Who's who
Head of Sociology: Dr Brian Heaphy
Brian Heaphy obtained his first degree in Cultural Studies at the University of East London, and his PhD in Sociology at the University of the West of England. He has held lecturing positions at London South Bank University, Nottingham Trent University and the University of Leeds.
Brian’s work is concerned with theorizing and researching socio-cultural change and the implications for personal life. He has undertaken theoretically informed empirical studies of ‘living with AIDS’, same sex relationships, ‘chosen families’, and ageing sexualities. He is currently undertaking empirical studies of friendships and civil partnerships. Four of these studies were/are funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.
Brian is the author of the books Late Modernity and Social Change: Reconstructing Social and Personal Life (Routledge) and Same Sex Intimacies (with J. Weeks and C. Donovan, Routledge). He has published in a wide range of leading journals, including Current Sociology, Sexualities, Ageing and Society, the Journal of Social Policy, Social Policy and Society.
Director of Undergraduate Studies in Sociology: Dr Nick Thoburn
Nick Thoburn received his undergraduate and masters degrees in Sociology from the universities of Sheffield and York, before studying for his PhD at Goldsmiths University of London. Having taught in a number of Sociology and Cultural Studies departments, he came to Manchester in 2003. His research is broadly located in Cultural Sociology, where he focuses on political movements, media aesthetics, and social and cultural theory, especially Deleuze, Foucault, and Marx.
Nick has published in leading journals such as Social Text, Economy and Society, New Formations, and Theory, Culture and Society. He is the author of Deleuze, Marx and Politics (Routledge, translated into Korean and Turkish) and co-editor of Deleuze and Politics (Edinburgh University Press). His current research concerns the values, materials, and publics of independent media. He is a member of CRESC and a member of the Editorial Board of the politics and culture journal New Formations.
Director of Postgraduate Teaching: Dr Penny Tinkler
Following a History degree in the School of Social Sciences at Sussex University, Penny moved to Lancaster University where she completed a PhD on the cultural construction of girlhood in the Department of Education Research and then held a British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Centre for Women’s Studies. Penny joined the Department of Sociology at the University of Manchester in 1993.
At Manchester I have been active in fostering links between the departments of Sociology and History. I also have a special interest in postgraduate matters and am currently the Director of Graduate Studies in Sociology.
Penny is a member of the British Sociological Association, the Women’s History Network, Gender & Education Association, and the Social History Society.
Director Postgraduate Research: Dr Graeme Kirkpatrick
Graeme’s background is in critical social theory and philosophy. His PhD was on explanation in the social sciences with a particular focus on the concepts of intention and rationality. His first publications were concerned with Analytical Marxism and include the co-edited collection, Historical Materialism and Social Evolution, which was published in 2002.
More recently, Graeme has been working on the issue of technology in critical social theory. His first sole-authored book, Critical Technology: A social theory of personal computing, was a critical interrogation of the principles of human-computer interface design and it won the 2005 Philip Abrams Memorial Prize from the British Sociological Association. His most recent book, Technology and Social Power was published early in 2008.
Graeme is currently writing a book on the aesthetics of computer games for Manchester University Press and a study of the computer game in the social history of media for Polity Press. He is also working on a textbook introduction to the ideas of Andrew Feenberg, the leading contemporary exponent of critical theory as a philosophy of technology.
Research Director: Dr Wendy Bottero
Wendy Bottero completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Cambridge, and her PhD in Sociology at the University of Edinburgh.
She has held a research post at the University of Cambridge, and lecturing positions at the University of Abertay, Dundee and the University of Southampton.
Wendy’s research interests are in the areas of stratification, hierarchy and class; social divisions, lifestyles and differential association; social networks and social interaction; and social theory, particularly the work of Pierre Bourdieu. In association with the ESRC Research Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC), Wendy is currently working on the 'Who do you think they were?? research project, which looks at the different ways in which family history research is conducted.
Wendy is the author of the book Stratification: Social Division and Inequality (Routledge). She has published in a wide range of journals, including Sociology, The British Journal of Sociology, The Sociological Review, and Cultural Sociology.
Sociology DA Roles
| Head of Department (HoDA) | Brian Heaphy |
| BA Econ Liaison | Peter McMylor |
| Combined studies liaison | Virinder Kalra |
| Erasmus / Overseas | Athanasia Chalari |
| E-Learning Co-ordinator | Sophie Woodward |
| Exam Officer | Tej Purewal |
| History / Sociology liaison | Penny Tinkler |
| PGR Director | Graeme Kirkpatrick (Semester 1) |
| PGR Director | Bridget Byrne (Semester 2) |
| PGT Director | Penny Tinkler |
| SBM Chair | Christian Greiffenhagan |
| Seminar Co-ordinator | Richie Nimmo |
| Sociology Programmes Director | Peter McMylor |
| TA Convenor | Lucy Gibson |
| Undergraduate Director | Nick Thoburn |
| Research Director | Wendy Bottero |