Research Council (National Centre for Research Methods Node) (co-PI, with Mason (PI), Smart, Heaphy, and May) - http://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/realities/
• Social exclusion and the housing needs of older people with visual impairment, Thomas Pocklington Trust (PI, with Zimdars)
• Racial discrimination and health: exploring the possible protective effects of ethnic density, Economic and Social Research Council, Understanding Population Trends and Processes Programme (co-PI, with Stafford (PI) and Becares)
• Being a Muslim in Europe : attitudes and experiences, Economic and Social Research Council (co-PI, with Karlsen)
• English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, National Institutes of Health and UK Government consortium (co-PI, with Marmot (PI), Banks, Blundell, Erens, Huppert and Lessof)

 

SY6510: Sociology Research Seminar for Graduate Research Students

See recent and forthcoming publications

Selected Books

• Nazroo, J.Y. (ed.) (2006) Health and Social Research in Multicultural Societies , Abingdon: Routledge
• Nazroo, J.Y. (2001) Ethnicity, class and health , London : Policy Studies Institute

Selected Journal Articles

• Bécares, Nazroo and Stafford (in press) ‘The buffering effect of ethnic density on experienced racism and health’, Health and Place
• Kelly, Y., Panico, L., Bartley, M., Marmot, M., Nazroo, J. and Sacker. A. (in press) ‘Why does birthweight vary among ethnic groups in the UK? Findings from the Millennium Cohort Study’, Journal of Public Health, doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdn057
• McMunn A., Nazroo J., Wahrendorf M., Breeze E. and Zaninotto P. (in press) ‘Participation in socially productive activities, reciprocity and wellbeing in later life: Baseline results in England’, Ageing and Society
• Smith, N.R., Kelly, Y.J. and Nazroo, J.Y. (in press) ‘Intergenerational continuities of ethnic inequalities in general health in England’, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
• Demakakos, P., Nazroo, J., Breeze, E. and Marmot, M. (2008) ‘Socioeconomic status and health: the role of subjective social status’, Social Science and Medicine, 67, 2, 330-340, doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.03.038
• McMunn, A., Nazroo, J. and Breeze, E. (2008) ‘Inequalities in health at older ages: a longitudinal investigation of onset of illness and survival effects in England’, Age and Ageing, doi: 10.1093/ageing/afn236
• Stafford, M., Nazroo, J., Popay, J. and Whitehead, M. (2008) ‘Tackling inequalities in health: evaluating the New Deal for Communities initiative’, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 62, 298-304, doi: 10.1136/jech.2006.058628
• Nazroo, J., Jackson, J., Karlsen, S. and Torres, M. (2007) ‘The black diaspora and health inequalities in the US and England: does where you go and how you get there make a difference?’, Sociology of Health and Illness, 26, 6, 811-830, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9566.2007.01043.x
• Burns, F.M., Imrie, J., Nazroo, J., Johnson, A.M. and Fenton, K.A. (2007) ‘Why the(y) wait? Key informant understandings of factors contributing to late presentation and poor utilisation of HIV health and social care services by African migrants in Britain’, AIDS care, 19, 1, 102-8
• Demakakos, P., Gjonça, E. and Nazroo, J. (2007) ‘Age identity, age perceptions, and health: evidence from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing’, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1114, 279-287, doi: 10.1196/annals.1396.021
