Les Back

A pre-Christmas Party with funk band The Scottish Parliament… 28th November at The Rum Shack my other guitar playing self www.rumshackglasgow.com/events/zf7kl...

“When a student joins a class from a tent, that’s ṣumūd” In #Uncommonsense, out soon, Ahmed Kamal Junina discusses the “pedagogy of #hope and survival”, the stakes of #reconstructing higher #education in #Gaza, and the value of #Sumud as distinct from #resilience. 👉🏿 SUBSCRIBE in bio for much more

Remembering Tom Petty on his birthday. ❤️🎸❤️

Poetry for the many – or just the few? What the class system has to do with how we feel about art. Panos Theodoropoulos on Andrew Smith’s account of talking to working-class Glaswegians about literature. @uofgsociology.bsky.social @intrrgnm.bsky.social buff.ly/NXvduEM #AcademicSky #Glasgow

I am afraid this Stuart Hall event is being rescheduled and won’t take place on November 9th after all. Will share as soon as the new date has been agreed.

Every month is black history month, but I miss doing the walks with my brother Professor William (Lez) Henry - coughing up fire and joy on this reggae walk in New Cross www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DxI...

Let's play Billionaires and Guillotines! Unmissable chance to play the game with its designer Max Haiven. 21 Oct 2026 -- Pelican House -- Doors open at 6 pm -- Game starts at 6:30 pm Register here: www.britsoc.co.uk/events/key-b... @britsoci.bsky.social @maxhaiven.bsky.social

Here's a treat: tomorrow (Wednesday 14th October) from 18.00, our own @dominicmhinde.bsky.social is hosting a special showing of Bertrand Tavernier's Glasgow-set dystopian classic Death Watch. The film showing is taking place in 42 Bute Gardens, Lecture Theatre 1115.

The filty old Clyde full of sin and secrets is like a river of mercury today. Never tire of being close to it.

"...a PhD remains a unique opportunity to write your own curriculum on what you care about most, to find your own thoughts on that topic and to voice them." 👇🏾 bsky.app/profile/acad...

Every month is Black History month on sacred ground in Rottenrow where James McCune Smith did his research with Scottish working class women at Lock Hospital which resulted in the first academic paper published by an African American.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough - The PhD Handbook by Rosie Doyle and Fraser Robertson . It’s a fantastic resource and companion for any PhD student in any field. thesociologicalreview.org/reviews/the-...

For all new PhD students starting their journey today, I just wanted to share this piece about foregrounding both the joy and value of what you are doing. Good luck to you all - you are doing hope’s work www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/too-...

Very sad news yesterday that BBC Radio 4’s Thinking Allowed is to come off the air. Laurie Taylor has done an incredible service to us all by giving sociological ideas a space to be heard. This is a lovely conversation with him thesociologicalreview.org/magazine/may...

Word is already getting around, but news this good can't be over-shared: all of Stuart Hall's notebooks have been digitized and archived (in AI-proof form). Kudos and thanks to all those who have helped make this possible. Isn't there an emoji for 'Free Treasure. Please Help Yourself'!?

A beautiful morning in Glasgow today.

The Clyde was like a sheet of glass early this morning. Breathtaking.

When a student dies tragically, it always feels to me like such a profound violation of the order of life. Remembering Abby Wheeler today, and this is a beautiful tribute written by her mother. www.gla.ac.uk/schools/soci...

Glasgow 21st November 3-5.30pm The Doublet presents 'Pubs for the People' and an afternoon discussion about how pubs help us understand the nation over a few pints. Meet authors Sivamohan Valluvan and Amit Singh in conversation with Les Back www.eventbrite.com/e/pubs-for-t...

SRO Sage Prize Nominee Harvey Humphrey et al.’s article, 'As Is and Co-creating Theatre from Research to Stage', looks at the staging of an 'ethnodrama' based on research with trans, intersex and LGBTI activists doi.org/10.1177/1360... @harveyhumphrey.bsky.social and @uofgsociology.bsky.social

Will be hosting a discussion about Stuart Hall’s life and jazz, along with a showing of The Stuart Hall Project film, with a live performance of Miles Davis music by the Nu Civilisation Orchestra - tickets available now at the Union Chapel, London 9th November unionchapel.org.uk/whats-on/nu-...

Our latest Sociological & Cultural Studies blog is now available. In 'Welcome to Glasgow’s four corners' @susanabatchelor.bsky.social considers the way in which certain urban spaces - and those who frequent them - come to be constructed as problematic.

If you don't have a copy of this yet... get one!

After a long day teaching the disenchantments of Max Weber and modernity - the sunset on the Clyde was utter enchantment. Stunning.

Paul Jones’ article, 'Engaging with Live Experience', analyses the content of six years of BSA journal articles that contain ‘lived experience’, to illuminate how sociologists practically deploy the category in their published research. Read the full article below. doi.org/10.1177/1360...

