If you have any questions contact us at: uofgsoccafe@gmail.com
Keep up to date on our upcoming events by signing up to our mailing list
LGBTQ+ History Month Panel & Q&A
Wednesday February 5th: 16:00-18:00: Boyd Orr 709A
The Sociology of Culture
Dr Lito Tsitsou
Wednesday February 19th: 16:00-18:00: Boyd Orr 709B
International Women's Day Panel & Q&A
Wednesday March 5th: 17:00-19:00: Boyd Orr 411
Smartphones & Surveillance
Dr Janos Mark Szakolczai
Wednesday March 19th: 16:00-18:00: Boyd Orr 709B
Online: Every other Friday from October 11th 15:00-16:00
Timothy (artist in Gulu), based on the theme Disability is not Inability (Flickr, cc)
‘I Live a Life Like Yours’, Discussing Jan Grue’s personal reflections
Moderated by Dr Philly Wiseman and Dr Nicola Burns, Centre for Disability Research
Disability History Month is upon us, and this year’s theme focuses on sex and relationships, and hidden impairments – both sites of invisibility for disabled people. This sociology café gives us an opportunity to chat about, and around, Professor Jan Grue’s piece in the Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/nov/04/the-high-cost-of-living-in-a-disabling-world?fbclid=IwAR39-dUQGnZfDpiTnSSNnm6z7ASrJvxjqRKUpUBoJs1ZeL240kFIFP4HJRk) and/or have a listen to his short section on BBC 6Music with Cerys Matthew (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0011s68 - section starts at 1hr 10 mins; a chance to hear some great tunes too). Jan beautifully talks through the intimacies of his life, the various relationships he has navigated and how these are shaped in and through disablist landscapes.
All welcome!
Anastasiya Markovich, Illusion of Reality, detail (Wikimedia)
Moderated by Professor Andy Smith
This week the Sociology Café - building on our previous Bring Your Own Poem sessions – converts into an open mic / open gallery space. Everyone is invited to bring along a short piece of writing, a photo, a track, a picture, a song, a poem. Share it with others and share why it matters to you. Old standards and original compositions equally welcome. Or, if you prefer, just join us to listen and watch.
All welcome!
Nov 9th, 2021
On Being a Social Movement Activist
Moderated by Smina Akhtar
What are social movements and how do we become part of them? From Black Lives Matter to climate justice, an increasing number of people are engaging in some form of activism, but do we have to be card carrying members of a social movement to be part of it?
Smina Akhtar has been an activist in Glasgow for over 25 years and is now completing her PhD on experiences of and resistance to state racism in Scotland.
All welcome!
A chat with Prof. Bridget Fowler
Please join us for a relaxed discussion with our very own Prof. Bridget Fowler, one of the founding members of Glasgow’s original Department of Sociology. We’ll be asking Bridget about her experience of sociological research and teaching over many years, about the changing landscape of the discipline, and about how she has navigated the tensions between personal, political and professional commitments. Please do come with your questions, and for anyone keen for a bit of preliminary reading, do take a look at Bridget’s recent article, remembering and reflecting on a sociological life (in the Journal of Classical Sociology, here).
All welcome!
Oct 12th, 2021
Are we really all in this together? Chatting on Global Vaccine Inequity
Moderated by Dr Giovanni Picker
In April 2020, UN Secretary General António Guterres announced: "We are all in this together. The virus threatens everyone" Numerous reports and articles published later confuted Guterres' statement -- older, disabled, racialised, and working class people and groups, among others, are disproportionally affected by this virus and the measures to counter its spread. In this context, one would think that vaccine distribution had been planned with these inequalities in mind...has it? Poor countries are suffering from a disproportionate shortage of vaccines. Is this because life expectancy is lower in poorer countries? Where are the interests at play and how are we - in various countries - variously affected by these inequities?
All welcome!
Welcome! What's On at the Sociology Café This Year?
Welcome everyone to the 2021-22 academic year. This is a welcome session in which we'll introduce the Cafe and its 2021-22 main activities and plans, while all who join will have a chance, if they want, to introduce themselves. If you are new to the Café, check last year's events and related resource pages, but don't take them as the only possibilities -- new ideas and proposals are very welcome! Come along and share your thoughts or just listen to your fellow students and your lecturers. You can also get in touch via the Contact Form at the bottom of this page.
All welcome!
How do we understand post-truth in social media after Trump?
Moderated by Dr Catherine Happer
During what we now might call ‘the Trump years’, we witnessed the emergence and widespread use by journalists, academics and thinkers of the term ‘post truth’, implicit to which is a sense of disruption to the normal or preceding condition in which ‘truth’ was held sacred. Media scholars however have long since argued (and demonstrated empirically) that media content often presents a partial version of ‘truth’ at best, and has been deeply dishonest in the neoliberal era at worst. Meanwhile audiences immersed in multiple information ecologies across social media platforms increasingly recognise that the idea of one privileged lens on the world is contestable. In this context, are we to understand Trump as an inevitable consequence of the current political and technological age, or should we see him as an aberration? If so, in what way should he be understood as qualitatively different? More generally, does society still place a high value on ‘truth’? And, if so, how should we assess the credibility of information produced from multiple and competing sources?
