School of Social, Historical and Literary Studies

Profile

Dr Kevin McSorley is Senior Lecturer in Sociology. He was previously a lecturer in Sociology at the University of Surrey. His sociological expertise includes contemporary social and cultural theory, particularly critical and post-structuralist theories of discourse and subjectivity, the sociology of technology, and sociological approaches to violence. Kevin’s doctoral research analyzed contemporary discourses of equality and marginality in the context of digital media and technology, in particular exploring the concept of the ‘digital divide’.

Kevin’s current research agenda focuses upon the material culture, technological networks and global assemblages of contemporary violence and war, exploring three core interlinked concerns:

1. Violence and Social Theory
2. War, Militarization and Embodiment
3. The Sociology of the Arms Trade 

Undergraduate Teaching

Kevin teaches a core level one social theory unit Theorizing Society, a core level two social theory unit Self and Society and option courses on Violence, War & Society and Technology, Science & Social Life at level three. He also contributes to the level two course Global Sociology and the level three course Social Divisions and Social Change.

Higher Degree Teaching/Supervision

Kevin contributes to a variety of MA courses and offers PhD supervision in the areas of Social and Cultural Theory, Technology and New Media, and Sociological Approaches to Violence.

Publications

• McSorley, K. (2008) 'The Mark of Cain: War, Media and Morality' The War and Media Network http://warandmedia.org/comment/cain.htm
• McSorley, K. (2003) ‘The Secular Salvation Story of the Digital Divide’ Ethics and Information Technology, 5, 2, p75-87
• McSorley, K. (2003) 'Performing Corporate Accountability' Salford Papers in Social Research: University of Salford. ISBN 0904483398
• McSorley, K (2001) 'Discourses of The Digital Divide' The Philosopher’s Magazine, 14, 32-33

Conference Convening

June 2010 – War and the Body, International Interdisciplinary Conference, London UK
http://www.warandmedia.org/warandbody/

Selected Conference Presentations

• Violence and Social Theory presented at 9th European Sociological Association conference, Lisbon 2nd-5th September 2009
• Social Theory, Mobility and Immobility presented at European Sociological Association Research Network Conference: Social Theory and the Sociological Discipline(s), Innsbruck 11th-13th September 2008
• Talking About Technology and Exclusion presented at Society for the Social Studies of Science (4s) Conference: Acting With Science, Technology, Medicine, Rotterdam 20th-23rd August 2008
• Manuel Castells' Networking Logic presented at 8th European Sociological Association Conference: Conflict, Citizenship and Civil Society, Glasgow 3rd-6th September 2007
• The Global Branding of Inequality presented at 6th European Sociological Association Conference, Murcia, Spain, Sept 23rd – 26th 2003
• Supranational Narratives of the Digital Divide presented at Society for the Social Studies of Science (4s) Annual Meeting, Milwaukee, Nov 5th – 8th 2002 (awarded travel grant)
• Reflexivity Constructing Corporate Accountability presented at European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) Annual conference, York, UK, 31st July- 3rd Aug 2002
• Material Discourses of Immaterial Inequality presented at ‘Immateriality in Theory and Practice’ ESRC Seminar Series, University of Salford, 8th April 2002
• Mobile Fragments: Hyperbole and Heterogeneity in Mobile Cultures presented at ‘Mobilize!’ conference, Cumberland Lodge, Windsor, May 29th 2001

Professional Activities

Executive Board of the Social Theory Research Network, European Sociological Association