|
John Urry Professor of Sociology Personal page: |
Prof. John Urry has been Head of the Sociology Department (1983-9), Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences (1989-1994), the University's Dean of Research (1994-1998) and Chair of HEFCE's RAE Panel (1996-2001).
Original research interests were in the sociology of power and revolution. Early work at Lancaster was in the area of social theory and the philosophy of the social sciences. This resulted in the jointly written Social Theory as Science, (1975, 1982), which set out the main features of the realist philosophy of science. In the Eighty's Prof. Urry also pursued a critical confrontation with a number of Marxist traditions, of Althusserian structuralism, German state theory, and neo-Gramscian.
Research in the 1980s and 1990s focused on three areas. First, there was the urban and regional research mainly associated with the Lancaster Regionalism Group. Two particular themes have been pursued: the relationship between society and space (as in the jointly edited Social Relations and Spatial Structures, 1985) and the possibilities of developing local economic policies.
The second area of research has been in the more general dimensions of economic and social change in western capitalist societies. Third, research has focused upon one particular set of industries which 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, 2001: 2nd edition), Consuming Places (1995), and the jointly edited Touring Cultures (1997). This concern has been extended to issues of environmental change and the sociology of nature.
Some publications
John Urry (2002), The Tourist Gaze (Theory, Culture and Society Series), 2nd edition, Sage Publications
John Urry (2002), Global Complexity, Polity Press, paperback
Phil MacNaghten, John Urry (eds.) (2001), Bodies of Nature, Sage Publications
John Urry (2000), Sociology Beyond Societies: Mobilities for the Twenty-First Century, Routledge
Scott Lash, John Urry (2000), The End of Organized Capitalism, University of Wisconsin Press
John Urry, Lancaster Group (ed.) (1997), Touring Cultures: Transformations of Travel & Theory, Routledge
John Urry (1995), Consuming Places (The International Library of Sociology), Routledge
Scott Lash, John Urry (1994), Economies of Signs and Space (Theory, Culture & Society), Sage Publications
John Urry (1981), The Anatomy of Capitalist Societies: The Economy, Civil Society, and the State, Prometheus Books
Derek Gregory, John Urry (eds.) (1985), Social Relations and Spatial Structures, Palgrave Macmillan
John Urry (1973), Reference Groups and the Theory of Revolution, Routledge & K. Paul
John Urry, (1973), Power in Britain: sociological readings, Heinemann Educational