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Beverley Skeggs is a British sociologist, noted as one of the foremost feminist sociologists in the world. Currently, she works as a "Distinguished Professor" in the Sociology Department at
Lancaster University , mottoeng = Truth lies open to all , established = , endowment = £13.9 million , budget = £317.9 million , type = Public , city = Bailrigg, City of Lancaster , country = England , coor = , campus = Bailrigg , faculty = ...
, developing a Center for Social Inequalities in the North West of England. She continues to run the "Economics of Care" theme at the International Inequalities centre at the London School of Economics (LSE) and is a visiting professor at Goldsmiths University. She has been the head of two of the UK’s leading Sociology Departments, at the
University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
and Goldsmiths, as well as co-director of Lancaster's Women's Studies. In addition, she played a part in transforming Britain's oldest sociology journal, ''
The Sociological Review ''The Sociological Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of sociology, including anthropology, criminology, philosophy, education, gender, medicine, and organization. The journal is published by SAGE Publicatio ...
'', into an independent foundation devoted to opening up critical social science and supporting social scientists.


Life and career

Skeggs was born in
Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the are ...
, a post-industrial town on the south bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire. She studied an undergraduate degree in Sociology at the
University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...
(BA) and went on to study further at
Keele University Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, Keele ...
, where she obtained a PGCE and PhD.


Career history

She has worked at Crewe and Alsager College of Higher Education (Research Fellow), Worcester College of Higher Education (Sociology),
University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...
(Education and Women's Studies). From 1996 to 1999, she was a Director of Women's Studies at
Lancaster University , mottoeng = Truth lies open to all , established = , endowment = £13.9 million , budget = £317.9 million , type = Public , city = Bailrigg, City of Lancaster , country = England , coor = , campus = Bailrigg , faculty = ...
(with Celia Lury). In 1999, she was appointed to a Chair in Sociology at the
University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
, where she was Head of Department from 2001 to 2004. Since 2004, she has been a Professor of Sociology at
Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...
, as Head of Department from 2010-2013. During 2007, she was the Kerstin Hesselgren Professor in Gender Studies at
Stockholm University Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, soci ...
. In 2003, she was elected as an Academician of the Academy of the Learned Societies for the Social Sciences. Professor Skeggs was an honorary professor at the
University of Warwick , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020� ...
, and has received honorary doctorates from Stockholm University, Aalborg University and the University of Teesside (her hometown). In June 2019, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Joensuu, Eastern Finland. She was the joint managing editor of the journal ''The Sociological Review'' from 2011 to 2016, now as European 'editor at large'. From 2013 to 2016, she held an ESRC Professorial Fellowship to study a "sociology of values and value". In September 2017, she became the Academic Director of the Atlantic Fellows programme at the London School of Economics and moved to take up a "Distinguished Professor" post at Lancaster University in May 2019.


Key studies


''Formations of Class and Gender: Becoming Respectable'' (1997)

