Robert Dingwall
@rwjdingwall.bsky.social
Consulting sociologist, researcher, writer and entrepreneur. Medical sociology; sociology of law; STS; ethnomethodology; CA. Re-post does not imply endorsement.
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
Just because DNA is "colloquially known" as "the blueprint of life" does one have to use that outdated metaphor, with all its deterministic connotations? (see @philipcball.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/d41...)
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Should Hitler's DNA have been studied?
Ground-breaking research has made some fascinating discoveries on the dictator, from his ancestry to possible neurological disorders.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Just because DNA is "colloquially known" as "the blueprint of life" does one have to use that outdated metaphor, with all its deterministic connotations? (see @philipcball.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/d41...)
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Society was always better 20 years ago - so says every generation at least back to the 1840s... See G. Pearson, 'Hooligan', Macmillan, 1983...
November 14, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Society was always better 20 years ago - so says every generation at least back to the 1840s... See G. Pearson, 'Hooligan', Macmillan, 1983...
Sad news from the US. Erikson made important contributions to the interactionist sociology of deviance before his brilliant work on disasters. His first book, Wayward Puritans, also had a huge influence. He remains the ony sociologist to win the ASA best book award twice.
The great sociologist Kai Erikson has died at 94. Kai is known for his pioneering research on the impact of disasters on communities. His book, *Everything in its Path,* remains a landmark contribution to social science and a model to all of us who work to understand the human costs of crises. RIP
November 11, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Sad news from the US. Erikson made important contributions to the interactionist sociology of deviance before his brilliant work on disasters. His first book, Wayward Puritans, also had a huge influence. He remains the ony sociologist to win the ASA best book award twice.
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
"In preparation for this session, I spoke to one academic at a research-intensive university, who even argued: ‘TRAC is a piece of fiction to conceal how much teaching subsidises research.’" 1/2
New test tubes or shiny buildings? The choice facing policymakers when it comes to funding research - HEPI
Let me start with a vignette. Back in 2017, we published a brilliant award-winning report on TRAC written by a young intern. This looked specifically at cross-subsidies in universities from Teaching (...
www.hepi.ac.uk
November 11, 2025 at 4:34 PM
"In preparation for this session, I spoke to one academic at a research-intensive university, who even argued: ‘TRAC is a piece of fiction to conceal how much teaching subsidises research.’" 1/2
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
He was a key figure in setting up the Human Genome Project, which had a terrible organizational structure and failed to deliver on the hype.
I interviewed one of the main funders who said they felt it was a waste of money (but did generate useful research tools).
2
I interviewed one of the main funders who said they felt it was a waste of money (but did generate useful research tools).
2
November 10, 2025 at 9:44 AM
He was a key figure in setting up the Human Genome Project, which had a terrible organizational structure and failed to deliver on the hype.
I interviewed one of the main funders who said they felt it was a waste of money (but did generate useful research tools).
2
I interviewed one of the main funders who said they felt it was a waste of money (but did generate useful research tools).
2
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
Governments and transport secretaries come and go. But Treasury Brain is timeless and eternal
November 9, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Governments and transport secretaries come and go. But Treasury Brain is timeless and eternal
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
If you believe either that Franklin discovered the double helix, and / or Watson and Crick stole her data, ask yourself how you know this. Then take a read of this article.
If I see one more stupid Rosalind Franklin take I'm going to lose my mind. Thank god for @matthewcobb.bsky.social and @nccomfort.bsky.social. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure
Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved. An overlooked letter and an unpublished news article, both written in 1953, reveal that she was an equal player.
www.nature.com
November 8, 2025 at 7:32 AM
If you believe either that Franklin discovered the double helix, and / or Watson and Crick stole her data, ask yourself how you know this. Then take a read of this article.
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
This weeks post is a sort of obituary for the BBC World Service Programme 'Science in Action' (@peaseroland.bsky.social) #scicomm makingsciencepublic.com/2025/11/07/s...
‘Science in Action’ is ending. Here is why that matters
The year is coming to an end and with it a radio programme that was a staple of science communication around the world: the BBC World Service’s ‘Science in Action’. This is rather symbolic, as scie…
makingsciencepublic.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:23 AM
This weeks post is a sort of obituary for the BBC World Service Programme 'Science in Action' (@peaseroland.bsky.social) #scicomm makingsciencepublic.com/2025/11/07/s...
