Stretching the Sociological Imagination

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxii

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2. Stretching Exercises: Stimulating the Sociological Imagination

   1. Stretching Exercises: Stimulating the Sociological Imagination

      • John Eldridge

      Pages 1-21

3. Sociology of Work and Industry

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 23-23

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   2. Exploring an Industrial Structure of Feeling: Creating Industrial Gemeinschaft in a Twentieth-Century Workplace

      • Tim Strangleman

      Pages 25-42

   3. John Eldridge’s Adventures with Cross-Classification in the Sociology of Work

      • Tony Elger

      Pages 43-64

   4. ‘When All Hell Breaks Loose’: Striking on the British Coalfields 1984–85

      • Huw Beynon

      Pages 65-82

   5. False Self-Employment

      • Howard Davis

      Pages 83-98

4. Social Theory

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 99-99

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   2. On the (Alternative) Worlds That We Have Lost: Sociology and The Third Way Revisited

      • Matt Dawson

      Pages 101-119

   3. The Media and Collective Memory: The Obituaries of Academics

      • Bridget Fowler

      Pages 120-140

   4. The Humanitarian Crisis in Sociology

      • John MacInnes

      Pages 141-160

5. Sociology of the Media

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 161-161

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   2. Sociology, Propaganda and Psychological Operations

      • David Miller

      Pages 163-188

   3. Sociology of the Media: Towards an Ideal Journalistic Practice

      • Giuliana Tiripelli

      Pages 189-207

   4. Sociology and Journalism: The Search for a Historical Imagination

      • Kevin Williams

      Pages 208-225

   5. The Martian Invasion and the Sociological Imagination

      • Brian Winston

      Pages 226-245

6. Conclusion: Stretching the Sociological Imagination in the Neo-Liberal Academy

   1. Conclusion: Stretching the Sociological Imagination in the Neo-Liberal Academy

      • Matt Dawson, Bridget Fowler, David Miller, Andrew Smith

      Pages 246-262

7. Back Matter

   Pages 263-277

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This edited collection calls for renewed attention to the concept of the sociological imagination, allowing social scientists to link private issues to public troubles. Inspired by the eminent Glasgow-based sociologist, John Eldridge, it re-engages with the concept and shows how it can be applied to analyzing society today.

• Sociology
• Sociological Imagination
• John Eldridge
• Public Sociology
• Social Theory
• Sociology of Work
• Media Sociology
• community
• memory
• Nation
• social theory
• society
• sociology

"This collection is evidence of why the British Sociological Association awarded John Eldridge a Distinguished Service to British Sociology Award. Following the themes of his work, it offers a series of original essays on the sociology of work and industry, social theory and the sociology of the media. Characteristically, Eldridge himself is a generous contributor to the collective enterprise. Reading these essays will remind established practitioners and show new readers why we value our discipline of sociology." - Lynn Jamieson, University of Edinburgh, UK

"This is sociology at its best: a provocative, informed, clearly-written collection of essays which throws exciting new light on such diverse areas as industry, the mass media, and social theory. In all these respects this volume is a wonderfully appropriate tribute to John Eldridge, a sociologist whose enduring modesty is matched by an absolute commitment to an imaginative sociology that can translate private troubles into public issues. Not that you need to know John Eldridge or his work to appreciate these essays in his honour. His influence and inspiration and breadth of scholarship inform every chapter." - Laurie Taylor, Host of BBC Radio 4's Thinking Allowed

"This book is a rare treat constituting as it does a collection of specially commissioned writings to honour John Eldridge's contribution to British and indeed world sociology. All of the chapters are written by scholars who have either worked with or been mentored by John in his long and distinguished career. The three main sections of the book cover the Sociology of Work and Industry, Social Theory and the Sociology of the Media. All areas of sociology where John has made outstanding contributions to both theory and research. The chapters illustrate different facets of John Eldridge's work and also demonstrate his profound influence on the generations of sociologists and social researchers who had the good fortune to have worked with him. In all a great tribute to a great sociologist and humanitarian." - Peter Cressey, University of Bath, UK

"This volume honours one of British sociology's major figures by gathering together a series of first-rate essays. These amply reveal and also exemplify the range of his writing and teaching-from pioneering studies of work and industrial conflict to major, equally pioneering studies of journalistic practice and the power of the media, along with probing commentaries on social theory. They further honour him by displaying his distinctive virtues: a robust, unpretentious theoretical approach, a resolute concern for empirical evidence, and a constant awareness of the interactions between sociology and political life." - Steven Lukes, New York University, USA

"This book celebrates John Eldridge whose work spans social theory and the sociology of industry and the media. His work consistently engaged with key questions of public concern ranging from industrial disputes to debates about impartiality on television news, and he pioneered methods and approaches to understanding society and social change.

This collection of essays demonstrates the profound influence of one man on a discipline, and on the scholars with whom he worked (I was lucky enough to obtain my second job at the Glasgow Media Group working with him myself). These essays also reflect of the state of sociology today, and raise profound questions about its future." - Jenny Kitzinger, Cardiff University, UK

• University of Glasgow, UK

  Matt Dawson, Bridget Fowler, Andrew Smith

• University of Bath, UK

  David Miller

John Eldridge, University of Glasgow, UK Huw Beynon, Cardiff University, UK Howard Davis, Bangor University, UK Matt Dawson, University of Glasgow, UK Tony Elger, University of Warwick, UK Bridget Fowler, University of Glasgow, UK John Holmwood, University of Nottingham, UK John MacInnes, University of Edinburgh, UK David Miller, University of Bath, UK Greg Philo, University of Glasgow, UK Andrew Smith, University of Glasgow, UK Tim Strangleman, University of Kent, UK Giuliana Tiripelli, University of Glasgow, UK Kevin Williams, Swansea University, UK Brian Winston, University of Lincoln, UK

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