Beverley Skeggs is the author of the influential study ''Formations of Class and Gender: Becoming Respectable'' (1997), a longitudinal ethnography of subjectivity across the lives of women as they move from 'caring courses' to work and family, into sexuality and how they negotiate living class in the UK. ''Formations'' was translated into Swedish as: ''Att Bli Respektabel'' (2000), Stockholm: Diadalos. Translated into French as ''Des Femmes Respectables; Class et Genre en Milieu Populaire'' (2015) (translated by Marie-Pierre Pouly, Preface by Anne-Marie Devereux. The understandings of class in ''Formations'' were developed in ''Class, Self, Culture'' (2004), which critiques the idea of the self and explores the different ways class circulates as a form of value as it attaches to different bodies. Examining the production of values across a range of different sites, such as the IMF, popular culture and academic theory, it puts to the test sociological theories which suggest that class is in decline. ''Class, Self, Culture'' was translated into Finnish (2013) as ''Elava Luokka'' (Making and Living sukupuolityylit Class) by Anu Hanna Antilla, Lauri Lahikainen and Mikko Jakonen Helsinki: Vastapaino Press. Skeggs' understanding of how the self is classed is developed through engagement with the works of
Pierre Bourdieu Pierre Bourdieu (; 1 August 1930 – 23 January 2002) was a French sociologist and public intellectual. Bourdieu's contributions to the sociology of education, the theory of sociology, and sociology of aesthetics have achieved wide influence i ...
. In ''Feminism After Bourdieu,'' co-edited with Lisa Adkins, feminists address Bourdieu's ideas on reflexivity, emotional capital, the self and the social and their relation to gender. Skeggs explores affect and the self alongside an introduction to Bourdieu. Her methodological approach was first elaborated in ''Feminist Cultural Theory: Production and Process'' (1995), an edited collection that brings together feminists from across disciplines (literature, film, design, media, law, sociology) to discuss how they went about producing their classic texts in
cultural studies Cultural studies is an interdisciplinary field that examines the political dynamics of contemporary culture (including popular culture) and its historical foundations. Cultural studies researchers generally investigate how cultural practices r ...
. In 1998 at Lancaster University, a group of feminists (of which Beverley Skeggs was a part) organised an international conference on feminist theory. The resulting book ''Transformations: Thinking Through Feminism'' (edited with
Sara Ahmed Sara Ahmed (30 August 1969) is a British-Australian writer and scholar whose area of study includes the intersection of feminist theory, lesbian feminism, queer theory, affect theory, critical race theory and postcolonialism. Her seminal wor ...
, Celia Lury, Jane Kilby and Maureen McNeil) includes chapters by Lauren Berlant,
Gayatri Spivak Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (born 24 February 1942) is an Indian scholar, literary theorist, and feminist critic. She is a University Professor at Columbia University and a founding member of the establishment's Institute for Comparative L ...
,
Donna Haraway Donna J. Haraway is an American Professor Emerita in the History of Consciousness Department and Feminist Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a prominent scholar in the field of science and technology studies. S ...
,
Elspeth Probyn Elspeth Probyn (born 1958) is an Australian academic. She is currently Professor of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and Fellow of the Academy of Social Science ...
and
Vikki Bell Vikki is a given name. It can be a nickname for the given name Victoria. Notable people with the name include: * Vikki, a UK singer in the 1985 Eurovision Song Contest, now known as Aeone * Vikki Bunce (born 1983), field hockey forward * Vikki Carr ...
. The conference also spawned Routledge's "Transformations" series, which includes a wide range of volumes on feminist theory, including the works of
Kirsten Campbell Kirsten is both a given name and a surname. Given name Kirsten is a female given name. It is a Scandinavian form of the names Christina and Christine.Breda Grey Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...
,
Ann Cronin Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in th ...
and
Steph Lawler Steph is often a short form of the feminine given name Stephanie and its other variants, or the masculine given name Stephen. Women * Steph Catley (born 1994), Australian footballer * Steph Cook (born 1972), Scottish retired pentathlete and 2000 Ol ...
. A large-scale government funded ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) research project with Professor
Leslie Moran Leslie may refer to: * Leslie (name), a name and list of people with the given name or surname, including fictional characters Families * Clan Leslie, a Scottish clan with the motto "grip fast" * Leslie (Russian nobility), a Russian noble family ...
, Paul Tyrer and Karen Corteen examined the sustainability and experience of gay space, resulting in the book ''Sexuality and the Politics of Violence and Safety''. The book explores how violence can be used as a resource in political claims-making. It also brings together innovative multi-methods, including a census space survey and citizen's inquiries, alongside traditional interviews and focus groups. The idea of gender and sexuality as resources that can be deployed, fixed or attached is developed in the article 'Uneasy Alignments, Resourcing Respectable Subjectivity'. Numerous publications were generated from the sexuality project.


