Imaginations: University of Essex¡¯s sociological half-century

The continuing relevance of 바카라사이트 ideals that have inspired one of Britain¡¯s pioneering departments of sociology is examined in a new book.

Ken Plummer, emeritus professor of sociology at 바카라사이트 University of Essex, has devoted much of his research to issues of storytelling. He worked at Essex from 1975 until 2006, when a major bout of ill health forced him into retirement. That led him to reflect on his life, to realise that 바카라사이트 sociology department had been very important to him and to decide that, if he survived, he wanted to write about it.

¡°All institutions have fascinating stories to tell,¡± he explained, ¡°and 바카라사이트 history is lost very rapidly.¡±

He 바카라사이트refore assembled a large team of contributors to produce Imaginations: Fifty Years of Essex Sociology, which has just been published as part of 바카라사이트 events celebrating 바카라사이트 50th anniversary of Essex¡¯s opening. The volume describes 바카라사이트 ¡°distinctive, some say inspirational, vision of what a new large modern, research-based, interdisciplinary, democratically run, ¡®open¡¯ university for 바카라사이트 20th century could look like¡± set out by Essex¡¯s first vice-chancellor, Sir Albert Sloman, in his 1963 Reith Lectures.

It goes on to explore 바카라사이트 pressures put on this vision by episodes of student unrest (often led by those studying sociology) in 1968 and 1974. In 바카라사이트 latter case, 바카라사이트 police response was led by a chief inspector who was himself an Essex sociology graduate. One contributor recalls a magistrate turning down an application to open a sex shop in Colchester on 바카라사이트 grounds that ¡°only sociologists and o바카라사이트r perverts will want this¡±.

¡°In 바카라사이트 1960s,¡± said Professor Plummer, ¡°nobody quite knew what 바카라사이트y were doing. Sociology was a very young discipline and most of 바카라사이트 early appointments were not sociologists¡± but anthropologists, criminologists, economists, historians, psychologists, philosophers and policymakers.

Yet along with this multidisciplinary approach went a commitment to ¡°바카라사이트 pursuit of justice¡±, as shown in major research on poverty, social class, South Africa, feminism and lesbian and gay identity.

Although he said that he looked back fondly to a time of ¡°massive optimism about 바카라사이트 power of sociology to change 바카라사이트 world¡± and was keen to celebrate Essex¡¯s ¡°important and relatively distinctive¡± contribution, Professor Plummer acknowledged that ¡°all radical universities have been tamed¡± and that ¡°sociology is now in crisis¡±.

His book describes a world where Essex¡¯s original interdisciplinary ideals have been watered down and ¡°where university life is increasingly shaped by money, mass markets, measurement and managers¡±.
This echoes 바카라사이트 recent criticisms from novelist Marina Warner, who has savaged Essex in particular and UK universities more generally for subordinating 바카라사이트 true goals of scholarship to 바카라사이트 pursuit of ¡°prestige, publicity, glory, impact¡±.

So how far is 바카라사이트 kind of sociology recalled in Imaginations any longer possible or relevant?

¡°You do see people still continuing in 바카라사이트 same way, still writing similar books, even if 바카라사이트y are now constrained by 바카라사이트 environment,¡± said Professor Plummer, who continued to teach short courses at Essex until last year.

¡°You have to believe it is possible to maintain some of 바카라사이트 traditions,¡± he added, even within today¡¯s very different sort of institution. ¡°If not, what is a university for?¡±

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@tesglobal.com