Pasts-Presents-Futures of Social Science: Marking 120 Years
9:45am - 4:45pm /
Thursday 22nd January 2026
/ Venue: Ground Floor, Event Space School of Law & Social Justice
Type: Conference /
Category: Department
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- Admission: Free to attend but registration is required. If you are registering for an online ticket, the link will be sent to you before the event.
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Social Science Pasts-Presents-Futures: Marking 120 Years of The Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology
Hybrid Event
What responsibilities does social science carry in a world of deepening inequality, violence, and division? How do we meaningfully build knowledge together - across universities, communities, and lived experiences - rather than just extracting it? What does it mean to think critically when the ground keeps shifting beneath us? How do we make sense of societies fracturing along lines both familiar and new, and the radically uneven implications of such?
Join us for a day of cutting-edge presentations addressing these urgent questions; speakers will reflect on studies of social inequalities of race and gender, of knowledge production and the criminal justice system, and of the specific ways that broader political and economic patterns are manifest in Liverpool. Their presentations will spark discussions about the role of sociology, social policy, and criminology in understanding and responding to the challenges we face collectively at the current conjuncture.
This event marks over 120 years since Eleanor Rathbone and Elisabeth Macadam founded what is now the Department of Sociology, Criminology and Social Policy at the University of Liverpool. Rather than uncritical celebration though, the day offers a chance for reflection on what social science has been, what it is, and what it might become.
As a department we think that social science is needed now more than ever, and we want to develop and share spaces in which critical thinking can be developed, shared, and communicated as widely as possible and practicable. On the day, we will be launching a year-long programme of free, accessible events that are driven by curiosity about how society works and how it could be different. Throughout 2026 and beyond, we will host public lectures, walking tours, discussion groups, and seminars (full details will be made available on the day); we really hope you will be interested in being involved in some or all of them).
So, for this event we invite academic colleagues, students, and the wider community to join us not simply as audience but as collaborators in these critical conversations. We hope to see you there!
Speakers
Professor Wendy Bottero (School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester)
Paul Doke, School of Law and Justice Studies (Liverpool John Moores University)
Professor Catherine Durose (Heseltine Institute of Public Policy Practice and Place, University of Liverpool)
Dr Paul Jones (Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology, University of Liverpool)
Professor Shadd Maruna (Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology, University of Liverpool)
Dr Kirsty Morrin (Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology, University of Liverpool)
Dr Sam Wetherell (Department of History, York University)
Professor Stephen A. Small (Department of African American Studies, University of California, Berkeley)
Hybrid Event
What responsibilities does social science carry in a world of deepening inequality, violence, and division? How do we meaningfully build knowledge together - across universities, communities, and lived experiences - rather than just extracting it? What does it mean to think critically when the ground keeps shifting beneath us? How do we make sense of societies fracturing along lines both familiar and new, and the radically uneven implications of such?
Join us for a day of cutting-edge presentations addressing these urgent questions; speakers will reflect on studies of social inequalities of race and gender, of knowledge production and the criminal justice system, and of the specific ways that broader political and economic patterns are manifest in Liverpool. Their presentations will spark discussions about the role of sociology, social policy, and criminology in understanding and responding to the challenges we face collectively at the current conjuncture.
This event marks over 120 years since Eleanor Rathbone and Elisabeth Macadam founded what is now the Department of Sociology, Criminology and Social Policy at the University of Liverpool. Rather than uncritical celebration though, the day offers a chance for reflection on what social science has been, what it is, and what it might become.
As a department we think that social science is needed now more than ever, and we want to develop and share spaces in which critical thinking can be developed, shared, and communicated as widely as possible and practicable. On the day, we will be launching a year-long programme of free, accessible events that are driven by curiosity about how society works and how it could be different. Throughout 2026 and beyond, we will host public lectures, walking tours, discussion groups, and seminars (full details will be made available on the day); we really hope you will be interested in being involved in some or all of them).
So, for this event we invite academic colleagues, students, and the wider community to join us not simply as audience but as collaborators in these critical conversations. We hope to see you there!
Speakers
Professor Wendy Bottero (School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester)
Paul Doke, School of Law and Justice Studies (Liverpool John Moores University)
Professor Catherine Durose (Heseltine Institute of Public Policy Practice and Place, University of Liverpool)
Dr Paul Jones (Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology, University of Liverpool)
Professor Shadd Maruna (Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology, University of Liverpool)
Dr Kirsty Morrin (Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology, University of Liverpool)
Dr Sam Wetherell (Department of History, York University)
Professor Stephen A. Small (Department of African American Studies, University of California, Berkeley)