All welcome!
Genders and Sexualities in University Life
Moderated by Dr Matthew Waites
This session moderated by Matthew Waites (Sociology) invites you as a participant – if you wish - to offer a comment on anything about gender or sexuality in relation to university life, for discussion. Topics can include any aspect of gender or sexuality inequalities or social dynamics. For example: the division of childcare between men and women as it forms a backdrop to online zoom classes; the ways in which bisexuality appears in the curriculum; or experiences of negotiating pronouns in relation to gender identity, inside or outside university classes. It is suggested that for sociologists this an opportunity to discuss aspects of social life beyond the university’s official discourses, such as equal opportunities, to discuss what are the actual experiences of students and staff in the informal spaces and culture of the university or beyond; for example, how do trends on Youtube or TikTok actually shape some student experiences through a disjuncture with university life? How are international students experiencing disjunctures between the gender and sexuality cultures of different societies? It is fine to either come with a comment to discuss or just to listen. Hope you can join us !
All welcome!
Our life online
Moderated by Dr Greti-Iulia Ivana
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, many of us had long-distance ties and maintained them through technologically mediated interactions. However, the scale at which this is currently happening is unmatched. In lockdown, almost every interaction is mediated, and every bond is long-distance. We are still updated about those around us, be it through social media, or through voice and video calls, but the context of spending time with others has changed. In this week’s Sociology Café we will talk about what this shift means for our social lives. How does ‘keeping in touch’ look like in the pandemic? What about companionship? What are some of the practices, habits, rituals bringing us together in the virtual ‘third space”?
Join us on Tuesday afternoon and share your experience and thoughts about living life online.
All welcome!
In collaboration with GUSS - Glasgow University Sociology Society
BYOP - Bring Your Own Poem
Moderated by Professor Andy Smith
Given the great interest it received last semester, we are proposing BYOP again. Think of it as a kind of ‘open mic’ night. We’re inviting anyone who wants to, to come along and read or share a poem or song that matters to them. It could be something that you’ve found especially helpful in the context of the lockdown or, indeed, at any other time of your life. It could be something that you’ve written yourself, or something by someone else. It could be a formal piece of poetry, or a recording of a song, a rap or a slam performance (if there’s a link to a recording that you can post in the chat, we can play this through screen sharing). And it could be in any language. Of course, there’s no pressure at all to read, share or perform anything. Feel free to just come along and listen if you’d prefer. But do join us if you can as we celebrate the ability of poetry and song, in John Carey’s words, to craft something that lasts and endures from the ‘vast avalanche of language that hurtles past us everyday’.
All welcome!
Discussion moderated by Dr Marguerite Schinkel
“Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.”
Arundhati Roy, The Pandemic is a Portal, 2020.
FT
While Covid-19 has had devastating consequences for many, it has also shown that sudden changes in social policy and other areas are possible. For example, possibilities and calls for change have been set out in documents like this and this. In this Sociology Café everyone is very welcome to talk about the changes we have seen and the ways in which positive changes might be sustained or developed throughout the pandemic and after Covid-19 ends.
All welcome!
Populism: Why does it seem so important?
Discussion moderated by Dr Giovanni Picker
Donald Trump politically instigating violence; the Brexit referendum campaign; Viktor Orban establishing, in his own words, an "illiberal democracy", but also Obama's "We, the people" famous discourse, and a long list of other leaders around the world massively mobilizing large groups of people -- populism is one of the most widely debated political phenomena in both the media and academia. There seems to be a right-wing populism and left-wing populism, but what's the difference, if any? Is populism a synonymous of radicalism? Extremism, perhaps? Is it simply the power of the populus (Latin for large group of people)? Is such an all-embracing concept of any use?
Bring your own views, your sharp curiosity and your listening skills, because in this Cafe conversation we're going to discuss a very timely and important issue.
All welcome!
Discussion moderated by Dr Philippa Wiseman
At the beginning of this academic year, students and staff are very welcome to share their own views and experiences of lockdown and other challenges we all, in different and yet similar ways, are facing. This will be an hour of learning and sharing coping strategies and ideas about living, studying, and working mostly from home during our unprecedented times, with a view of receiving and giving support, as well as feeling part of a Department that values solidarity and participation.
All welcome!
