The latest research and thought on contemporary sociology presented by leading sociologists. 

All staff and students, graduate and undergraduate, are welcome.  This year’s series is convened by Professor Patrick Baert.

Time: 12.30 – 2pm                  
Dates: Alternate Tuesdays during term time 
Venue: Sociology Seminar Room, Free School Lane, Cambridge CB2 3RQ 

Access information: The seminar room is accessed via two flights of steps/a lift and then a further two flights of stairs accessed through a heavy set of doors. There is no step-free access. The lift is not accessible to wheelchair users, but may assist with other mobility issues. Please contact enquiries@sociology.cam.ac.uk with any questions.
 

Lent Term 2026 

• 3 February: Cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances
   
• 17 February: Nation of Strangers: Rebuilding Home in the 21st Century
  Speaker: Ece Temelkuran, writer, political thinker and public speaker
   
• 3 March: Social conflicts in the ‘Short-term City’: Platform capitalism and the contentious politics of short-term rental housing regulation in Europe 
  Speaker: Prof Claire Colomb, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge
   
• 17 March: Book Launch: Insecurity Politics
  Speaker: Dr Lorenza Antonucci, Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge

Previous seminars

Michaelmas Term 2025

• 21 October: Discrimination and health inequalities
  Speaker: Prof Martin Aranguren, Sciences Po Centre for Research on Social Inequalities 
   
• 4 November: Recent thoughts on the ecology of addiction
  Speaker: Prof Darin Weinberg, University of Cambridge 
   
• 18 November: Violence and Lies: the exercise of power from the conquest of the Americas to the climates crisis
  Speaker: Dr Lorenzo Posocco, University of Copenhagen 
   
• 2 December- No such thing as society? Lessons from AI on the street
  Speaker: Prof Noortje Marres, University of Warwick

Easter Term 2025

• 20 May: Frantz Fanon and the Diagnosis of Social Pathologies
  Speaker: Dr Sarah Bufkin, University of Birmingham
  Watch on YouTube
   
• 6 May: Hey ChatGPT, are you racist? An exploration of sociopolitical inequalities manifested in Generative Artificial Intelligence
  Speaker: Dr Dhiraj Murthy, The University of Texas at Austin

Lent Term 2025

• 25 February: Born to Rule: the Making and Remaking of the British Elite
  Speakers: Professor Sam Friedman and Professor Aaron Reeves, London School of Economics
  Watch on YouTube
   
• 11 February: The Love Jones Cohort: Examining the Lifestyles of those Single and Living Alone in the Black Middle Class
  Speaker: Dr Kris Marsh, University of Maryland
  Watch on YouTube
   
• 28 January: The Struggle for Meaning in Post-Assadist Syria
  Speaker: Dr Zeina Al-Azmeh, University of Cambridge
  Watch on YouTube

Michaelmas Term 2024

• 26 November: Non-White Meta-Categories in the US and UK
  Speaker: Mari Sanchez, Harvard University
  Watch on YouTube
   
• 12 November: The Sociology of Religion without 'Religion'?
  Speaker: Dr Lois Lee, University of Kent
  Watch on YouTube
   
• 29 October: The Love of Books in the UK
  Speaker: Dr María Angélica Thumala Olave, University of Edinburgh
  Watch on YouTube
   
• 15 October: The Problem of White Normativity
  Speaker: Professor Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Duke University
  Watch on YouTube