Professor Matt Dawson

Professor of Sociology (Sociological & Cultural Studies)

telephone: 01413305169
email: Matt.Dawson@glasgow.ac.uk

College of Social Sciences, School of Social & Political Sciences, Room 1012, Adam Smith Building, Glasgow, G12 8QQ

Research interests

Social theory
Sociological alternatives
Zygmunt Bauman
Émile Durkheim
G.D.H. Cole
History of sociology
Normativity
Sociology of Intellectuals

My research is theoretical in focus, including questions of the history of sociology, normativity, socialism and politics. I was inspired into sociology by the work of Zygmunt Bauman and he continues to fire my sociological imagination. In addition to teaching an Honours course on Bauman I have published multiple comments on his work touching on themes of: modernity, politics, socialism, his relation to Freud, method, jewishness, eurocentrism, agency, morality and the value of sociology. I plan to continue to be inspired by, and write on, Bauman for many years to come.

My latest book is entitled G.D.H. Cole and British Sociology: A Study in Semi-Alienation (2024, Palgrave Macmillan). This brings together two of my research interests in putting the work of the great socialist intellectual G.D.H. Cole into discussion with the history of sociology in the UK. Here my argument is that Cole, a scholar who was so welcoming to sociology and employed a clear sociological perspective in his work, confronted a form of the discipline hostile to his normative focus and thus he experienced a sense of 'semi-alienation' from the discipline. Based partly on archival work, the book is also an attempt to draw attention to British sociology from 1920-1960, which has currently received much less focus in the historical literature that the periods before and after.

I have also conducted work on Émile Durkheim and published The Political Durkheim: Sociology, Socialism and Legacies (2023, Routledge). This is a collection of essays, half previously published and half newly written for this text, which present Durkheim as a political sociologist, committed to a vision of what I classify as libertarian socialism. The book also considers the legacies of the Political Durkheim, including discussing the postcolonial critique of his work via questioning 'was Durkheim white?'. You can listen to a podcast about the book here.

I have also wrote on the history of what I call 'sociological alternatives' (sociologists offering ideas for alternative societies). This includes the publication of a book entitled Social Theory for Alternative Societies (2016, Bloomsbury). Thinkers covered in this work include: Marx and Engels, Durkheim, Weber, Du Bois, Mead, Mannheim, Lefebvre, Marcuse, Selma James, Oakley, Dworkin, Giddens, Beck, Levitas, E.O. Wright, Burawoy and Bauman. You can listen to a podcast about the book here. I also wrote a chapter on this topic, bringing in Geddes and Branford, in the festchrift for my colleague John Eldridge for which I was very grateful to be one of the co-editors, see Stretching the Sociological Imagination: Essays in Honour of John Eldridge (2015, Palgrave Macmillan).

My earliest work focused on socialist theory, most notably discussing the potential of libertarian socialism for late modern times in my monograph Late Modernity, Individualization and Socialism: An Associational Critique of Neoliberalism (2013, Palgrave Macmillan) as well as articles on the aforementioned socialist elements of Durkheim's project and Cole's libertarian socialism.

Finally, in collaboration with Susie Scott and Liz McDonnell (both from the University of Sussex), I also conducted research into asexuality. This was for a project entitled A Qualitative Exploration of Asexual Identities and Practices of Intimacy funded by the Leverhulme Trust. This project produced a collection of articles on asexuality related to themes such as identity, intimacy, politics and methods.

Research groups

Sociology

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2010 | 2009

Number of items: 58.

2025

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2025) Marxism on Musk: reflections on Baum et al’s ‘Twenty-First Century Alienation and Health'. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 79, pp. 477-478. (doi: 10.1136/jech-2025-223762) (PMID:40185615)

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2025) Harold Laski, the Reluctant Marxist: Socialist Democracy for a World in Turmoil, by Peter Lamb. History of European Ideas, 51(4), pp. 960-961. (doi: 10.1080/01916599.2024.2430950)[Book Review]

2024

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2024) G.D.H. Cole and British Sociology: A Study in Semi-Alienation. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham. ISBN 9783031754838 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-75484-5)

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2024) A sociologist in the Lords: the parliamentary career of Anthony Giddens. International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, (doi: 10.1007/s10767-024-09499-w) (Early Online Publication)

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2024) The Posthumous Bauman: a review essay. Thesis Eleven, (Accepted for Publication)

2023

Stulikova, Hana and Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2023) Stretching the double hermeneutic: a critical examination of lay meanings of ‘emotional labour’. Sociological Research Online, 28(4), pp. 1130-1148. (doi: 10.1177/13607804221138578)

