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Professor John Urry

Distinguished Professor and CeMoRe Director

Degree: BA, MA PhD Cambridge

Associated research centres and groups: Centre for Mobilities Research (CeMoRe), Lancaster Professions Network, Mobilities.Lab

Current Teaching

PhD supervision

Research Interests

Original research interests were in the sociology of power and revolution and this resulted in Reference Groups and the Theory of Revolution (1973) and Power in Britain (1973). Other early work was in the area of social theory and the philosophy of the social sciences. This resulted in the jointly written Social Theory as Science, (1975, 1982), which set out the main features of the realist philosophy of science. Critical confrontation with a number of Marxist traditions resulted in The Anatomy of Capitalist Societies (1981).

Research in the last twenty years has focused on five main areas. First, there was the urban and regional research mainly associated with the Lancaster Regionalism Group. Collaborative research resulted in Localities, Class and Gender (1985) and Restructuring. Place, Class and Gender (1990) Two particular themes have been pursued: the relationship between society and space (as in the Social Relations and Spatial Structures, co-edited with Derek Gregory, 1985); and the possibilities of developing local economic policies (as in Place, Policy and Politics, 1990).

The second area of research has been in the more general dimensions of economic and social change in western capitalist societies. This has resulted in three jointly written books, Capital, Labour and the Middle Classes (1983); The End of Organized Capitalism (1987); and Economies of Signs and Space (1994; latter two with Scott Lash).

Third, research focused upon one particular set of industries that are of particular significance in contemporary western societies, namely consumer services and especially tourist-related services, see The Tourist Gaze (1990, 2002: 2nd edn.), Consuming Places (1995), Touring Cultures (1997, edited with Chris Rojek),Tourism Mobilities(2004, edited with Mimi Sheller), and Performing Tourist Places (with J-O Barenholdt, M Haldrup, J. Larsen). This concern was extended see Contested Natures (1998) and Bodies of Nature (2001) (both with Phil Macnaghten).

Fourth, there are various research projects and publications relating to the changing nature of mobility within comtemporary societies. Publications include:

• Sociology Beyond Societies (2000)
• Automobilities (2004; co-edited with Mike Featherstone, Nigel Thrift)
• Mobile Technologies of the City (2006; co-edited with Mimi Sheller)
• Mobilities, Networks, Geographies (2006; with Jonas Larsen, Kay Axhausen)
• Mobilities (2007)
• Aeromobilities (2009; with Saulo Cwerner and Sven Kesselring)
• After the Car (2009; with Kingsley Dennis)

Finally, some implications of complexity theory for the social sciences have been examined in Global Complexity (2003), and Complexity, a special double issue of Theory, Culture and Society (2005).

He is one of the founding editors of the journal Mobilities, and has been the editor of the International Library of Sociology since 1990 (Routledge).

Research Grants

• UK-China Networks of Low Carbon Innovation (ESRC) with Brian Wynne, James Wilsdon and David Tyfield
• Travel Time Use in the Information Age (EPSRC), with Glenn Lyons, Juliet Jain, Laura Watts.
• Alternative Automobility Futures, with Kingsley Dennis

He is also a Principal Investigator for the Advanced Instituted for Management Research (AIM) Targeted Initiative on Innovation

View on-line papers by author

View on-line papers by topic

Potential Doctoral Proposals

mobilities, complexity theory, tourism, transportation, contemporary capitalism, climate change and social science

Additional Information

Administration

Head of the Lancaster Sociology Department (1983-9)

Dean of the Lancaster Faculty of Social Sciences (1989-1994)

Lancaster Dean of Research (1994-1998)

Director of the Centre for Mobiliteis Research at Lancaster (2003-)

Chair of HEFCE's Research Assessment Exercise Sociology Panel (1996, 2001).

Chair of Events Committee and member of executive committe and council, Academy of Social Sciences (2006-)

Research Students

Dana Bentia - Travelling tastes

Paula Bialski - Connecting When Mobile: How physical mobility is shifting how we interact, with whom, and why

Allison Hui - Enthusiastic Travel: Crafting the mobilities and travelling practices of enthusiasts and enthusiasms

Kichan Lee -

Misela Mavric - Bodily Performances of the Authentic

Sung-Yueh Perng - Media and Tourism

Basak Tanülkü - Gated communities in Istanbul, Turkey

James Tomasson - Rural heritage

Polly Atkins - Dove Cottage, Grasmere

Joe Rigby - Terror and Circulation: Border Practices in the War on Terror

ePrints Publications Repository

John Urry has 62 publication records in the Lancaster University ePrints repository. Use links to access abstracts and full text where available. View all records to sort by date, type and title.

Associated Keywords: Automobilities, Migration and diaspora, Mobilities, Social exclusion, Sociology, Systems theory

View all research activities, news and events associated with John Urry.

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