Page 8 - Cultural Change and Ordinary Life

Acknowledgements

This book is the product of a number of years’ work. In many respects, it
represents a summary of where I have reached in a ‘project’ that has been
going on for much of my academic life. During that period, I have engaged
in funded research and worked with colleagues who have influenced my
thinking in many ways.
First, I want to pay credit to the PhD students with whom I have worked
over the years: Jason Rutter, Eamonn Carrabine, Gaynor Bagnall, Tony Kearon,
Garry Crawford, Dan Laughey, Annemarie Money, Kath O’Connor, David
Redfern, Sylvia Hayes and Danijela Bogdanovic. They have all helped me
crystallize my ideas and challenged me to think them through. Second, I
have worked on funded research projects that exposed me to different ideas
and approaches. These are a study of middle-class lifestyles (ESRC, Lifestyles
and Social Integration: A Study of Middle Class Culture in Manchester) with
Gaynor Bagnall and Mike Savage; a project on young people and popular
music (funded by Manchester Airport, Music, Identity and Lifestyle in Con-
temporary Manchester) with Eamonn Carrabine; work on hearing, noise and
sound (EPSRC, Hearing Loss in the Built Environment: The Experience of Elderly
People) with Bill Davies, Trevor Cox, Tony Kearon and Clare Webb; and
research on social networks and political activism (ESRC, Social Capital and
Social Networks: The Careers of Political Activists) with Mike Savage, Alan Warde,
Mark Tomlinson, Gindo Tampubolon and Kath Ray. All these projects have
had major effects on the ideas in this book and I want to thank my colleagues
and, of course, those who funded the research. Third, there are my colleagues
in Sociology at the University of Salford who have listened to me and provided
many insights. Thanks are due, in particular, to Rob Flynn and Greg Smith for
these things and the support and advice during my period as Head of the
School of English, Sociology, Politics and Contemporary History. Karl Dayson
has helped me think through ideas concerning social capital. Fourth, there are
those colleagues from other universities who have helped develop the ideas
here. Foremost here I want to thank (again) Nick Abercrombie for his insight,
wisdom and very helpful comments on the first draft of this book. Conversa-
tions with David Hesmondhalgh, Nick Couldry and Pete Peterson have all
affected the approach here, as has the reading of their books and articles.