Profile

Biography

• PhD (London)
• BA, MA (Warwick)

Nicholas was born in Brighton in 1971. He grew up in North London before studying for a BA in Sociology and an MA in Social and Political Thought at the University of Warwick (1990-95). He returned to London to study for a PhD on Max Weber and Postmodern Theory, which he completed in 1999.

Nicholas lectured part-time at London Guildhall University, City University, Pepperdine University and Goldsmiths College before joining the Department at York in 2002. In December 2004, he left York to work at Brunel University , but re-joined the Department in September 2006.

Nicholas is a board member of Theory, Culture and Society, and edited the Theory, Culture and Society Annual Review (PDF , 93kb) from 2006 to 2009.

Research

Overview

Classical and Contemporary Social Theory

I convene a first year undergraduate module entitled Contemporary Social Theory: Key Themes and also contribute lectures to the modules Classical Sociological Theory: Key Thinkers and Themes and Issues in Contemporary Sociology . I am interested in the historical roots of sociology (particularly the work of Max Weber) as well as more contemporary forms of postmodern and post-structuralist thought.

• For an overview of my interests in these areas, see this interview with David Beer.

Sociology of Culture

I contribute to a second year undergraduate module entitled Popular Culture and co-teach an MA module on Contemporary Cultural Sociology . I am interested in the sociology of culture as informed by the work of Max Weber, and also in debates about the commodification and globalization of contemporary culture. I am also concerned with analysing the ways through which culture is mediated by new communication technologies such as the Internet – an area of study that might loosely be called ‘cultural informatics’.

New Media

My research addresses the ways in which digital technologies are transforming everyday life, and in the theories and concepts needed to make sense of the so-called digital age. In particular, I am interested in the movement of concepts between computer science, media theory and sociology – concepts such as network, information, interface, simulation and interactivity. This is the subject of a book I have recently written with David Beer entitled New Media: Key Concepts (Berg, 2008). I am also interested in the connection between information and material structures such as bodies and cities, and in recent debates over the idea of the ‘posthuman’.

Supervision

I currently supervise the following doctoral students:

• Daryl Martin, The practice of everyday life along the M62: in-between the space of flows and the space of places
• Beverly Geesin, Resistance to surveillance in the workplace
• Sheila Kendrick, A re-evaluation of the moral value of social engineering in the light of new biotechnologie s
• David Hill, Ethical and geographical proximity in the information society
• Victoria Wilkinson, Online Archives: Transparency and Open Government

Publications

Selected publications

• ‘Concepts and the “New” Empiricism’. European Journal of Social Theory, 12, 1, February 2009, pp.83-97.
• New Media: Key Concepts . Oxford: Berg, pb. ISBN 1-845-20133-7, hb. ISBN 1-845-20132-9, forthcoming 2008 (co-authored with David Beer).
• ‘The Postmodern: After the (Non-)Event’, in P.Goulimari (ed.) Postmodernism. What Moment? Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007, pp.127-38 (co-authored with Mike Gane).
• ‘Friedrich Kittler: An Introduction’. Theory, Culture and Society , 23, 7/8, 2006,pp.5-16 (co-authored with Geoffrey Winthrop-Young).
• ‘When We Have Never Been Human, What Is to Be Done?: Interview with Donna Haraway’ Theory, Culture and Society , 23, 7/8, 2006, pp.135-158.
• ‘Geodemographics, Software and Class’, Sociology, 40, 5, 2006, pp.793-812 (co-authored with Roger Burrows). Winner of the Sage Prize for Innovation and/or Excellence.
• ‘Speed-up or Slow Down?: Social Theory in the Information Age’. Information, Communication and Society, 9, 1, 2006, pp.20-38.
• ‘Max Weber as Social Theorist: “Class, Status, Party”’. European Journal of Social Theory, 8, 2, 2005, pp.211-26.
• Umberto Eco (Three Volumes). London: Sage (Masters in Modern Social Thought series), 2005. ISBN 1-412-90174-X (co-edited with Mike Gane).
• The Future of Social Theory . London and New York : Continuum, 2004, 210pp. ISBN 0-826470661 (pb.), ISBN 0-826470653 (hb.).
• Roland Barthes (Three Volumes). London : Sage (Masters in Modern Social Thought series), 2004, 357pp, 389pp, 380pp. ISBN 0-7619-4952-6 (co-edited with Mike Gane).
• ‘Computerized Capitalism: The Media Theory of Jean-François Lyotard’. Information, Communication and Society, 6, 3, 2003, pp.430-50.
• Max Weber and Postmodern Theory: Rationalization Versus Re-enchantment . Basingstoke : Palgrave, 2002, 194pp., hb., ISBN 0-333-93058. Short-listed for the 2003 BSA Philip Abrams Prize. Reprinted in paperback edition, 2004, ISBN 1-4039-4116-5.