- Title Pages
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- One The sociologist as voyeur
- Two Why sociology?
- Three Sociology as a science/technology of freedom
- Four Why sociology matters
- Five Passion, curiosity and integrity
- Six Sociology as democratic knowledge
- Seven Pushing at the boundaries of the discipline
- Eight Growing up as a sociologist in rural Shropshire
- Nine On the right-of-way
- Ten Living sociology
- Eleven Sociology for some, someone’s sociology…
- Twelve Imagining social science
- Thirteen From accidental to ambitious sociology
- Fourteen Sociographer by design? Boundary crossings and interdisciplinarity
- Fifteen ‘I am a sociologist’; but what exactly is a sociologist and how do you become one?
- Sixteen Sociology
- Seventeen Drift, opportunity and commitment
- Eighteen A passion for empirical sociology
- Nineteen Me, myself and sociology
- Twenty Turning to the psychosocial
- Twenty-One A long haul
- Twenty-Two Putting sociology to work in the NHS
- Twenty-Three Clinging to the precipice
- Twenty-Four The pursuit of a sociological career overseas and the navigation of an outsider perspective
- Twenty-Five Tales from the field
- Twenty-Six What sociology means to me
- Twenty-Seven Social science which engages with the real world
- Twenty-Eight A sporting chance? Notes on an ongoing career in the sociology of sport
- Twenty-Nine Sociology: involvement and detachment
- Thirty A career spent orbiting sociology
- Thirty-One Researching children’s lives
- Thirty-Two Following my star
- Thirty-Three ‘The epoch of belief…the epoch of incredulity’
- Recommended readings
- Resources for readers
- Index
‘I am a sociologist’; but what exactly is a sociologist and how do you become one?
‘I am a sociologist’; but what exactly is a sociologist and how do you become one?
- Chapter:
- (p.129) Fifteen ‘I am a sociologist’; but what exactly is a sociologist and how do you become one?
- Source:
- Sociologists' Tales
- Author(s):
Claire Maxwell
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
This chapter examines how the author’ s journey into ‘ sociology’ and her particular institutional location has shaped the ways in which she understands the discipline and the efforts she has made to position herself within ‘ sociology’, but also various sub-fields within it. The piece also explores how ‘ the rules of the game’ within the Academy today could be understood and reflects on the efforts made by the author to play by these rules in an attempt to forge a ‘ career’. However, the chapter also emphasizes the affective flows that have informed the author’ s journey and how critical these have been in sustaining her desire to be a sociologist and an academic.
Keywords: sociologist, affect, university, performativity
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- Title Pages
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- One The sociologist as voyeur
- Two Why sociology?
- Three Sociology as a science/technology of freedom
- Four Why sociology matters
- Five Passion, curiosity and integrity
- Six Sociology as democratic knowledge
- Seven Pushing at the boundaries of the discipline
- Eight Growing up as a sociologist in rural Shropshire
- Nine On the right-of-way
- Ten Living sociology
- Eleven Sociology for some, someone’s sociology…
- Twelve Imagining social science
- Thirteen From accidental to ambitious sociology
- Fourteen Sociographer by design? Boundary crossings and interdisciplinarity
- Fifteen ‘I am a sociologist’; but what exactly is a sociologist and how do you become one?
- Sixteen Sociology
- Seventeen Drift, opportunity and commitment
- Eighteen A passion for empirical sociology
- Nineteen Me, myself and sociology
- Twenty Turning to the psychosocial
- Twenty-One A long haul
- Twenty-Two Putting sociology to work in the NHS
- Twenty-Three Clinging to the precipice
- Twenty-Four The pursuit of a sociological career overseas and the navigation of an outsider perspective
- Twenty-Five Tales from the field
- Twenty-Six What sociology means to me
- Twenty-Seven Social science which engages with the real world
- Twenty-Eight A sporting chance? Notes on an ongoing career in the sociology of sport
- Twenty-Nine Sociology: involvement and detachment
- Thirty A career spent orbiting sociology
- Thirty-One Researching children’s lives
- Thirty-Two Following my star
- Thirty-Three ‘The epoch of belief…the epoch of incredulity’
- Recommended readings
- Resources for readers
- Index