''Making Class and Self through Televised Ethical Scenarios'' 2005–2008

Another large ESRC research project was conducted by Skeggs (with Helen Wood, Leicester University and Nancy Thumin, Leeds University) between 2005–2008 on the making of a moral economy through reality TV, ''Making Class and Self through Televised Ethical Scenarios''. This project brings together many of the threads already apparent in Professor Skeggs' research, including the making of the exchange-value self, the emphasis that is placed on performing and telling one's self as a source of value and the class and race based challenges that are made through the construction of an alternative moral value system. This research project was part of a much larger research programme, 'Identities,' an ESRC £7million investigation into identity construction in contemporary Britain. Professor Skeggs delivered one of the inaugural lectures for the programme. A significant methodological contribution was made by this project, which by using a multi-method approach that combined textual analysis with audience research developed the 'affective textual encounter' for studying audience responses. This method showed how class, gender and race relations are made in the research encounter when women authorize their own speech through recourse to cultural resources such as 'taste' and maternal authority (this is developed in their article on method in the 2008 European Journal of Cultural Studies and the ESRC research report). The research participant's authorization of particular moral economies was closely related to their positions in circuits of value, positions which cut through, disturb and constitute gender, race and class. It has been published as 'Reacting to Reality TV; Audience, Performance and Value'(with Helen Wood). The research also led to an international edited collection on 'Reality Television and Class' (also with Helen Wood) published by BFI/Palgrave. Numerous articles have been published on this project. Her most recent work consolidates the prior analysis of the relationship between value and values, leading to the development of ideas about the moral economy of person production. She developed the idea of 'person value' following a critique of Bourdieu and an exploration of how ideology is produced through "value struggles".


Values and Value 2013–2017

In September 2013, Skeggs began an ESRC Professorial Fellowship on "A Sociology of Values and Value". You can hear her discuss her introductory framework for the British Journal of Sociology annual lecture. The ESRC Values and Value project began as a study of what happens when economic value is accumulated from spheres previously considered non-economic such as social network platforms and prosperity theology. For instance,
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
makes considerable economic gain from commodifying friendship through the algorithmic conversion of "likes" into advertising sales. Does this process reconfigure the value/s of friendship? What happens to values such as loyalty and care in this conversion? Do friends capitalize upon their own value? Using software designed by Dr Simon Yuill, this research installed a plug in on volunteers' browsers to collect all data over six months. It found that Facebook constantly tracks people whether they are on the Facebook platform or not. Digital friendliness is conducted through rhythms of interaction driven by algorithms. These algorithms artificially stimulate the intensity of exchange with "people of influence", that is you are more likely to be connected to those on your newsfeed who have power and influence than those who have none. However, with prosperity theology research, conducted through ethnography, the project found that prosperity theology doesn’t just connect people into the faith of money but also provides a social service for marginalized communities. Research papers include: The methodology of a multi-model project examining how Facebook infrastructures social relations. And Capital experimentation with person/a formation: how Facebook's monetization refigures the relationship between property, personhood and protest. In this project software is used alongside quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate the digital production of new forms of inequality. See presentation for the Helsinki Anthropology/SR "Knots" conference "A new regime of accumulation? Tying in and tying up, tracking relations on Facebook". The final symposium of the conference is available on the ''Sociological Review'' website.


Further contributions

In 2016, (with Mike Savage, Sociology, LSE) Beverley Skeggs established The Sociological Review Foundation as a charity and community organisation to support interdisciplinary social science activities, especially support for ECR's: see. The charity operates alongside the UK's oldest sociological journal. Skeggs has been debating issues of class throughout her career. She edited a special issue on "Sociologies of Class: Elites (GBCS) and Critiques" (2015), with an introduction on "Stratification or exploitation, domination, dispossession and devaluation?" This developed from her critique of the GBCS on BBC Radio 4's "Thinking Allowed". And her response to Mike Savage's inaugural lecture at the LSE on "The Old New Politics of Class". At the International Sociological Association conference in 2015 she responded to Michael Burawoy in a debate about Gramsci and Bourdieu, "Roots of domination".


