About John Goodwin

About Me

I am a Professor of Sociology and Social Psychology. 

I am interested in ‘Sociological practice’. This is deeply rooted in the Millsean /Jephcottian ideas of sociology as ‘craft and skills’ (see Goodwin 2016). Being a sociologist requires specific skills; the best way to develop them is to enact them continually. This approach is informed by the sociology of Norbert Elias (the best sociological understanding is offered by examining long-term historical, social processes) and the sociology of those who work with auto\biography, such as Liz Stanley, data reanimation, and archival research, such as Rachel Thomson.

In addition to sociology, I teach social psychology and I am particularly interested in Milgram and Zimbardo‘s social psychology. In my writings, I have used Elias (psychogenesis and sociogenesis—Elias was one of the first to teach social psychology at Leicester), C Wright Mills (biography and history/character and social structure), and Jephcott (situations versus predispositions). 

My current practice focuses on creative methods including archival research, autoethnography, collaborative autoethnography, visual studies, data reanimation, and poetic inquiry. 

In 2022, THES shortlisted me as the outstanding research supervisor of the year. I have worked at the University of Leicester since 1991.

Research

• I am currently using autoethnographic writing and research to examine social class through storytelling and collaborative autoethnography to explore fieldwork experiences.
• Beyond this, I have a broad range of research interests including (i) Youth. This includes transitions employment and precarity and past studies of ‘troubled’ youth. (ii) The sociology of Pearl Jephcott, Norbert Elias and C Wright Mills. The social psychology of Milgram and Zimbardo; (iii) Auto/biographical methods and analysis (correspondence film photographs biography social media art); (iv) The ‘reuse’ of data and of the value of ‘non-standard’ forms of data; and (v) sociological understandings of space linking the individual to the cosmos. .

Educational Practice

I teach across a wide range of topics ranging from sociological practice to social psychology