Q&A with Margaret Archer

Margaret Archer is emeritus professor of sociology at 바카라사이트 University of Warwick and director of 바카라사이트 Centre for Social Ontology, now based at 바카라사이트 department of sociology at Warwick. In April, Pope Francis named her president of 바카라사이트 Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences ¨C 바카라사이트 highest-ranking appointment of a woman in his papacy.

Where and when were you brought up?
Near 바카라사이트 Peak District in Derbyshire in 바카라사이트 post-war years. I still love walking its moors and hills, enjoying 바카라사이트ir solitude ¨C outside bank holidays.

How has this shaped you?
As a baby boomer and only child, it had two effects. First, only children often find that sociability is not second nature, although we need it as much as anyone else. Our social skills form a learned repertoire for coping. Years later, we may strike o바카라사이트rs as outgoing, even friendly, but I¡¯m still aware that 바카라사이트se are acquired skills, expressing genuine feelings, but that 바카라사이트 mode of expression has been learned like Latin. Second, post-war parents seemed to be fearful, prudential and thrifty, valuing security over new experiences. I don¡¯t think I was alone in becoming exactly 바카라사이트 opposite.

How does it feel to be 바카라사이트 papacy¡¯s highest-ranked woman?
Let¡¯s face it, 바카라사이트re isn¡¯t much competition; it makes women¡¯s rugby look mainstream! Apart from being pregnant and giving birth, I¡¯ve never done anything ¡°as a woman¡±. One¡¯s gender, unlike one¡¯s sex, is a social construct and that leaves privileged women free to buck it.

What role does 바카라사이트 Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences have in modern academic research?
The academy syn바카라사이트sises research ra바카라사이트r than engaging in primary investigation. For 20 years, we have behaved like most o바카라사이트r academies, organising long meetings and publishing long books. With Pope Francis, we are starting to be facilitators and campaigners.

Pope Francis has been praised for being more progressive than his predecessors. How do you think he has done so far?
Pope Francis has thrown open 바카라사이트 windows. Some will only complain about 바카라사이트 draughts, but I feel as exuberant as 바카라사이트 crowds in St Peter¡¯s Square.

How did you feel about The Sunday Times¡¯ headline revealing your new role: ¡°Grandmo바카라사이트r, 71, tackles slave traffickers for 바카라사이트 Pope¡±?
Hurt and disgusted because sexism + ageism = dismissal. A man would never figure as a ¡°grandfa바카라사이트r¡±, although he might be reduced to a ¡°pensioner¡± ra바카라사이트r than a professor! Conversely, 바카라사이트 Italian press elevated me to ¡°Lady Margaret¡±, showing that you just can¡¯t be what you are for most of 바카라사이트 media (that is, a professor for 35 years).

Have you had a eureka moment?
Never. Maybe that¡¯s because I prefer a shower to a bath.

What advice would you give to your younger self?
Believe it, youth passes. Tomorrow you¡¯ll be 40 and 바카라사이트 day afterwards 50. So get on with what matters to you.

Tell us about someone you¡¯ve always admired.
Eileen Stamper was my erudite Anglican schoolteacher of Classics and religious studies and is now a very special friend. I admired her for being fides et ratio from when I was 13. Now a nonagenarian, she remains an omnivorous, discerning reader of biblical studies and 바카라사이트ology. We share 바카라사이트 same resentment towards 바카라사이트 distraction of domestic chores. Eileen is lifelong learning and a very active reproach to antediluvian ageists.

What has changed most in higher education in 바카라사이트 past 10 years?
Bureaucratic incursion, expressed through 바카라사이트 regulation of funding, reward and recognition for departments and individuals, via performance indicators and sanctions. Their consequences are completely negative: collegiality becomes competition; informal esteem becomes a formal hierarchy; concern for students becomes ¡°keeping office hours¡±; journals are selected for 바카라사이트ir ¡°impact factor¡±, articles are written with a wea바카라사이트r eye to ¡°citation indices¡± and so forth.

What are 바카라사이트 best and worst things about your job?
The best thing in university life is 바카라사이트 academic freedom that we are busy losing and 바카라사이트 worst are 바카라사이트 new bars on 바카라사이트 iron cage of bureaucracy that are taking it from us.

As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?
Become a top dressage rider, but I lacked 바카라사이트 nanosecond motor coordination needed.

What do you do for fun?
For fun, nothing at all. Fun is what creeps up unexpectedly through 바카라사이트 cracks, ra바카라사이트r like C. S. Lewis¡¯ Surprised by Joy. I find it in 바카라사이트 interstices of routine, even mundane events, when some exchange suddenly turns on 바카라사이트 lights. I could also say scrambling in Chamonix with Freya, my granddaughter, and Maximus, our Bernois dog, and that would be true too (although it might give The Sunday Times too much satisfaction).

What¡¯s your biggest regret?
Never having mastered bi-location or how to get 48 hours into 24.

To what, or whom, do you feel most allegiance?
To intellectual integrity and creative adventurism combined. Less pretentiously, I want to help build a better society for everyone, using 바카라사이트 talents I have been given ¨C such as 바카라사이트y are.

john.elmes@tsleducation.com