Professor Satnam Virdee
- Professor of Sociology (Sociological & Cultural Studies)
telephone:
01413305355
email:
Satnam.Virdee@glasgow.ac.uk
R1002 Level 10, Sociology, Adam Smith Building, Glasgow G12 8RT
Biography
I joined the University of Glasgow in 2001 and have been Professor of Sociology since 2005. Previously I held a lectureship at the University of Strathclyde (1998-2001), a senior fellowship at the Policy Studies Institute, London (1992-1998) and a research fellowship at the University of Warwick (1990-1992). My research focuses on understanding the entangled histories of capitalism, class and racism across time and space. Accompanying this is a body of work analysing counter-hegemonic social movements and their efforts to challenge structural inequalities and deepen processes of democratisation and social justice. A historical social scientist employing both longue durée and conjunctural modes of analysis, I am the author of seven books including Britain in fragments: Why things are falling apart (written jointly with Brendan McGeever) (Manchester University Press, 2023) and Racism, class and the racialized outsider (Palgrave 2014).
My work has appeared in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and German. I was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) in 2023 and have also been a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) since 2018. I am currently working on a book entitled Catastrophe and Utopia to be published by the University of California Press.
To find out more about my work please read the following interview at Media Diversified. https://mediadiversified.org/2015/11/18/both-racism-and-anti-racism-were-present-in-the-making-of-the-english-working-class/
Alternately, listen to an interview carried out by the Surviving Society podcast team. https://soundcloud.com/user-622675754/e017-surviving-society-with-the-sociological-review-satnam-virdee
Or, the plenary address I gave to the 2019 International Working Class Studies Association conference, University of Kent. https://kent.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=c43d21a4-b2c0-47a7-b4c6-aabe00ca6f8b
An indicative list of recent plenary lectures delivered across the historical social sciences include:
2023: International conference on Plantationocene: racial capitalism, land and labour', University of Brasilia, Brazil.
2023: IIPPE annual conference on political economy, Madrid, Spain.
2021: The annual Westergaard lecture, University of Sheffield.
2020: International conference on Centring Race in History: From antiquity to the present.
2019: The British Sociological Association annual conference.
2018: The Sociological Review 'Undisciplining' conference.
2017: Historical Materialism annual conference.
2016: A three lecture series on The making of postcolonial Britain, Havens Centre for Social Justice, University of Wisconsin, USA.
Research interests
- Historical Sociology
- World history
- Capitalism
- Utopia and counter cultures of modernity
- Theories and histories of racism and capitalism
- Racism and antiracism in labour history
- Intellectual history
- Social movements
Virdee, S. and McGeever, B. (2023) Britain in Fragments: Why things are falling apart, Manchester University Press |
Virdee, S. (2014) Racism, Class and the Racialized Outsider. Palgrave Macmillan |
Davidson, N., Liinpää, M., McBride, M. and Virdee, S. (Eds.) (2018) No Problem Here: Racism in Scotland. Luath Press: Edinburgh. ISBN 9781912147304 |
Gupta, S. and Virdee, S. (Eds.) (2018) Race and Crisis. Routledge. ISBN 9781138393707 |
McGeever, B. and Virdee, S. (Eds) (2017) Antisemitism and Socialist Strategy in Europe 1880-1917 Patterns of Prejudice 51: 3-4: 221-373. |
Publications
Selected publications
Virdee, S. (2023) Racism and state formation in the age of absolutism. Historical Materialism, 31(2), pp. 104-135. (doi: 10.1163/1569206x-bja10010)
Virdee, S. and McGeever, B. (2023) Britain in Fragments: Why Things Are Falling Apart. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9781526164599
Virdee, S. (2023) The lines of descent of the present crisis. Sociological Review, 71(2), pp. 458-476. (doi: 10.1177/00380261221150341)
Virdee, S. (2019) Racialized capitalism: an account of its contested origins and consolidation. Sociological Review, 67(1), pp. 3-27. (doi: 10.1177/0038026118820293)
Virdee, S. and McGeever, B. (2018) Racism, crisis, Brexit. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 41(10), pp. 1802-1819. (doi: 10.1080/01419870.2017.1361544)
Virdee, S. (2017) The second sight of racialised outsiders in the imperialist core. Third World Quarterly, 38(11), pp. 2396-2410. (doi: 10.1080/01436597.2017.1328274)
Virdee, S. (2014) Racism, Class and the Racialized Outsider. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke. ISBN 9780230551633
All publications
Grants
2024: Racialized capitalism and its discontents, The Sociological Review seminar series (with A. Mullen).
2015-2017: Racism and Political Mobilisation: Learning from History and Thinking Internationally, ESRC Seminar Series, (with G. Bhattacharyya and A. Winter).
2014-2017: Location Dynamics, Owner Occupation and Ethnicity in Scotland, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) (with G. Price and A. Smith).
2013-2017: Understanding the Dynamics of Ethnic Identity and Inequality (CoDE), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Centres Competition (with J. Nazroo and others)
2004-2006: Racism and Nationalism in Scotland and England, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) (with T. Modood).
2001-2003: Networks of Civic Organisations in Britain, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) (with M. Diani).
1998-2000: Everyday Racism in School Life, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
1997-1998: Racism and Anti-racism in the Workplace, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (EFILWC).
1994-1996: British Asian Self-employment: the interaction of culture and economics, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) (with T. Modood).
1990-1992: Race and Class: participation and representation of racialized minority workers in British trade unions, Commission for Racial Equality (CRE).
Supervision
PhD students supervised to completion
Christopher Kyriakides (ESRC studentship, 2005)
Kirsteen Paton (ESRC studentship, 2010)
Teresa Piacentini (ESRC studentship, 2011)
Carin Runciman (ESRC studentship, 2012)
Brendan McGeever (AHRC studentship, 2014)
Khauthar Ismail (Malaysian Government scholarship, 2016)
Elisabeth Badenhoop (ESRC studentship, 2016)
Mengxi Pang (China Scholarship Council, 2017)
Maureen McBride (ESRC studentship, 2017)
Minna Liinpaa (ESRC studentship, 2018)
Francesca Minelli (University of Glasgow scholarship, 2019)
Paul Goldie (University of Glasgow scholarship, 2020)
Scarlet Harris (ESRC studentship, 2020)
Ashli Mullen (ESRC studentship, 2021)
Helge Peterson (ESRC studentship, 2022)
Currently, I am supervising four PhD students:
Brian Keenan
Chase Beecroft
Rohit Rao
Teaching
UG honours courses
Class and the making of modern Britain.
“Freedom now”: A historical sociology of black liberation in the USA, 1954-1979.
PGT course
Racism and modernity.
Additional information
Book series editor (with J. Solomos and A. Winter)
2018 to present: Racism, resistance and social change, Manchester University Press.
Journal editorial board
2018 to present: The Sociological Review.
2009 to present: Ethnic and Racial Studies.
Recent external leadership duties
2019-2022: Member, REF2021 panel for Sociology.
Current duties within university
2019 to present: Co-chair, University of Glasgow Race Equality Committee.
Past leadership duties within university
2005-2020: Founding director, Centre for Research on Racism, Ethnicity and Nationalism (CRREN), University of Glasgow.
2013-2018: Co-director, ESRC Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE).
2018-2019: Research director, Sociology.
2014-2017: PGT dissertation convenor, Sociology.
2010-2013: Head, Sociology.
2004-2010: Research director, Sociology.
2001-2004: Honours convenor, Sociology.