Culture, Interaction and Knowledge: Sociology at York – Past, Present and Future

In this two day conference, Andrew Webster, current Head of Department, said that the university archives reveal that the Joseph Rowntree Trust, which played a key planning and funding role for the emergent University in the late 1950s, supported the introduction of sociology as a ‘humanities of the 20th century’.

There is no one reading of the Department’s past, present or future but what we saw over the two days provided a remarkable account of the contribution that the Department has made through all those who have worked or studied within it, whether they are here or have moved on.

Andrew Webster

This was to be a humanities that could address the social and cultural problems and dislocations that followed the postwar era. The first Department saw both a desire to undertake strongly applied research but also work that was rooted in contemporary sociological theory.

Webster argued that this was true of the department today, but one geared to a humanities of the 21st century with an agenda that sought to understand and critique current developments in culture and new media, language and interaction, gender and sexuality, and science, technology and health. Recent work on the last of these, for example, examines the implications for society of developments in the biosciences relating to genetics, stem cells and regenerative medicine.

• Read more of Andrew's personal reflections on the conference, and selected highlights