Our own Isaac Hoff will be speaking at this forthcoming event, discussing how ideas of crisis and (non)ending get mediated and shared. Register to attend at the link below.

This is going to be a great event if you are in London on 23rd October. Early bird tickets available.

First week of in person teaching. @academicdiary.bsky.social gave our methods students an excellent guest lecture on research questions. & I’ve just had 2 groups of seminars alive with students’ engaged reflections on fieldwork fables videos (referenced in this: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...)

This is such a beautiful programme - I love the image of Robert Louis Stevenson doodling in his lectures dreaming of anything else other than his engineering studies but also never dishonouring his family of lighthouse builders - gorgeous song from Louis Abbott too. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

1/ A slightly strange and lovely thing to be able to say, my book The Social Life of Justice is published tomorrow... www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?b...

What a great way to begin the teaching year. Four tutorials on a sentence that still gives students plenty to argue with! Welcome back to everyone studying sociology this term. Here’s to asking questions about the world, and what we might change. @britsoci.bsky.social #Sociology #AcademicSky

📣 Final call! We’re looking for a new Trustee with marketing & communications expertise to join the Sociological Review Foundation Board. ⏰ Applications close Monday 24 August. Know someone who might be a great fit? Please share! Find out more: buff.ly/fh6oMPd

Have been teaching Marx’s Theses on Feuerbach today which contains the sentence voted by BSA members as the in sociology - “Philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.” 4 tutorials back to back the best of days.

Sign up below for this online workshop, the first in a new series organised by the Gambling Harms Research UK Centre. Prof. Joht Singh Chandan (Oxford) will be asking what an equitable public health approach to gambling harms might look like, and how it can be developed.

I have been writing little field notes from getting out and making the case for sociology in schools and FE colleges. This one is from Prince William School in Oundle. @bsaecf.bsky.social

Beginning of term blues… losing things, finding things. Was saved by an elderly guardian angel who handed my wallet into the main gate of the University of Glasgow! You saved me. Wish you’d left your name so I could thank you in person.

There were bouquets of flowers floating on the dirty old river this morning. Imagining who might have tossed them into the Clyde. I love crossing on my way to work so much. Beginning of the semester always a time of anxiety and anticipation.

Very important session on the sociology of education - needs to be constantly restated why this field matters and the machine where differences that make a difference are manufactured.

Delighted to see this new edition of The Sociological Review, including a special section on Sociology in the Times of Genocide, co-edited by our own @kirsteen-paton.bsky.social

A chance to discuss research concepts in the field of Sociology of Emotions. Submit an abstract by 9 October for ‘Sociology of Emotions: Unpacking Concepts’, a @bsa-emotions.bsky.social‬ online event, 11 November tinyurl.com/msxbeah9

At the anti-fascist counter demo on Glasgow Green this weekend. Walked into the middle of ‘Pink Ladies’ anti-immigration demo. Stayed for about 15 minutes before my ears were painfully full of their hate. As I walked out a Policeman said “like your t shirt pal”! Had forgotten I was wearing it! Oops

Wonderful new resource from the Independent Social Research Foundation on the crisis in UK Higher Education isrf.org/search?q=&ta...

Out now: a special issue focused on the question of public oversight of digital surveillance in Africa, co-edited by @duncanjane.bsky.social and Sarah Chiumbu.

Great to see this excellent event underway; well done to Maureen McBride and Gareth Mulvey for their work organising and arranging things.

Wonderful to be at the BSA Scottish Sociology at the Roma Centre on Glasgow’s Southside. Inspiring and very high quality papers.

Join us in paper session 5 (11:00-12:30) where WES Editors will discuss and reflect on questions linked to the ethics of publishing and authoring. We’ll be in Room 0.13 – bring your questions! #2wescon26

Which podcasts do you enjoy? In the Sociological Review magazine, Alice Bloch, Executive Producer of the Uncommon Sense podcast, quizzes her colleagues and shares their recommendations for further compelling, engaging listening. Share your favourites in the comments. buff.ly/XREoAqa

Karen O’Reilly, Deputy Chair of our board of Trustees, Emeritus Professor of Sociology and highly experienced ethnographer, shares why she’s looking forward to our Public Lecture with Angela Saini. 📅 2 September | SOAS Gallery We’re just ONE WEEK away! 🎟️ Book your place: buff.ly/p2Jpni3

The Battle of Cable Street ninety years on: the struggle against fascism and antisemitism, then and now. With Nadia Valman, Liam Liburd (@liamliburd.bsky.social) and Joseph Finlay (@josephfinlay.bsky.social). Join us at @bisa-bkk.bsky.social on 6/10. More info below: bisa.bbk.ac.uk/event/the-ba...

Pubs for the People: An Evening with Amit Singh and Sivamohan Valluvan Thursday 22 October 2026 19:00 at Waterstones, London - Trafalgar Square www.waterstones.com/events/pubs-...