Zygmunt Bauman

Zygmunt Bauman

Reading Time: < 1 minutes I am not really, so I like to say, a man for having heroes. However, in a very academic manner, one person for whom I have a lot of respect is Emiritus Professor Zygmunt Bauman. The School of Sociology has just run a conference to 

On The Road

On The Road

Reading Time: 3 minutes We went to Opera in The Park, which was brilliant, and had me in tears when they opened with O Fortuna! from Carmina Burana. Much as I complain at times about Leeds Shitty Council wasting money, I think there are worse things they could spend 

Not A Thimble

Not A Thimble

Reading Time: 3 minutes If you move in such circles, you may have heard about the stupid fucking furore surrounding Thimbleberry Festival. This is a small underground festival, which as had it’s license pulled and the organiser up on criminal charges for alleged drug issues at the event. Here’s 

What is the Appropriate “Disposal” for Mad Murderers

What is the Appropriate “Disposal” for Mad Murderers

Reading Time: 12 minutes In the 1930’s, Penrose conducted a sociological investigation comparing statistics relating to crime and mental disorder in various European countries. Penrose discussed a number of possible conclusions that could be drawn form his data, but two that showed noticeable statistical significance were as follows: in countries with better provision of hospital beds for the mentally disordered the prison population tended to be lower and in these countries the number of deaths attributable to homicide also tended to be lower.
These findings will be used as a springboard to discuss the dilemma of whether the most appropriate method of addressing the social problem of mentally disordered people who unlawfully kill others is penal or therapeutic disposal- that is whether the emphasis of the sentence should be on punishment or treatment.

Treatise on Epistimologies

Treatise on Epistimologies

Reading Time: 3 minutes Once upon a time there was an epistemology called positivism. This was made up by some French men with beards, who got a bit worried that no one would take them seriously because they were not scientists. They decided that you had to study everything 

Party:Off

Party:Off

Reading Time: < 1 minutes Last night we tried to go for a party in Clayton Quarry. We managed this for about 10 minutes, the Police already swarming around the top of the road when we arrived. This was fairly unsurprising, as you could hear the bloody thing from the 

A Visual Ethnography of Hyde Park

A Visual Ethnography of Hyde Park

Reading Time: 4 minutes So this is starting to bring together the ideas I have for my Dissertation, and the reason I bought this little camera last year. In the course of my life in Hyde park, I have been acting the role of ‘researcher participat[ing]’, as Herbert Gans