My main research interests are in four areas, with various links between them: the sociology of culture (in particular music), the analysis of interaction, social theory, and processes of social stratification. Recently most of my work has been in the sociology of music. My book Sounds and Society - Themes in the Sociology of Music (Manchester University Press, 1995) was an attempt to develop the understanding of music from a distinctly sociological perspective (in contrast to perspectives emanating from cultural studies or psychology), and has generated some interest (as well as some outrage!) amongst musicologists whose own discipline is currently experiencing a 'turn to the social'. In 1995 I also published Understanding Classical Sociology: Marx, Weber and Durkheim (with John Hughes and Wes Sharrock). Currently I have a developing interest in the effect of mass car ownership and automobility on contemporary culture - a major topic which, amazingly, has been virtually neglected by sociologists.