Public interventions

Skeggs can be heard reflecting on the analysis of her ''Formations of Class and Gender; Becoming Respectable'' book. An interview about the reality television research can be heard on
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...
's ''Thinking Allowed''.
Julie Burchill Julie Burchill (born 3 July 1959) is an English writer. Beginning as a staff writer at the ''New Musical Express'' at the age of 17, she has since contributed to newspapers such as ''The Daily Telegraph'', ''The Sunday Times'' and ''The Guardia ...
interviewed Skeggs for the Sky TV programmes ''Chavs'' (2005) and ''Girl Power'' (2007) (see YouTube). She has also appeared in contributions to popular debates, such as the 1998 Channel 4 TV programme on 'Things to Come', exploring (with a comic twist) the future role of women. The BBC's ''Thinking Allowed'' radio programme covered her work in 2003, 2008 and where she has also discussed 'class and Christmas', 'cruel optimism', 'moral economies' and 'everyday life' (with
Les Back Les Back (born 17 December 1962) is a professor of sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London and an author. Biography Les Back was born in Croydon in south London and studied at both undergraduate and postgraduate level at Goldsmiths, Univer ...
in 2016. She was a judge for the BSA/BBC Radio 4 ethnography prize in 2015. ''A Guide to the Modern Snob'', BBC Radio 4 (2016) features Skeggs, as does ''Objects of Desire'', BBC Radio 4 (2016), where Matthew Sweet explores how the things people accumulate say more than expected about who they are. Skeggs joined a panel presentation as part of the Former West Public Editorial Meeting (2015) on Who is a "People?" Constructions of the "We" for formerwest.org/. In a day devoted to "Following in the Tracks of Richard Hoggart", she gave a presentation of the significant connections between Hoggart and other ethnographic work on class. Beverley Skeggs gave a keynote lecture at the Pits and Perverts Revisited event @ Law Department, Birkbeck. 2015. In 2016 she engaged in a public debate with
Lenny Henry Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British actor, comedian, singer, television presenter and writer. Henry gained success as a stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in ''The Lenn ...
, Pat Younge and
Dawn Foster Dawn Hayley Foster (12 September 1986 – 9 July 2021) was an Irish-British journalist, broadcaster, and author writing predominantly on social affairs, politics, economics and women's rights. Foster held staff writer positions at ''Inside Housi ...
on "A Future for Public Service Television: Content and Platforms in a Digital World".http://www.futureoftv.org.uk www.futureoftv.org.uk "Are You Being Heard? Representing Britain on TV for the public inquiries into the future of public TV. See Are You Being Heard? Transcript, 22 March 2016. See also #FutureofTV @Tvinquiry


Key publications

*''The Media (Issues in Sociology)'' (with John Mundy) (1992), Thomas Nelson () *''Feminist Cultural Theory: Production and Process'' (1995) (ed.), Manchester: Manchester University Press *''Formations of Class and Gender: Becoming Respectable'' (1997), London: Sage () *''Transformations: Thinking through Feminism'' (ed. with Sara Ahmed, Jane Kilby, Celia Lury and Maureen McNeil) (2000), Routledge () *''Class, Self, Culture'' (2004), London: Routledge () *''Sexuality and the Politics of Violence and Safety'' (with Leslie Moran) (2003), London: Routledge () *''Feminism after Bourdieu'' (with Lisa Adkins) (2005) Oxford. Wiley-Blackwell (Sociological Review Series) ()
''The Politics of Imagination: Keeping Open, Curious and Critical''
with Joanna Latimer, Special Issue of ''Sociological Review'' (2011) August 59,3.
''Reality Television and Class''
ed. with Helen Wood (includes 17 chapters). London: BFI/Palgrave (2011) () *''Reacting to Reality Television: Audience, Performance and Value'' (co-authored with Helen Wood) London: Routledge (2012) () Publications on Beverley Skeggs *''Thinking with Beverley Skeggs'' (edited by Annika Olsson) Stockholm: Stockholm University Press (2008) (), pp. 105. *''Arvostus ja Vastarinta'' (an interview with Beverley Skeggs) Aivojen yhteistyon muisti vihkot. Helsinki. Translated Mikko Jakonen. (978-952-92-4508-6). pp. 40 (http://www.megafoni.org)
''Interview on Respectability and Resistance with Beverley Skeggs''
(2006) *''Tornhill, Sophie and Tollin, Katharina ‘On the economy of Moralism and Working-class Properness: An interview with Beverley Skeggs about Feminism, Respectability and Use-Value’, in ''Fronesis: a Journal of Marxism and Feminism'' (2008) pp. 25–26. Also i


References


External links


Goldsmiths: Department of Sociology: Bev Skeggs BA PhD PGCEYou Are Being Tracked, Evaluated and Sold: an analysis of digital inequalities
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skeggs, Beverley Living people Year of birth missing (living people) British sociologists Alumni of the University of York Alumni of Keele University Academics of Goldsmiths, University of London Academics of Lancaster University Academics of the University of Manchester Women's studies academics People from Middlesbrough