Name John Urry Role Sociologist | ||
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Books The tourist gaze, Climate Change and Soci, Mobile Lives, Global Complexity, Consuming places Similar People Mimi Sheller, Scott Lash, Derek Gregory, Anthony Elliott, Chris Rojek | ||
Education University of Cambridge | ||
John urry and chris rojek british sociology since 1945
John Richard Urry, FAcSS (; June 1, 1946, London – March 18, 2016, Lancaster) FAcSS was a British sociologist, Professor at Lancaster University. He is noted for work in the fields of the sociology of tourism and mobility.
Contents
- John urry and chris rojek british sociology since 1945
- What is the mobility turn john urry
- Research interests
- Research Areas
- Regionalism
- Economic and social change
- Consumer and tourism services
- Mobility
- Complexity theory
- Books published
- References
He has written books on many other aspects of modern society including the transition away from 'organised capitalism', the sociology of nature and environmentalism, and social theory in general.
Urry is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Founding Academician of the UK Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences, and a Visiting Professor at both Bristol and Roskilde Geography Departments.
Born in London and educated at the Haberdashers' Aske's Boys School, Urry gained his first degrees from Christ's College, Cambridge in 1967, a 'double first' BA and MA in Economics, before going on to gain his PhD in Sociology from the same institution in 1972. He arrived at Lancaster University Sociology department as a lecturer in 1970, becoming head of department in 1983 and a professor in 1985.
What is the mobility turn john urry
Research interests
His original research interests were in the sociology of power and revolution and this resulted in the publication of Reference Groups and the Theory of Revolution (1973) and Power in Britain (1973).
Early work at Lancaster was in the area of social theory and the philosophy of the social sciences. Social Theory as Science, (1975, 1982), co-written with his colleague Russell Keat, set out the main features of the realist philosophy of science. Critical confrontation with a number of Marxist traditions, of Althusserian structuralism, German state theory, and neo-Gramscian theory, resulted in the Anatomy of Capitalist Societies (1981).
Research Areas
Research over the last twenty years has focused on five main areas.
Regionalism
First, there was the urban and regional research mainly associated with the Lancaster Regionalism Group. Collaborative research resulted in Localities, Class and Gender (1985) and Restructuring. Place, Class and Gender (1990) Two particular themes have been pursued: the relationship between society and space (as in the Social Relations and Spatial Structures, co-edited with Derek Gregory, 1985); and the possibilities of developing local economic policies (as in Place, Policy and Politics, 1990).
Economic and social change
The second area of research has been in the more general dimensions of economic and social change in western capitalist societies. This has resulted in three jointly written books, Capital, Labour and the Middle Classes (1983); The End of Organized Capitalism (1987); and Economies of Signs and Space (1994; latter two with Scott Lash).
Consumer and tourism services
Thirdly, research focused upon one particular set of industries that are of particular significance in contemporary western societies, namely consumer services and especially tourist-related services. The economic, social, environmental and cultural implications of such developments can be seen in The Tourist Gaze (1990, 2002: 2nd edn.), Consuming Places (1995), Touring Cultures (1997, edited with Chris Rojek), Tourism Mobilities (2004, edited with Mimi Sheller), and Performing Tourist Places (with J-O Barenholdt, M Haldrup, J. Larsen). This concern was extended to issues of environmental change and the 'sociology of nature' see Contested Natures (1998), Bodies of Nature (2001) (both with Phil Macnaghten) and Climate Change and Society (2011).
Mobility
Fourthly, there are various research projects and publications relating to the changing nature of mobility. Publications include: Sociology Beyond Societies (2000), a special issue of Theory, Culture and Society, (August 2004 on Automobilities coedited with Mike Feathersone, Nigel Thrift); Mobile Technologies of the City (2006); coedited with Mimi Sheller. John Urry also directed the Centre for Mobilities Research between 2003 and 2015 and was later the Co-Director of the Institute for Social Futures.
Complexity theory
Finally, John Urry had been exploring some implications of complexity theory for the social sciences. Publications here include Global Complexity (2003), and "Complexity", a special double issue of Theory, Culture & Society (2005).
He was also one of the founding editors of the new journal Mobilities, and served as editor of the International Library of Sociology since 1990 (Routledge).
Books published
(excluding foreign language editions; books translated into 10+ languages)
- "Mobilities and Materialities." Special issue of Environment and Planning A (co-edited with M. Sheller)
- Mobile Technologies of the City, London: Routledge (coedited with M. Sheller)
- Mobilities, Geographies, Networks, London: Ashgate (with J. Larsen, K.Axhausen)