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2023) The iron cage of efficiency: analytics, basketball and the logic of modernity. Sport in Society, 26(11), pp. 1785-1801. (doi: 10.1080/17430437.2023.2208040)

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2023) Zygmunt Bauman and the Theory of Culture. European Journal of Social Theory, 26(4), pp. 615-619. (doi: 10.1177/13684310231168551)[Book Review]

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2023) A Freudian without Psychology: the influence of Sigmund Freud on Zygmunt Bauman’s sociology. In: Jacobsen, Michael Hviid (ed.) The Anthem Companion to Zygmunt Bauman. Series: Anthem Companions to Sociology. Anthem Press: London, pp. 41-58. ISBN 9781839988745

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2023) The Political Durkheim: Sociology, Socialism, Legacies. Routledge. ISBN 9780367894436

2022

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2022) 'Durkheim and After: The Durkheimian Tradition, 1893-2020' by Philip Smith. Thesis Eleven, 169(1), pp. 117-121. (doi: 10.1177/07255136221089127)[Book Review]

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2022) Durkheim and the possible connections between social theory and colonialism. Journal of Classical Sociology, 22(4), pp. 416-422. (doi: 10.1177/1468795X221105713)

2021

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2021) Whiteness, Judaism and the challenge of the postcolonial critique: a response to Rattansi. Thesis Eleven, 167(1), pp. 145-148. (doi: 10.1177/07255136211061608)

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2021) Bauman, Elias and Latour on Modernity and Its Alternatives: Three Contemporary Sociological Theorists on Modernity and Other Options, by Sandro Segre. Contemporary Sociology, 50(6), pp. 511-512. (doi: 10.1177/00943061211050046t)[Book Review]

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2021) Review of 'Bauman: A Biography' by Izabela Wagner. European Journal of Social Theory, 24(4), pp. 637-641. (doi: 10.1177/1368431021991977)[Book Review]

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2021) Durkheim, Emile (1858-1917). In: Solomos, John (ed.) Routledge Encyclopedia of Race and Racism. Routledge: London. (In Press)

2020

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2020) The war against forgetfulness: sociological lessons from Bauman’s writings on European Jewry. Thesis Eleven, 156(1), pp. 86-101. (doi: 10.1177/0725513619898288)

2019

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2019) Book review: Sketches in the Theory of Culture. European Journal of Social Theory, 22(3), pp. 432-436. (doi: 10.1177/1368431018815010)[Book Review]

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2019) Metaphysical Sociology: On the Work of John Carroll. Cultural Sociology, 13(2), pp. 257-258. (doi: 10.1177/1749975519834264)[Book Review]

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2019) A brief history of sociological alternatives. Global Dialogue, 9(2),

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X, Scott, Susie and McDonnell, Liz (2019) Freedom and foreclosure: intimate consequences for asexual identities. Families, Relationships and Societies, 8(1), pp. 7-22. (doi: 10.1332/204674317X15011694317558)

2018

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2018) ‘Sociology Exists’: the importance of the history of sociology and the role of origin myths. Sociological Review: Blog, 13 Nov.

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2018) Revisiting Freud as a social theorist - but which Freud? Sociology, 52(5), pp. 1103-1109. (doi: 10.1177/0038038517730220)[Book Review]

May, Vanessa and Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2018) Families and relationships e-Special issue introduction. Sociology, 52(4), NP1-NP10. (doi: 10.1177/0038038518760427)

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X, Scott, Susie and McDonnell, Liz (2018) ‘”Asexual” isn’t who I am’: the politics of asexuality. Sociological Research Online, 23(2), pp. 374-391. (doi: 10.1177/1360780418757540)

2017

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2017) Book review: Syed Farid Alatas and Vineeta Sinha, Sociological Theory Beyond the Canon. Sociological Review, 65(4), pp. 905-907. (doi: 10.1177/0038026117732435)[Book Review]

McDonnell, Liz, Scott, Susie and Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2017) A multidimensional view? Evaluating the different and combined contributions of diaries and interviews in an exploration of asexual identities and intimacies. Qualitative Research, 17(5), pp. 520-536. (doi: 10.1177/1468794116676516)

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2017) Bringing it all back home: Zygmunt Bauman on modernity. [Website]

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2017) A salute to the ‘exegetical Giddens’: Durkheim scholar. [Website]

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2017) Book review: Restoring the Classic in Sociology: Traditions, Texts and the Canon. Journal of Classical Sociology, 17(3), pp. 256-261. (doi: 10.1177/1468795X17691393)[Book Review]