• Harris, R., Tobias, M., Jeffreys, M., Waldegrave, K., Karlsen, S. and Nazroo, J. (2006) ‘Maori health and inequalities in New Zealand: The impact of racism and deprivation’, The Lancet, 367, 2005-2009
• Harris, R., Tobias, M., Jeffreys, M., Waldegrave, K., Karlsen, S. and Nazroo, J. (2006) ‘Racism and Health: The relationship between experience of racial discrimination and health in New Zealand’, Social Science and Medicine, 63, 6, 1428-1441
• Kelly Y.J., Watt R.G. and Nazroo J.Y. (2006) ‘Racial/Ethnic differences in breastfeeding initiation and continuation in the United Kingdom and comparison with findings in the United States’, Pediatrics, 118, 1428-1435
• Kelly, Y., Sacker, A., Schoon, I. and Nazroo, J (2006) ‘Ethnic differences in achievement of developmental milestones by 9 months of age: the Millennium Cohort Study’, Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 48, 825-830
• King, M., Weich, S., Nazroo, J. and Blizard, B. (2006) ‘Religion, mental health and ethnicity. EMPIRIC – A national survey of England’, Journal of Mental Health, 15, 2, 153-162
• McCaffery, K., Waller, J., Nazroo, J. and Wardle, J. (2006) ‘Social and psychological impact of HPV testing in cervical screening: a qualitative study’, Sexually Transmitted Infections, 82, 169–174
• Bhui, K., Stansfeld, S., McKenzie, K., Karlsen, S., Nazroo, J. and Weich, S. (2005) ‘Racial/Ethnic Discrimination and Common Mental Disorders Among Workers: Findings From the EMPIRIC Study of Ethnic Minority Groups in the United Kingdom’, American Journal of Public Health, 95, 3, 496-501
• Karlsen, S., Nazroo, J.Y., McKenzie, K., Bhui, K. and Weich, S. (2005) ‘Racism, psychosis and common mental disorder among ethnic minority groups in England’, Psychological Medicine, 35, 12, 1795-1803
• King, M., Nazroo, J., Weich, S., McKenzie, K., Bhui, K., Karlsen, S., Stansfeld, S., Tyrer, P., Blanchard, M., Lloyd, K., McManus, S., Sproston, K. and Erens, B (2005) ‘Psychotic symptoms in the general population of England: A comparison of ethnic groups (The EMPIRIC study)’, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 40, 5, 375-381
• Bajekal, M., Blane, D., Grewal, I., Karlsen, S. and Nazroo, J. (2004) ‘Ethnic differences in influences on quality of life at older ages: a quantitative analysis’, Ageing and Society, 24, 5, 709-728
• Grewal, I., Nazroo, J., Bajekal, M., Blane, D. and Lewis, J. (2004) ‘Influences on quality of life: A qualitative investigation of ethnic differences among older people in England’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 30, 4, 737-761
• Hyde, M., Ferrie, J., Higgs, P., Marmot, M., Mein, G. and Nazroo, J. (2004) ‘The effects of pre-retirement circumstances and retirement route on circumstances in retirement: Findings from the Whitehall II study’, Ageing and Society, 24, 2, 279-296
• Karlsen, S. and Nazroo, J.Y. (2004) ‘Fear of racism and health’, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 58, 1017-1018
• Weich, S., Nazroo, J., Sproston, K., McManus, S., Blanchard, M., Erens, B., Karlsen, S., King, M., Lloyd, K., Stansfeld, S. and Tyrer, P. (2004) ‘Common mental disorders and ethnicity in England: the EMPIRIC study’, Psychological Medicine, 34, 8, 1543-1551
• Nazroo, J. (2003) ‘The structuring of ethnic inequalities in health: economic position, racial discrimination and racism’, American Journal of Public Health, 93, 2, 277-284
• Nazroo, J.Y. and Karlsen, S. (2003) ‘Patterns of identity among ethnic minority people: diversity and commonality’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 26, 5, 902-930
• Higgs, P., Mein, G., Ferrie, J., Hyde, M., Nazroo, J. (2003) ‘Pathways to early retirement: Agency and structure in the British Civil Service’, Ageing and Society, 23, 761-778