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
Updated thread on The Lost King film:
I’m digging over old ground but I have to challenge Steve Coogan's line. He claims it’s all true (as has Philippa Langley): Langley will be celebrated for her achievement, Richard Taylor & his personal gripes will be forgotten
So what’s the real story? 1/15
I’m digging over old ground but I have to challenge Steve Coogan's line. He claims it’s all true (as has Philippa Langley): Langley will be celebrated for her achievement, Richard Taylor & his personal gripes will be forgotten
So what’s the real story? 1/15
October 31, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Updated thread on The Lost King film:
I’m digging over old ground but I have to challenge Steve Coogan's line. He claims it’s all true (as has Philippa Langley): Langley will be celebrated for her achievement, Richard Taylor & his personal gripes will be forgotten
So what’s the real story? 1/15
I’m digging over old ground but I have to challenge Steve Coogan's line. He claims it’s all true (as has Philippa Langley): Langley will be celebrated for her achievement, Richard Taylor & his personal gripes will be forgotten
So what’s the real story? 1/15
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
Despite its ideals, science cannot escape its social embedding,When science becomes entangled with state power or social movements that prioritize hierarchy, nationalism, or exclusion, it can be mobilized in support of authoritarian ideologies, including fascism.
November 1, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Despite its ideals, science cannot escape its social embedding,When science becomes entangled with state power or social movements that prioritize hierarchy, nationalism, or exclusion, it can be mobilized in support of authoritarian ideologies, including fascism.
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
On further reflection, handing operation of our Universities over to a professional administrative class with no personal investment in the educational mission of the university or the creation and maintenance of knowledge might have been somewhat in error.
October 31, 2025 at 4:42 PM
On further reflection, handing operation of our Universities over to a professional administrative class with no personal investment in the educational mission of the university or the creation and maintenance of knowledge might have been somewhat in error.
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
BREAKING: economist discovers “second shift,” a concept coined by sociologists almost 50 years ago; gives it new, stupider, and less explicitly labor-oriented name
October 26, 2025 at 1:58 PM
BREAKING: economist discovers “second shift,” a concept coined by sociologists almost 50 years ago; gives it new, stupider, and less explicitly labor-oriented name
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
Come across Conversation Analysis and want to know more?
Loughborough University's annual online CA for Beginners workshop is on Jan. 15, 2026.
Talks, group work & data sessions with experts.
Registration (£45 or £90) is now open.
More information here
emcawiki.net/CA_for_Begin...
#EMCA
Loughborough University's annual online CA for Beginners workshop is on Jan. 15, 2026.
Talks, group work & data sessions with experts.
Registration (£45 or £90) is now open.
More information here
emcawiki.net/CA_for_Begin...
#EMCA
CA for Beginners January 2026 - emcawiki
emcawiki.net
October 22, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Come across Conversation Analysis and want to know more?
Loughborough University's annual online CA for Beginners workshop is on Jan. 15, 2026.
Talks, group work & data sessions with experts.
Registration (£45 or £90) is now open.
More information here
emcawiki.net/CA_for_Begin...
#EMCA
Loughborough University's annual online CA for Beginners workshop is on Jan. 15, 2026.
Talks, group work & data sessions with experts.
Registration (£45 or £90) is now open.
More information here
emcawiki.net/CA_for_Begin...
#EMCA
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
Ah the challenges of a modern world and digital exclusion.
Age Concern is campaigning for a more accessible world & we have written about it...
The cartoon 👇 may be funny, the reality not.
Age Concern is campaigning for a more accessible world & we have written about it...
The cartoon 👇 may be funny, the reality not.
October 22, 2025 at 7:06 AM
Ah the challenges of a modern world and digital exclusion.
Age Concern is campaigning for a more accessible world & we have written about it...
The cartoon 👇 may be funny, the reality not.
Age Concern is campaigning for a more accessible world & we have written about it...
The cartoon 👇 may be funny, the reality not.
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
When I was your age we would read books made out of paper and the professor would just sit on the desk at the front of the room and talk to us
October 20, 2025 at 4:11 PM
When I was your age we would read books made out of paper and the professor would just sit on the desk at the front of the room and talk to us
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
Today's post is a a bit of a conceptual Odyssey around the epic lands of 'enshittification' - a word for our times #linguistics #AI makingsciencepublic.com/2025/10/17/e...
Enshittification: A word for our times
On 9 October Jack Stilgoe posted a question on Bluesky: “Has Cory Doctorow done a piece on the enshittification of enshittification yet?” Ken Tindall replied: “The word enshittification has turned …
makingsciencepublic.com
October 17, 2025 at 6:20 AM
Today's post is a a bit of a conceptual Odyssey around the epic lands of 'enshittification' - a word for our times #linguistics #AI makingsciencepublic.com/2025/10/17/e...
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
Will COVID-19 vaccines still be used in the future?
Seems like a strange question. Short answer: probably mostly in the elderly. But it’s more nuanced; it’s not primarily about preventing COVID-19 anymore.
1/10
Seems like a strange question. Short answer: probably mostly in the elderly. But it’s more nuanced; it’s not primarily about preventing COVID-19 anymore.
1/10
October 12, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Will COVID-19 vaccines still be used in the future?
Seems like a strange question. Short answer: probably mostly in the elderly. But it’s more nuanced; it’s not primarily about preventing COVID-19 anymore.