Has racism increased during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Discussion moderated by Dr Giovanni Picker
"Chinese virus" (Trump) is probably the most infamous COVID-related epiteth of the last months. It shows the extent to which racism is both embedded in Western societies as well as disposable and displayable as both everyday and institutional tool of power. And the Black Lives Matter's ongoing set of uprisings reminds everyone of racism's letal power and the importance to organize resistance. During this chat we will exchange views, analyses and experiences of these issues, discussing whether (and how) during the current pandemic racism is on the rise. And - of course - what to do against it.
All welcome!
Doc Screening and Discussion moderated by Professor Sarah Armstrong
In an increasingly polarized and racially segregated United States, white supremacy and patriarchy are thriving. Conservative and liberal leaders alike refuse to address the outsized impact of institutional and systemic violence on people of color, women, and queer and gender non-conforming people. “Rising Power” brings us to Madison, Wisconsin, where we meet community organizers Kabzuag and M, co-directors of Freedom, Inc. What began as a sexual assault support group has grown into an organization at the forefront of battles over education reform, police brutality, land access and ownership, women’s safety and security, and mental health. Driven by their own intimate experiences of violence and poverty, M and Kabzuag have carved out a space for multiracial, multilingual, and multigenerational community members to disrupt a broken system, equipping Black, Hmong, and Khmer women, queer, and gender non-conforming folks with the tools they need to confront oppression in all facets of their lives and ultimately build a roadmap toward shared liberation.
The documentary is part of FUNDAMENTAL. GENDER JUSTICE. NO EXCEPTION, a documentary film series from two-time academy award-winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Global Fund for Women
All welcome!
The Role of the Sociologist in the 21st century- Activist, scientist, or something else?
Discussion moderated by Dr Tim Winzler
Ours is a time of neoliberal sacrifice to the market, of planetary destruction and of rightwing populism. It is a time of vanishing cultures and living spaces, and of large refugee migration. But it is also a time of perhaps unprecedented grass roots civil engagement and activism, of new forms of mobilisation and struggle. There are numerous fights for marginalised groups, for the rights of animals, and against the further marketisation of society, among others. What, in this flurry of change, is the proper role and the place of the Sociologist? How can the need for sober analysis be reconciled with the urge for and urgency of action? What are the chances, what are the pitfalls of this?
We want to discuss with you about this – about your experiences as a Sociologist-activist or Activist-Sociologist. We want to know about the surprises, the disappointments, the hopes you experienced when being an activist, or what prevents you from becoming active.
All welcome!
Debating the UK Hostile Environment, how it has evolved and how to push back
Discussion moderated by Dr Teresa Piacentini
There are many aspects of UK immigration policy that can be long described as hostile. In 2012, then Home Secretary Theresa May's flagship hostile environment policy went even further than previous policies, its defining feature being the creation of a system of routine citizen-on-citizen “papers, please” immigration checks as part of everyday life in a range of settings. In recent years, we have seen how this climate of hostility has become increasingly normalised in public debate and media rhetoric, and in the context of austerity, it is steadily more understood as a 'common sense' (and therefore reasonable) approach to implementing progressively inhumane and punitive border technologies, be they at sea or in the doctor's surgery. But we have also witnessed in recent years a push back through grass roots civil engagement and activism, with new forms of mobilisation and struggle emerging. In this conversation let's exchange views on how the hostile environment has evolved, where those spaces of solidarity and resistance can be found and consider, together, what can be done.
All welcome!
BYOP - Bring Your Own Poem
Moderated by Professor Andy Smith
This week’s Sociology Café is a little different from previous sessions. Think of it as a kind of ‘open mic’ night. We’re inviting anyone who wants to, to come along and read or share a poem or song that matters to them. It could be something that you’ve found especially helpful in the context of the lockdown or, indeed, at any other time of your life. It could be something that you’ve written yourself, or something by someone else. It could be a formal piece of poetry, or a recording of a song, a rap or a slam performance (if there’s a link to a recording that you can post in the chat, we can play this through screen sharing). And it could be in any language. Of course, there’s no pressure at all to read, share or perform anything. Feel free to just come along and listen if you’d prefer. But do join us if you can as we celebrate the ability of poetry and song, in John Carey’s words, to craft something that lasts and endures from the ‘vast avalanche of language that hurtles past us everyday’.
All welcome!
Wellbeing: What have we learned about ourselves in semester one?
Discussion moderated by Dr Richard Brunner
Approaching the finish-line of this semester, we thought that it might be timely for students and staff to discuss wellbeing. What does wellbeing mean to you? How do you ‘practice’ it? What are your indicators that it is there – or of its absence? This week, students and staff are very welcome to share their experiences of trying to cultivate wellbeing this semester – and to discuss the challenges of achieving wellbeing. We hope that this means that we can gain some understanding of how we have managed the practices of seeking to live well and study well, whilst working mostly from home. We hope the discussion will be helpful in practice, with some thinking ahead to looking after our wellbeing in semester two. Perhaps we can also engage with the sociology of wellbeing to aid our understanding.
All welcome!