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2017) Morality as rebellion: towards a partial reconciliation of Bauman and Durkheim. Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, 18(3), pp. 255-273. (doi: 10.1080/1600910X.2017.1381133)

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X, McDonnell, Liz and Scott, Susie (2017) Note on recruitment as an ethical question: lessons from a project on asexuality. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 20(3), pp. 255-261. (doi: 10.1080/13645579.2017.1287871)

2016

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2016) "An Army of Civil Servants": Max Weber and Émile Durkheim on socialism. Journal of Historical Sociology, 29(4), pp. 525-549. (doi: 10.1111/johs.12088)

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2016) Keeping other options alive: Zygmunt Bauman, hermeneutics and sociological alternatives. In: Jacobsen, Michael Hviid (ed.) Beyond Bauman: Creative Engagements and Creative Excursions. Series: Classical and contemporary social theory. Routledge: London, pp. 224-242. ISBN 9781472476111

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2016) Jeremy Corbyn, the PLP and historical visions of the Labour Party. Discover Society(37), 4 Oct.

Scott, Susie, McDonnell, Liz and Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2016) Stories of non-becoming: non-issues, non-events and non-identities in asexual lives. Symbolic Interaction, 39(2), pp. 268-286. (doi: 10.1002/SYMB.215)

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2016) Social Theory for Alternative Societies. Palgrave Macmillan: Hampshire. ISBN 9781137337337

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X, McDonnell, Liz and Scott, Susie (2016) Negotiating the boundaries of intimacy: the personal lives of asexual people. Sociological Review, 64(2), pp. 349-365. (doi: 10.1111/1467-954X.12362)

Masquelier, Charles and Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2016) Beyond capitalism and liberal democracy: on the relevance of GDH Cole’s sociological critique and alternative. Current Sociology, 64(1), pp. 3-21. (doi: 10.1177/0011392115588354)

2015

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2015) 'An Apotheosis of Well-Being': Durkheim on austerity and double-dip recessions. Journal of Classical Sociology, 15(4), pp. 321-336. (doi: 10.1177/1468795X15572277)

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2015) Sociology as conversation: Zygmunt Bauman’s applied sociological hermeneutics. Sociology, 49(3), pp. 582-587. (doi: 10.1177/0038038513517318)[Book Review]

Scott, Susie and Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2015) Rethinking asexuality: a symbolic interactionist account. Sexualities, 18(1-2), pp. 3-19. (doi: 10.1177/1363460714531273)

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X, Fowler, Bridget, Miller, David and Smith, Andrew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1514-8553 (Eds.) (2015) Stretching the Sociological Imagination: Essays in Honour of John Eldridge. Palgrave Macmillan: Hampshire. ISBN 9781137493637

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2015) On the (alternative) worlds that we have lost: sociology and the third way revisited. In: Dawson, Matt, Fowler, Bridget, Miller, David and Smith, Andrew (eds.) Stretching the Sociological Imagination: Essays in Honour of John Eldridge. Palgrave Macmillan: Hampshire, pp. 101-119. ISBN 9781137493637

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X, Fowler, Bridget, Miller, David and Smith, Andrew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1514-8553 (2015) Stretching the sociological imagination in the neo-liberal academy. In: Dawson, Matt, Fowler, Bridget, Miller, David and Smith, Andrew (eds.) Stretching the Sociological Imagination: Essays in Honour of John Eldridge. Palgrave Macmillan: Hampshire, pp. 246-262. ISBN 9781137493637

Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X and Masquelier, Charles (2015) G.D.H. Cole: Sociology, politics, empowerment and 'How to be socially good'. In: Law, Alex and Lybeck, Eric Royal (eds.) Sociological Amnesia: Cross-Currents in Disciplinary History. Series: Classical and contemporary social theory. Ashgate: Farnham, pp. 125-140. ISBN 9781472442345

2014

McNeill, Fergus ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3547-6482 and Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2014) Social solidarity, penal evolution and probation. British Journal of Criminology, 54(5), pp. 892-907. (doi: 10.1093/bjc/azu042)

Scott, Susie, McDonnell, Liz and Dawson, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X (2014) Asexual lives: social relationships and intimate encounters. Discover Society(9),

Scott, S., Dawson, M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-676X and Newmahr, S. (2014) A symbolic interactionist approach to asexuality. In: Weinberg, T. and Newmahr, S. (eds.) Selves, Symbols, and Sexualities: An Interactionist Anthology. Sage, pp. 215-226. ISBN 9781452276656