Social Research Legacies: Critical Thinking in Complex Times
10:00am - 4:00pm /
Thursday 21st May 2026
/ Venue: Ground Floor - Event Space School of Law & Social Justice
Type: Conference /
Category: Department
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- Admission: Free to attend.
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What can classical social research studies teach us about current contexts? Where do the insights of mid-twentieth century social science still resonate and have things to teach us? Do contemporary perspectives - or objects of study - reveal new limitations absent from earlier accounts?
Between the 1950s and the 1970s, The Social Research Series - published by Liverpool University Press – showcased how social science could illuminate key transformations in urban life, inequality, gendered exclusion, labour, family, and crime (amongst other topics). Publishing the work of academics with links to what is now the Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology at the University of Liverpool, these ground-breaking studies did not only document the radical social changes of the day, they also developed new social scientific theories and methods to make sense of a world in flux.
In our own era of profound transformation, the series has recently been relaunched as a home for critical, innovative social science that grapples with the complexities and contradictions of contemporary life. Whereas the original series was local - dealing with how broader social transformations were reshaping the politics, economics and culture of Liverpool - the relaunched series is global in scope, although retaining the place-based case study approach, and the criticality, pioneered by predecessors.
This free one-day event marks the relaunch of the series, exploring both the enduring relevance of critical research and its evolution across generations of scholars. Academics will present research that bridges past and present; by taking a volume from the original series as a starting point, and examining its approach and key findings, contemporary social scientists will go on to discuss their own work in the field. Books from the original series will act as a way in to discussion of new ideas and projects addressing a wide range of social issues.
Overall then, this event celebrates the craft of social science: the intellectual work of questioning taken-for-granted ways of seeing the world, the political potential of critical imagination, and the illuminations that rigorous theoretical and methodological analysis can bring.
Free admission, all welcome!
Between the 1950s and the 1970s, The Social Research Series - published by Liverpool University Press – showcased how social science could illuminate key transformations in urban life, inequality, gendered exclusion, labour, family, and crime (amongst other topics). Publishing the work of academics with links to what is now the Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology at the University of Liverpool, these ground-breaking studies did not only document the radical social changes of the day, they also developed new social scientific theories and methods to make sense of a world in flux.
In our own era of profound transformation, the series has recently been relaunched as a home for critical, innovative social science that grapples with the complexities and contradictions of contemporary life. Whereas the original series was local - dealing with how broader social transformations were reshaping the politics, economics and culture of Liverpool - the relaunched series is global in scope, although retaining the place-based case study approach, and the criticality, pioneered by predecessors.
This free one-day event marks the relaunch of the series, exploring both the enduring relevance of critical research and its evolution across generations of scholars. Academics will present research that bridges past and present; by taking a volume from the original series as a starting point, and examining its approach and key findings, contemporary social scientists will go on to discuss their own work in the field. Books from the original series will act as a way in to discussion of new ideas and projects addressing a wide range of social issues.
Overall then, this event celebrates the craft of social science: the intellectual work of questioning taken-for-granted ways of seeing the world, the political potential of critical imagination, and the illuminations that rigorous theoretical and methodological analysis can bring.
Free admission, all welcome!