1/10
Seems like a strange question. Short answer: probably mostly in the elderly. But it’s more nuanced; it’s not primarily about preventing COVID-19 anymore.
1/10
"It is hard to think where else it would be possible to create such an institution with its relentless insistence that there is nothing special about humans, about the Christian faith or about the products of science and technology."
www.socialsciencespace.com/2025/10/the-...
www.socialsciencespace.com/2025/10/the-...
The Musée des Confluences: Celebrating Secularism and the Sciences - Social Science Space
What does one do on a wet Sunday afternoon in Lyon, France? The shopping malls are closed, as are many of the […]
www.socialsciencespace.com
October 13, 2025 at 8:47 AM
"It is hard to think where else it would be possible to create such an institution with its relentless insistence that there is nothing special about humans, about the Christian faith or about the products of science and technology."
www.socialsciencespace.com/2025/10/the-...
www.socialsciencespace.com/2025/10/the-...
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
A Sociologist's lamentation.
October 12, 2025 at 6:45 AM
A Sociologist's lamentation.
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
*FIFTEEN THOUSAND JOBS LOST*.
If this were in a sector in which the PM could go and do a photoshoot looking like One Of The People, we’d have had a government intervention by now.
If this were in a sector in which the PM could go and do a photoshoot looking like One Of The People, we’d have had a government intervention by now.
Cuts equivalent to 15,000 jobs planned at UK universities – UCU www.timeshighereducation.com/news/cuts-eq...
Cuts equivalent to 15,000 jobs planned at UK universities – UCU
Proposed job losses almost triple since March as unions prepare to vote on nationwide industrial action
www.timeshighereducation.com
October 11, 2025 at 8:17 AM
*FIFTEEN THOUSAND JOBS LOST*.
If this were in a sector in which the PM could go and do a photoshoot looking like One Of The People, we’d have had a government intervention by now.
If this were in a sector in which the PM could go and do a photoshoot looking like One Of The People, we’d have had a government intervention by now.
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
www.iod.com/director/art... - a good article looking at the arguments for an expansion of city boundaries & how it can help economic development. The article uses examples from Nottingham & elsewhere. Don’t fall for the negativity of keeping lots of small councils. Embrace the change.
The entrepreneurial metropolis: If Britain’s cities are to get better, they must get bigger
In Cllr Steve Battlemuch’s Wollaton West ward, you can travel without moving. His ward abuts a place called Broxtowe, a territory in the western suburbs of Nottingham over which neither Battlemuch, no...
www.iod.com
October 9, 2025 at 4:12 PM
www.iod.com/director/art... - a good article looking at the arguments for an expansion of city boundaries & how it can help economic development. The article uses examples from Nottingham & elsewhere. Don’t fall for the negativity of keeping lots of small councils. Embrace the change.
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
An irony of GOP/MAGA's attacks on university sector is that, structurally, it's as close to a "free market" as you'll find in US.
There are 1000s of universities, mostly operating independently.
Unlike tech sector (or coal, oil/gas, eyeglasses, etc), market concentration is incredibly low.
1/4
There are 1000s of universities, mostly operating independently.
Unlike tech sector (or coal, oil/gas, eyeglasses, etc), market concentration is incredibly low.
1/4
October 9, 2025 at 11:58 AM
An irony of GOP/MAGA's attacks on university sector is that, structurally, it's as close to a "free market" as you'll find in US.
There are 1000s of universities, mostly operating independently.
Unlike tech sector (or coal, oil/gas, eyeglasses, etc), market concentration is incredibly low.
1/4
There are 1000s of universities, mostly operating independently.
Unlike tech sector (or coal, oil/gas, eyeglasses, etc), market concentration is incredibly low.
1/4
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
They’ll tell you that the arts & humanities aren’t practical and then …
October 7, 2025 at 6:25 AM
They’ll tell you that the arts & humanities aren’t practical and then …
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
Henceforth the red robes will only be worn as an away kit when the Canadian Supreme Court is playing the US one.
October 7, 2025 at 5:40 AM
Henceforth the red robes will only be worn as an away kit when the Canadian Supreme Court is playing the US one.
Reposted by Robert Dingwall
Those panicing around #LongCOVID seem to forget history. After every major flu pandemic, large groups reported fatigue, brain fog, shortness of breath, yes, also children. These were real symptoms, but not evidence of a new, mysterious disease.
bsky.app/profile/did...
1/5
bsky.app/profile/did...
1/5
Some people do not fully recover from an acute viral infection and experience persistent symptoms or incomplete recovery for months or even years. This is not unique to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and history shows that post-viral conditions like post COVID-19 condition, referred to as LC, are not new
1/7
1/7
September 27, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Those panicing around #LongCOVID seem to forget history. After every major flu pandemic, large groups reported fatigue, brain fog, shortness of breath, yes, also children. These were real symptoms, but not evidence of a new, mysterious disease.
bsky.app/profile/did...
1/5
bsky.app/profile/did...
1/5