Section: Research Student Profiles

Alexander Hensby

Name
Alexander Hensby
Organisation
School of Social and Political Science
University of Edinburgh
Address
6.13 Chrystal Macmillan Building 15a George Square Edinburgh UK EH8 9LD
E-Mail
Research Interests
Political Sociology,Social movements,social theory,Globalization
URL
http://www.sociology.ed.ac.uk/research_students/alexander_hensby
Alexander Hensby

PhD research

Political Participation and Contemporary Protest – Analysing the 2010/11 Student ‘Winter of Discontent’

My research uses the 2010/11 student protests in the UK as a case study for understanding contemporary expressions of political participation. In recent years, survey data has supported the view that political participation in western societies is in crisis, and that young people are the least politically active among age ranges. This study uses original survey data of student attitudes and experiences from a sample of 20 UK universities, and approximately 40 interviews with students to consider whether we might instead require new indicators for capturing how young people engage with and participate in politics, indicators that pay greater attention to contemporary repertoires of protest and activism. At a distance, the student protests provide clear evidence of some degree of political engagement and participation among young people in higher education, though this has been demonstrated in a variety of different ways. This research seeks to explore this in greater depth, so that a greater understanding of contemporary expressions of political engagement and participation can be learned.

Supervisors

Hugo Gorringe and Michael Rosie

Qualifications

  •          MPhil Sociology, University of Cambridge (2006)
  •          BA (Hons) Sociology, University of York (2005)  

Publications 

Hensby, A. and O'Byrne, D.J. (2012) 'Global Civil Society and the Cosmopolitan Ideal' in G. Delanty (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Cosmopolitanism Studies. London: Routledge.

Driver, S., Hensby, A. and Sibthorpe, J. (2012) 'The Shock of the New? Democratic Narratives and Political Agency', in Policy Studies doi:10.1080/01442872.2011.637327.

Hensby, A., Sibthorpe, J. and Driver, S. (2011) 'Resisting the "Protest Business": Bureaucracy, Post-Bureaucracy and Active Membership in Social Movement Organizations', in Organization doi:10.1177/1350508411423697.

O’Byrne, D.J. and Hensby, A. (2011) Theorizing Global Studies. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.

Conference Papers

Hensby, A. (2011) 'Tick Box Activism? The Limits of Current Indicators of Political Activity in Social Survey Datasets' presented at European Sociological Association Annual Conference, University of Geneva, September 2011.

Hensby, A., Sibthorpe, J. and Driver, S. (2009) ‘Flexibility within a Framework – Organizational challenges for new social movements’ presented at European Sociological Association Annual Conference, University of Lisbon, September 2009.

Hensby, A., Sibthorpe, J. and Driver, S. (2009) ‘Together, alone? Individualization, participation and repertoires of political activism in membership-based social movements’ presented at Political Studies Association Annual Conference, University of Manchester, April 2009.

Hensby, A. (2007) ‘Class, Culture and the Chavs: The Struggle for Reflexive Individualism in Contemporary Britain’ presented at 'Re-Thinking Cultural Economy', University of Manchester, September 2007.

Teaching

At Edinburgh, I teach on the MSc in Global and International Sociology programme. Further details on this course can be found here: http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/gradschool/taught_masters/a_g/msc_global_international_sociology

2006 – 2010      Lecturer in Sociology (Roehampton University)

During this time I taught on a number of courses covering classical and modern social theory, the sociology of globalization, a university-wide course on national and global citizenship, research methods and design, and the history of the UK education system. In 2010, I was co-convenor of the academic programme for the inaugural Fulbright Commission summer school, also held at the university. 

2006 – 2010      Supervisor for Social and Political Science (University of Cambridge)                

My teaching at Cambridge involved supervising first year SPS undergraduates on the modern societies (now Introduction to Sociology) course, and the second/third year social theory course.

Funding

ESRC +3 Quota Award (2010 – 2013) 

Memberships 

Member of the Political Studies Association

Member of the British Sociological Association

Member of the European Sociological Association

 

This page was published on 18 April 2012


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