Programme full

STREAM PLENARIES AND SPECIAL
SESSIONS
THURSDAY 16 APRIL 2015 09:30 - 10:30
Cities, Mobilities, Place and Space
CARNEGIE LECTURE THEATRE, CHARLES OAKLEY BUILDING
KEEPING PEOPLE IN THEIR PLACE? FEAR, ANGER, AND ANTI-IMIGRATION CAMPAIGNS
In this talk we argue that exploring uncomfortable emotions and their circulation is essential for understanding social
and spatial processes. We put forward an approach to emotion as deeply imbued with the circulation of power,
refuting the notion that working with emotion is cosy work, or an internal process separate from social relations.
Drawing on a research project that traces the impacts of government anti-immigration campaigns in cities across the
UK, we explore 1. The spaces and places of government interventions. 2. The movement of emotion and resistance
between places 3. How specific urban histories of migration and resistance are used to counter such campaigns (or
not).
We argue that as border control in the UK is becoming increasingly domesticated – through legislation requiring
landlords, health workers, teachers, universities and employers to police immigration status – it also relies increasingly
on fear and anger. This includes fear and anger about the figure of the migrant ‘out of place’ as well as the fear of
migrants, of those who might be suspected of being migrants, or those who might be caught up in managing
immigration status. But we also show that such measure provoke anger which in some cases can be a productive
force for liberating or reclaiming a place in the public sphere for those whom fear would otherwise exclude.
By working through this example we demonstrate that emotion, or indeed, ‘the personal' is never separate from the
social and political and foreground the role of place in providing opportunities for resistance and hope, within and
across the specific contexts of different cities.
Jackson, E.
(Goldsmiths, University of London)
Jones, H.
(University of Warwick)
Environment and Society
M137, GEORGE MOORE BUILDING
ENERGY SYSTEM TRANSITIONS: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE IN PROGRESSION AND REGRESSION
The session fits with the conference theme in three key ways: 1) it will raise questions about the role of sociology in
the pursuit and constitution of socially progressive ideas as associated with post-carbon ways of life; 2) it will provide a
forum for debates concerning the argument that energy transitions are in actuality societal transitions; that energy is
society; and 3) it will connect with questions about the role of social science in challenging powerful discourses that
support the status quo. We explore each contribution in further details below.
In detail:
Sociology and Post-carbonism
As a discipline, sociology has been gradually realising its potential to make an empirical and theoretical contribution to
addressing environmental concerns, seeking to form a new development paradigm. Extensive works in environmental
social science undertaken over the last three decades are testament to this (e.g. Redclift and Woodgate, 2010;
Szersynski and Urry, 2010; Pretty et al, 2007; Macnaghten, 1998). While noting the mounting interest from
sociologists, Wainwright (2011) points to how sociology is ‘warming’ to the study of climate change. Urry (2011), in his
most recent book, further makes a case for putting ‘society’ into climate change research. By turning the sociological
imagination towards this topic, questions of social order, social change and cultural identities are making their way into
debates surrounding issues of global environmental change (Yearley, 2009) that have until now been largely
BSA Annual Conference 2015 34
Glasgow Caledonian University