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>
> Celebrating Classic Sociology:Pioneers of Contemporary British Qualitative
> Research
>
> A two day symposium organised by
> The ESRC Qualitative Data Archival Resource Centre (Qualidata) and
> Department of Sociology,
> at
> Colchester and University of Essex
> on
> Thursday 5th - Friday 6th July 2001
>
>
> Introduction
> For British sociological research the decades since 1950 have witnessed an
> unprecedented flowering: in the growth of its influence, in the spread of
> its themes, and in the development of its methods, both quantitative and
> qualitative. From the 1960s into the 1970s sociology was not only an
> exceptionally popular subject with students, but was also give more
> national research resources than at any time before or since, enabling
> social researchers to carry out studies - such as Peter Townsend's
> in-depth national survey of institutional homes for the aged, The Last
> Refuge - of a thoroughness which is unlikely ever to be equalled.
> This great wave of research activity has left us with a triple heritage.
> The first is the development of crucial ideas - such as the role of the
> extended family in the cities, or the `moral panic' - which remain part of
> the mainstream of current sociological thinking. The second is the uneven
> residue of the original research data, which it has been Qualidata's
> challenge to rescue, so that much of it is now permanently archived as a
> resource for social researchers in the future. The third is the survivors
> of that pioneering generation of researchers themselves: for despite some
> major losses, most of them are still with us, and a good many of them
> still actively researching.
> In the summer of 2001 Qualidata will be in its seventh year of work, and
> our rescue mission for the data from classic early sociological studies is
> almost completed. We have confirmed some grave losses, including all the
> raw qualutatve data data from Young and Willmott's researches on family
> and kinship in East London, all of the uniquely sustained research of John
> and Elizabeth Newson on childrearing, and all of the Banbury studies. But
> more positively, we have rescued the surviving data from many other
> researchers, including outstandingly well-known single projects such as
> The Affluent Worker and Mods and Rockers, and the entire life's work of
> pioneering researchers such as George Brown and Peter Townsend.
> We see this 2 day conference as a unique moment, in which we shall be able
> both to celebrate the saving of a crucial part of the heritage of British
> sociology for future generations, and at the same time to enable younger
> researchers interested in that research data to come together with the
> pioneers who generated the research, and to reflect both upon that past
> achievement and upon the relevance of classic British sociology for
> understanding the social issues of the 21st century. Essex is the natural
> place to base this, as so many of those participating have at some time
> worked here or had close connections with the University.
> We have around 25 prominent speakers and discussion group leaders and
> anticipate 90 participants to attend.
> See Web site:
> http://www.essex.ac.uk/qualidata/workshop/classicsocintro.htm for further
> details of the programme and how to book
>
>
> Louise Corti
> Director, User Services, Data Archive
> & Deputy Director, Qualidata
> University of Essex
> Colchester CO4 3SQ
> UK
>
> Tel: + 44 1206 872145
> email: [log in to unmask]
> DATA ARCHIVE: http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/
> QUALIDATA: http://www.essex.ac.uk/qualidata/
>
>
>