Baptiste Brossard
Senior Lecturer

Profile

Biography

I am Senior Lecturer in Sociology, specialising in critical mental health.

I studied sociology, anthropology and history in France, at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) and Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris, before taking up a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Montreal. I was then appointed to my first faculty position at the Australian National University in 2016 and joined the Department of Sociology at the University of York in 2022.

I received several awards including the Young Researcher Award of the Fondation pour le lien social (France, 2014) and the Kathy Charmaz Early-in-Career Award of the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction (USA, 2021).

Research

Overview

Most of my research consist of examining mental health-related phenomena, such as self-harm, trauma or suicide, from a sociological and critical perspective. I work at the crossroad of micro-sociology (inspired by symbolic interactionism and Goffman), critical sociology (influenced by Bourdieu’s approach to embodiment and social positioning) and historical sociology (eg Elias and long-term processes).

My last book, Explaining Mental Illness (with Amy Chandler, Bristol University Press, 2022), offers a critical assessment of the sociology of mental health, and was shortlisted for the 2023 Best Book Award of the Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness. My forthcoming book, Trauma in Social life (Polity, 2026), proposes a sociological and critical perspective to trauma. 

Publications

Selected publications

• Brossard, B., 2026. Trauma in Social Life. Cambridge: Polity.
• Brossard, B. and Garrec, I., 2026. Suicide Prevention Under Austerity: The Local Shaping of Referral Practices in French Primary Care. Sociology of Health & Illness, 48(6), p.e70223.
• Brossard, B., 2024. Eloquent Blood: A Historical Microsociology of Blushing. Sociology, 58(6), pp.1263-1280.
• Brossard, B., Roy, M., Brown, J., Hemmings, B. and Larocque, E., 2023. On the social existence of mental health categories: The case of sex addiction. Social Problems, spad024.
• Brossard, B. and Amy Chandler. 2022. Explaining Mental Illness. Bristol: Bristol University Press.
• Brossard, B., 2019. Why mental disorders flourish and wither: Extending the theory of ecological niches. Social Science & Medicine, 237, 112445.
• Brossard, B. 2018. Why do We Hurt Ourselves: Understanding Self-Harm in Social Life. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press.

Teaching

Overview

I mainly teach the sociology of mental health, critical approaches to psychology, the sociology of emotions, qualitative methods, and the colonial history of psychiatry. 

I convene the modules Contemporary Investigations in Social Psychology, as well as Global Justice, Health and Well-being. I also intervene in Creative Alternatives in Social Psychology; Critical Approaches to Social Psychology; Theorising the Social World; Cultivating a Sociological Imagination.

Supervision

PhD supervision (ongoing)

• Amelia Austin, University of York
• Joe Baker, University of York
• Maelle Nouaille, Université Versaille St Quentin

PhD supervision (completed)

• Beata Szulecka, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Benjamin Hemmings, Australian National University
• Susannah French, Australian National University
• Christopher Chevalier, Australian National University

External Activity

Overview

I am the co-convener of the British Sociological Association’s Mental Health Study Group and serve on the editorial boards of Sociology, Critical Gambling Studies, and Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry.