SPAIS Lunchtime Talks are a chance to hear SPAIS lecturers and researchers offer their take on some of the big issues of the day. Talks will draw on their research and expertise, inviting us to think critically about events and ideas shaping popular discourse on politics and international relations today. Talks will last approximately 25 minutes, followed by a Q&A session. 

In this talk, Tariq argues that sociology cannot be just activist or advocacy or critical about aspects of society or deconstructive. It should also be constructive and have something positive to say. Above all, sociologists should intellectually engage with the values and causes that they promote. He calls this ‘normative sociology’ and illustrates it with the Bristol School of Multiculturalism’s sociology-political theory interdisciplinarity.

Tariq Modood is Professor of Sociology, Politics and Public Policy and founding Director of the Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship at the University of Bristol and the co-founder of the journal, Ethnicities. He has held 40+ grants and consultancies, has 35+ (co-)authored and (co-)edited books and reports and 300hh+ articles and chapters. He was ranked #131 in the world ( #19 in UK) in the Research.Com citations 2022 ranking for Law, Politics, Sociology and Social Policy