I was trained initially as a historian (BA at York and MA at Lancaster). I became a sociologist in part by design, since I was interested in the grand theoretical questions which sociologists tend to pose, and part by luck (the Department of Sociology at Lancaster happened to have a PhD grant available!). My doctoral work, which became my first book, was on the history of the local Labour movement in Preston, Lancashire between 1880 and 1940. This specific case study contains many issues of enduring interest to me: the changing role of place, space, locality; the significance of time; and social inequality and social movements. I have been unable to shake off an enduring enthusiasm for geography (my favourite subject at school) and history.

A core concern of mine is to develop a sociology of stratification which is adequate to 21st century complexities and fluidities. This has involved me in thinking about the sociology of the middle classes which make up a large proportion of the labour force; in exploring how gender relations are being reconfigured; in thinking about how people's sense of attachment to place and locale is being reconfigured; and in supporting new and under-utilised conceptual and methodological tools for understanding social inequality, social protest and social mobility. I remain passionate about conducting empirical research, of different kinds, and am proud of CRESC’s role in championing heterodox methods which expand the social science repertoire .

Between 1995 and 2010 I worked at Manchester University (where I was head of Department between 1999-2001), and from 2004 – 2010 I was Director of the ESRC Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC). In October 2010, after five years on the Transpennine Express commuting between my home in York and Manchester, I moved to York University, but I will remain active as Visiting Fellow in CRESC and will continue to collaborate with numerous colleagues in the social sciences at Manchester.