In October this year, Mike Savage left the University of Manchester to take up a new post at the University of York. This conference is being held to celebrate Mike’s 15-year career as Professor of Sociology at Manchester, during which his seminal contributions to British Social Science have marked him out as one of the UK’s leading sociologists. The conference programme includes invited papers from friends and colleagues, all prominent in their own fields, who have been in conversation with Mike’s work over the years.