Dr Brittany Ralph

Personal Statement

Brittany joined the Department as Lecturer in Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology in 2023, shortly after completing her PhD at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Her expertise lies in the sociological study of men and masculinities, with a particular focus on the prospects for and mechanics of socio-positive change.

To this end, her doctoral thesis offers a feminist poststructuralist account of intergenerational change and continuity in Australian men's friendships, which will be published as a monograph by Palgrave Macmillan in late 2023. Alongside this, she has been involved in projects that examine the nature of men's drinking cultures, the effectiveness of ‘healthier masculinities’ intervention programmes, and the risk and protective factors for men’s (dis)engagement with family violence perpetrator behaviour change programs. Her current research agenda builds on this by focusing on spaces where socio-positive change is yet to occur, including, though not limited to, gender-based violence and crime.

Her work has been published in leading journals including Men and Masculinities, The Journal of Sociology, The British Journal of Sociology, and NORMA, as well as promising, small-scale specialised journals including the Journal of Bodies, Sexualities and Masculinities (forthcoming). She is also a co-editor of the forthcoming Research Handbook for the Sociology of Gender, which is due to be published by Edward Elgar in early 2024.

She is keen to collaborate on or supervise projects that align with any of the above topics, or that more broadly examine:
1) Positive change in masculinities, and how this can be effectively theorised
2) The continuity of traditional masculine norms, and how this intersects with experiences of class and race/ethnicity to produce particular patterns of criminality, victimisation and (over)policing.