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• School of Social and Political Studies

Institute of Governance

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Office Hours:  Tuesdays 3:00-5:00 (within semesters)

Research

My deepest interest is in how we can most usefully conceptualise and theorise fundamental processes shaping the development of human society.  In my view, how we understand the evolving social organisation of power is central to this.  These interests are linked to a more historically situated interest in the fate of the nexus of capitalism, liberalism and democracy that has shaped the modern era.  I am also interested in how we improve our understanding of these macrosociological questions through much more circumscribed, detailed and particularistic inquiry.   Thus my research involves both empirical and theoretical dimensions.  My work on various aspects of nationalism in Scotland, has provided a concrete context for developing more general theses about the natures of nationalism, liberal society, and social power.

Empirical research

On the cultural and historical causes of nationalism, national identity and devolution politics in Scotland in the 1990s, funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research.  Including ethnographic fieldwork (1993-1994) among networks of pro-home rule campaigners in Scotland.  Associated publications:

• Claiming Scotland: National Identity and Liberal Culture, Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press, 2000.
• 'Narrative, Agency and Mood: On the Social Construction of National History in Scotland', Comparative Studies in Society and History, 44(4), Autumn 2002.
• 'Identity, Class and Civil Society in Scotland's Neonationalism', Nations and Nationalism 8(1), January 2002.
• 'Big City: Civic Symbolism and Scottish Nationalism', Scottish Affairs, 42, Winter 2003.
  

On the role of everyday institutions is shaping national identity in Scotland, funded by the Leverhulme Trust as part of the Nations and Regions Research Programme.  Including ethnographic fieldwork (2001-2002) in a major Scottish clearing bank during its first year of merger with a major English bank.  Associated publications:

• ‘Small Fortunes: Nationalism, Capitalism and Changing Identities’, In National Identity, Nationalism and Constitutional Change (F. Bechhofer and D. McCrone, eds) London: Palgrave MacMillan.  2009, pp. 144-162.  
• 'National Identity: Banal, Personal, and Embedded', Nations and Nationalism 13(4), October 2007.
• Briefing No. 9, January 2006
  Organisational identity: work at the bank (pdf, 120k)
  

Theoretical Research

On the nature, causes, origins, and dynamics of nationalism in the modern world, including critical assessment of debates between 'primordialist' and 'modernist' approaches, and a specific interest in the nature of legitimacy and authority in capitalist, liberal democratic nation-states.  Own-funded, developed in conjunction with teaching, c.2000-present.  Associated publications:

• Rethinking Nationalism: A Critical Introduction, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.  Read a sample chapter
• ' The Origins of Modern Nationalism in the North Atlantic Interaction Sphere', Sociological Research Online 14:5, 2009.
  
• ‘Social Diversity and the Modern Nation State’,  In Immigration and Integration in Europe and the United States, Gerrit Dielsen (ed.) (Forthcoming with Ashgate in the Research in Migration and Ethnic Relations Series).
• 'Global Crisis, National Blame' chapter to appear in Nations and Globalisation: Conflicting or Complimentary? (volume based on the proceedings of the 19th annual ASEN Conference, D. Halikiopoulou and S. Vasilopoulou, eds).
  

On the social evolution of power, western traditions of theorising power, and how liberal thought evinces deep ambivalence about power and associated ideas of domination, authority and legitimacy.  Own-funded, developed in conjunction with teaching, c.2004-present.  Associated publications:

• I am writing a book for Palgrave Macmillan, working title: Theorising Power, to be completed in 2011.
  
• 'What's Wrong with Domination?', Journal of Power 1(1). April 2008 (link to issue: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=issue&issn=1754-0291&volume=1&issue=1)
  
• 'Domination' article forthcoming in Sage Encyclopedia of Power, K. Dowding, (ed.).
  
• 'Taking Liberties: Contesting Visions of the Civil Society Project', Critique of Anthropology, 21(4), December 2001.

Teaching and Supervision

Recent Courses

• Theories and Theorists in Nationalism Studies (PG)
• Comparative Perspectives in Nationalism Studies (PG)
• Theories of Power (UG honours)
• Social Evolution and Change (unit in Sociology 1A, UG pre-honours)

Supervision: I enjoy supervising Ph.Ds, MSc dissertations, and honours projects, on topics related to my research and teaching interests above, although I am happy to consider supervision beyond this, where appropriate.  I am best suited to supervising work using ethnographic, historical, comparative and qualitative methods, and work concerned with problems of theorisation.

Current Administrative Roles

• Programme Director: MSc in Nationalism Studies
• Co-opted member, University Teaching and Learning Committee
  
• Sociology Schools Liaison and Recruitment
• Sociology Representative, SSPS Undergraduate Teaching Committee
• Associate Director, Institute of Governance
  

Biographical Note and Qualifications

I attended a radically experimental primary and secondary school in Austin, Texas, modeled on the educational philosophies of A. S. Neill and John Holt.  The School was not accredited by the Texas State Board of Schools and could not award diplomas, so I obtained a 'General Equivalency Diploma'.  During the late 1970s and early 1980s I concentrated on music (guitar, songwriting, composing), working and recording with theatrical groups, modern dance troupes, and several bands in Austin.  In 1986 I turned to undergraduate studies in earnest, earning a BA (1989) in Social Studies, with a concentration in Anthropology, at Bard College.  From there I went to do a Ph.D. (1997) in Cultural Anthropology at the City University of New York, earning an MA en route.  While working on my Ph.D. I taught as an adjunct at several colleges in New York City.  After completing my Ph.D. I taught briefly part-time at the New School for Social Research, and had a post-doc from the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research in 1998.  I began a joint post in Sociology and Politics at the University of Edinburgh in Autumn 1998, and moved entirely into Sociology three years later.  I continue to play music in my spare time.