September 2005
University celebrates 100 years of sociology in Liverpool
Leading figures in sociology are in Liverpool this week for a special conference to celebrate the centenary of the University's Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work Studies
Leading figures in sociology are in Liverpool this week for a special conference to celebrate the centenary of the University's Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work Studies.
The two-day event will focus on the public role of sociology since the foundation of the department 100 years ago and will include presentations on key contemporary issues including talks on 'ID cards' and the 'Mancunification of Liverpool'.
Professor Phil Redmond, Head of Mersey Television and a sociology graduate of the University, will speak about how his studies at the University influenced his television series, Grange Hill and Brookside.
Other key speakers include Frank Furedi, whose recent work examined the consciousness of risk since 9/11, and Merseyside-born Professor Laurie Taylor, a Times columnist and regular BBC Radio 4 broadcaster, who will speak on 'The University of Poppleton � The Inside Story' - a fictional university that Taylor chronicles in his column in the Times Higher Education Supplement.
Dr Stuart Wilks-Heeg, conference co-organiser and lecturer in Social Policy at the University, said: "We are pleased to be welcoming so many distinguished sociologists to the University to help us celebrate this special centenary. The department has always had a particular interest in the sociology of Liverpool itself, a city so enormously affected by social change in the past century, so it is fitting that many of our guest speakers are from Liverpool.
"The programme addresses a wide range of areas of interest relating to sociology from violence to youth identity and includes a special session looking at the role of grassroots culture in Liverpool in the run up to Capital of Culture 2008."
The University's Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work Studies was set up in 1905 to train social workers who would tackle the social issues associated with Liverpool's rapid growth in the 19th century. The department was the first of its kind to establish a Chair of Social Anthropology in 1907.
The conference will be held on Thursday 8 September and Friday 9 September