My main research interests are: 1) embodiment and the body; 2) social movements and related themes; 3) social networks and network analysis; 4) social theory and philosophy. I have recently finished a book on social movements within the mental health arena in the UK between 1950-2000 and am currently working on a book about reflexive embodiment in 'late modern' societies. Alongside this I have been doing ethnographic research on 'working out' and 'gyms', some primary survey research on 'reflexive body techniques' and some secondary data analysis on 'bodily' themes (e.g. exercise and obesity). Much of this work has been qualitative in focus but I have been centrally involved in CRESC's attempts to explore more innovative forms of quantitative analysis, including social network analysis, multi-dimensional scaling and correspondence analysis. These forms of analysis, along with more standard methods of quantitative analysis, find a (small) place in my current work and I intend to make more extensive use of them in the future.

I am currently bought out of my teaching/admin and am working full-time in CRESC. The first part of my CRESC buy out was devoted to completing my book (and related papers) on mental health movements. The second part is devoted to my work on reflexive embodiment, working out etc. This latter theme intersects with CRESC interests in a number of ways. Specifically: 1) I am interested in the social networks and social capital that form in gyms, thus intersecting with CRESC's Theme 4 ; 2) 'reflexive embodiment' has been implicated in a number of the 'grand narratives' of social change that CRESC will be subjecting to scrutiny and therefore serves as a useful focus for effecting this scrutiny. My work on social movements overlaps with the more general focus on movements within Theme 4.