Selected Book Chapters

• Kelly, M. and Nazroo, J, (2008) ‘Ethnicity and Health’, In Sociology as Applied to Medicine, G. Scambler (ed.), Oxford: Elsevier, 159-175
• Nazroo, J.Y. (2008) ‘Ethnic Inequalities in Health’. In Encyclopedia of Life Sciences, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester http://www.els.net/ [DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0005858.pub2] (revised chapter)
• Iley, K. and Nazroo, J. (2007) ‘Ethnicity, mental health’. In Encyclopedia of Stress, Second Edition. G. Fink, G. Chrousos, I. Craig, R. de Kloet, G. Feuerstein, B. McEwen, N. Rose, R.Rubin and A. Steptoe (eds.), Oxford: Academic Press, vol. 1, 959-964
• Iley, K. and Nazroo, J. (2007) ‘Sociology of Mental Health and Illness’. In Culture and Mental Health: A comprehensive textbook. K. Bhui and D. Bhugra (eds.), London: Hodder Arnold, 16-23
• Nazroo, J. (2006) ‘Ethnicity and old age’. In The Future of Old Age. J. Vincent, C. Phillipson, and M. Downs (eds.), London: Sage Publications Ltd, 62-72
• Nazroo, J. (2006) ‘Demography of multicultural Britain’. In Health and Social Research in Multicultural Societies. Nazroo, J.Y. (ed.) Abingdon: Routledge, 1-19
• Karlsen, S. and Nazroo, J. (2006) ‘Defining and measuring ethnicity and ‘race’: Theoretical and conceptual issues for health and social care research’. In Health and Social Research in Multicultural Societies. Nazroo, J.Y. (ed.) Abingdon: Routledge, 20-38
• Karlsen, S. and Nazroo, J. (2006) ‘Measuring and analyzing ‘race’, racism and racial discrimination’. In Methods in Social Epidemiology. J. Oakes and J. Kaufman (eds.), Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 86-111
• Scambler G. and Nazroo, J. (2006) ‘Doing research – politics, policy and practice’. In Health and Social Research in Multicultural Societies. Nazroo, J.Y. (ed.) Abingdon: Routledge, 39-47
• Nazroo, J.Y. and Williams, D.R. (2005) ‘The social determination of ethnic/racial inequalities in health’. In Social Determinants of Health (Second Edition), M. Marmot and R.G. Wilkinson (eds.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 238-266
• Higgs, P., Hyde, M., Arber, S., Blane, D., Breeze, E., Nazroo, J. and Wiggins, D. (2005) ‘Dimensions of the inequalities in quality of life in older age’. In Growing Older: Understanding quality of life in old age. A. Walker (ed.), Maidenhead: Open University Press, 27-48
• McMunn, A., Breeze, E., Goodman, A., Nazroo, J and Oldfield, Z. (2005) ‘Social determinants of health in older age’. In Social Determinants of Health (Second Edition), M. Marmot and R.G. Wilkinson (eds.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 267-296
• Nazroo, J. (2004) ‘Ethnic disparities in aging health: What can we learn from the United Kingdom?’. In Critical Perspectives on Racial and Ethnic Differentials in Health in Late Life N. Anderson, R. Bulatao and B. Cohen (eds.), Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 677-702
• Nazroo, J.Y. (2004) ‘Ethnicity’. In Key concepts and issues in medical sociology, J. Gabe, M. Bury and M.A. Elston (eds.), London: Sage, 13-18
• Nazroo, J. and Ali, S. (2004) ‘Heart disease: an assessment of the importance of socioeconomic position’. In Primary Health Care and South Asian populations: meeting the challenges, S. Ali and K. Atkin (eds.), Abingdon: Radcliffe Medical Press, 59-69
• Nazroo, J., Bajekal, M., Blane, D. and Grewal, I. (2004) Ethnic inequalities at older ages. In Growing older: Quality of life in old age, A. Walker. And C. Hagan Hennessy (eds.) Buckingham: Open University Press, 35-59
• Nazroo, J. (2003) ‘Patterns of and explanations for ethnic inequalities in health’. In Explaining Ethnic Differences: Changing patterns of disadvantage in Britain, D. Mason (ed.), Bristol: The Policy Press, 87-103
• Nazroo, J.Y. (2003) ‘Genetic, cultural or socio-economic vulnerability? Explaining ethnic inequalities in health’. In The Sociology of Health and Illness: A Reader. M. Bury and J. Gabe (eds.), London: Routledge, 145-160, (reproduced from Sociology of Health and Illness)
• Arthur, S. and Nazroo, J. (2003) ‘Designing fieldwork strategies and materials’. In Qualitative Research Practice: A Guide for Social Science Students and Researchers, J. Ritchie and J. Lewis (eds.), London: Sage, 109-137
• Davey Smith, G., Chaturvedi, N., Harding, S., Nazroo, J. and Williams, R. (2003) ‘Ethnic inequalities in health: a review of UK epidemiological evidence’. In Health inequalities: Lifecourse approaches, G. Davey Smith (ed.), Bristol: The Policy Press, 271-309

Selected Reports

• Banks, J., Breeze, E., Lessof, C. and Nazroo, J. (2008) Living in the 21st century: older people in England. The 2006 English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, London: The Institute for Fiscal Studies ISBN 978 1 903274 54 5
• Banks, J., Breeze, E., Lessof, C. and Nazroo, J. (2006) Retirement, health and relationships of the older population in England: The 2004 English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, London: The Institute for Fiscal Studies ISBN 1 903274 46 X
• Marmot, M., Banks, J., Blundell, R., Lessof, C. and Nazroo, J. (2003) Health, wealth and lifestyles of the older population in England: The 2002 English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, London: The Institute for Fiscal Studies ISBN 1 903274 34 6
• O,Connor, W. and Nazroo, J. (eds) (2002) Ethnic differences in the Context and Experience of Psychiatric Illness: A Qualitative Study, London: The Stationery Office ISBN 0 11 322586 5
• Sproston, K. and Nazroo, J. (eds.) (2002) Ethnic Minority Psychiatric Illness Rates in the Community (EMPIRIC), London: The Stationery Office ISBN 0 11 322582 2

Phd Students

I currently supervise, or co-supervise, seven students. I would be happy to hear from potential research students wanting to work on topics relating to my research interests.