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My investigation into alleged plagiarism was undertaken seriously – journalistic enquiries should not be a matter for Scotland Yard, writes É«ºÐÖ±²¥ reporter Jack Grove

In examining sociologist’s PhD thesis, our journalists were seeking to address matters of legitimate public interest, writes Chris Havergal

Director of Institute of Development Studies discusses stepping into the role after 25 years, impact of USAID cuts and benefits of Sussex collaboration

Sociologist of queer nightlife on the fate of gay bars, the power of a good night out, and why academia could benefit from a bit more joy

Academic’s exit brings more uncomfortable headlines for institution that has already faced several legal disputes this year

Planetary warming shown to attract very few of the subject’s scholarly articles, conference sessions and course listings

The unexpectedly musical background of many sociologists might explain their academic success, Glasgow professor argues

Coyness, contention and competing agendas all hamper historians and sociologists of sex. Matthew Reisz speaks to those who choose, nevertheless, to probe this most sensitive and intimate of subjects

Other value frameworks, such as those implicit in indigenous knowledges, must be better heard, says Ronald Barnett

Linsey McGoey applauds a bold account of the ‘dark money’ fuelling the culture wars on campus

The cultural historian and author of The Art of Self-Improvement on positive transformations, the Stoic approach to life, and what self-help books can reveal about individuals and society

The David Miller and Kathleen Stock cases underline the growing threat to human rights, say Alison Assiter and Miriam David

The Iranian-American academic, who explores the experience of life split between two cultures in Hyphen, on the politics of punctuation

Course cut critics castigate Australian institution for using data selectively, as sociologists elsewhere watch on nervously

Recent examples explore everything from radical vaudeville to the legacy of slavery

Kalwant Bhopal is impressed by a sobering analysis of how racial attitudes shape even our most intimate interactions

Matthew Flinders finds the solutions offered in an ambitious analysis of American discontent less than impressive 

Social media may mute moderate voices, but that is no reason for researchers to presume they don’t exist, argues Duke expert in polarisation

Rich accounts of how we screamed at the television, went swimming and adapted to the ‘surrealness’ of life during a pandemic fill a new archive

The sociology professor tells Matthew Reisz about her rural childhood, satisfying a hunger for the wider world through reading, and her (scholarly) interest in unfaithful men

Spaniards and Poles notably buck the trends found in other countries

Universities should urge their students to behave better but also must consider how they may enable abuse, argue Columbia professors

Tributes paid to a towering figure from ‘a great generation of politically engaged South African academics’

UK-educated scholar is outspoken about the unjust treatment of girls and women

Sociologist who has shone light on some of India’s most oppressed people explains why she keeps up the good fight

Patience will be required to bring along those who refuse to embrace racial equality or recognise it as a priority, says Jason Arday

Publications must always permit debate on the quality and relevance of research â€“ plus the efficacy and costs of derived policy, says Robert Dingwall

Caroline Stevenson applauds a powerful exposé of Parisian haute couture that raises troubling questions for fashion schools as well as for those working in the industry

Study calls for race issues to be embedded into curricula, not taught as an ‘add-on’

Universities and their values have been hugely successful in forging a central place for themselves at the heart of the information age. David John Frank and John W. Meyer consider how and why the pandemic might be putting that at risk

Bradley Garrett has crossed the globe to meet those who stockpile food in fortified shelters in anticipation of apocalyptic disasters. As a global pandemic seems to confirm some of their fears, he tells Jack Grove what we can learn from them – and what they’ve got wrong

It is wrong for UK ministers to set up higher and further education in opposition to one another, says former education secretary Justine Greening

Higher education is no panacea, but critical thinking is the best antidote to inequality, say Chris Cunningham and Colin Samson

Tributes paid to sociologist whose ‘influential work’ on inequalities has proved crucial in understanding and addressing today’s sharp ‘social divisions’

Progress will be very difficult if there is a loud cohort of academics who remain fundamentally opposed to it, says James Blackwell

Panikos Panayi enjoys an ambitious but partial study of London’s sleaziest district

The prizewinning economist discusses how economics must focus on beliefs and identity, along with the influence of TV on our choices

Matthew Reisz reflects on the researchers who have brought us powerful stories about how gender manifests – from remote Himalayan villages to the nightclubs of the French Riviera

Ashley Mears brings personal experience as a model to her academic work on the gender politics of beauty. For her latest book on mega-rich men’s use of beautiful women as a form of currency, she went on more than 100 glamorous nights out – and sometimes even enjoyed it, she tells Matthew Reisz 

Kristen Ghodsee is intrigued by an ethnographic account of how women found ways to reinvent themselves after the collapse of the USSR

Responses to the coronavirus touch on the deepest issues of the kind of society we want and need, says distinguished research professor

Whether it’s to be ‘business as usual’ or not, social scientists have much to offer in discussion about how to move on after ravages of Covid-19

Tributes paid to ‘inspirational’ environmental sociologist who ‘made work feel like play’

During his time as a graffiti writer, Stefano Bloch was chased by the police, threatened by gangsters and witnessed savage violence. He tells Jack Grove about how he has incorporated such experiences in a powerful memoir that also makes an important contribution to research on urban life

Danny Dorling suspects that class remains as meaningful as it always was 

Matthew Reisz considers the researchers who keep on top of the issues we most want to avoid

Guardian editor-at-large turned Manchester sociology professor discusses how UK universities are in an ‘analogous crisis’ to journalism on race

David Lehmann assesses a journalistic account of clerical abuse in Central America

Jeff Ferrell is thrilled by a street’s eye view of the adventure of graffiti writing

Peter J. Smith enjoys a vivid, if perhaps idealised, account of life in one of the world’s great breweries

Leading sociologist of inequality fears boosting the status of a select few universities could mean a closed educational elite, as in the US or France 

Academics’ deep identification with their work means that the failure of a book proposal, grant application or promotion request can cut deeply. But in a competitive profession, such knock-backs are inevitable. Here, six academics recall their most traumatic rejection â€“ and how they got over it

Book of the week: A. W. Purdue is impressed by a bold attempt to rethink the relationship between solidarity and ambition

‘Under these circumstances, high world rankings are just not going to happen,’ professor warns

Tributes paid to founder of world-system analysis

Mounting workloads and mushrooming publication output are making the task of staying abreast of the latest developments in the literature ever more difficult for academics. Here, eight researchers reflect on their own approaches and offer their tips

Angelia R. Wilson enjoys a subtle analysis of the political uses of the figure of the ‘Mexican cowboy’

David Lehmann praises an ambitious attempt to take religion seriously on its own terms

Those lucky established academics who want to help precarious colleagues would do better to pay for their lunch, says Sarah Burton

Bryan Cheyette is intrigued by an account that accentuates the positive as well as the negative aspects of ghetto life