Sociology and Public Policy at Aston brings together innovative research in the areas of inequality, diversity and social justice, public discourse and public policy and governance.
Our work ranges from analyses of the multiple forms of disadvantage on our doorstep in the West Midlands to critiques of the injustices that arise with globalisation. We bring together insights from the sociology of work, feminism, critical political economy, race and ethnic studies and critical theory to address such urgent questions as:
- The continuing problem of urban poverty
- Debates around reproductive rights and women’s health
- Concepts of consultation, political participation and cultural representation
- Co-existence and cohesion
- Access to services, including education, healthcare and welfare
Find out more about our key researchers in this area.
Researchers at Aston specialise in analyses of public discourse and the impact of discursive construction on outcomes in the arenas of policy-making, public debate and social participation. Key issues in our recent work include:
- Climate change
- Financial crisis and the discourse of neoliberalism
- Community organising and critical pedagogy in different locations
Find out more about our key researchers in this area. This group examines how public policy adapts to social and economic change and in turn how policy change impacts on economy and civil society, as well as the forms of government and governance that characterises public policy delivery. Current academic research within the group is examining:
- Adaptation within local governance and civil society to the current financial crisis
- Policy change and service adaptation for older people
- Recent policy developments on extended schools
- The notion of public value and conceptions of worth in the public sector
- The interpretation and implementation of prescriptions of good partnership
- The politics of community engagement in urban regeneration
- The political economy of urban and regional governance
- State restructuring, sociospatial relations and state theory
Find out more about our key researchers in this area.
Main University navigation links
