What we can do is…make life a little less terrible and a little less unjust in every generation. A good deal can be achieved in this way. Karl Popper

 A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not even worth glancing at. Oscar Wilde.

 Progress is not an illusion; it happens but it is slow and invariably disappointing. George Orwell

 Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.   Jane Austen.

 Only Connect!  (Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exhalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer).  E.M.Forster

 We are little Gods who shit.   Ernest Becker.

 If we had a keen vision of all that is ordinary in human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow or the squirrel’s heart beat, and we should die of that roar which is the other side of silence . George Eliot.

Following a period of serious illness, I retired from the Sociology Department at the University of Essex in 2006, after thirty years. I am now Emeritus Professor, and still hang around the department a little – doing a little thinking, chatting, supervision and teaching (but absolutely no bureaucratic or market work, the growth of which leaves me very concerned!). To visit the University of Essex, click here.

This website contains the following sections:

BIOGRAPHY AND CV

Here you will find my CV, details of publications and current research interests; as well as a few extracts from an ongoing auto/ biography.......

WRITINGS

Here you will find info on some of my books and some access to parts of them to read. You will also be able to download some of my more recent papers.

CURRENT ACTIVITIES 

Here you will find some summaries of recent talks and papers, as well as links to my current work in sociology, queer stuff, humanism and transplants.

SEXUALITIES - THE JOURNAL

Here you will find details of the journal that I edit, the editorial board and a link to the publishers Sage, where you can access some past issues.

SOCIOLOGY: A GLOBAL INTRODUCTION - THE TEXTBOOK

Here you will find details of the 4^th edition of the text book I write with John Macionis. You can make a direct link to Pearson the publisher, and here explore a wealth of on line sociology materials from this, as well as recent updates.

Go directly to 

THE SOCIOLOGY HUB: THE ONLINE RESOURCE CENTRE FOR SOCIOLOGY: A GLOBAL INTRODUCTION – FOURTH EDITION.

And for updates and news on the fourth edition, click here.

RESOURCE CENTRE

Here you will find links to Websites, music, visual culture, quotations, powerpoints and my books.