School of Social, Historical and Literary Studies

Profile

Dr Kevin McSorley is Senior Lecturer in Sociology, and the Year Three tutor for Sociology. His sociological expertise includes violence and war; social theory; the body; technology and new media.

Kevin’s current research focuses upon the embodied experiences, material cultures, and sociotechnical networks of contemporary violence and war.  His research project War and the Body promotes new directions in thinking about war through the lens of the body, challenging the ontology of conventional war scholarship.  It develops an understanding of war as a wide-ranging, fundamentally embodied social practice and politics of experience.  Related on-going research projects focus upon the militarisation of sensation, and the emergence of ‘somatic war’.  He is currently conducting ethnographic research on the cultures of the global arms trade as well as working on the monograph Violence, War and Society.

Undergraduate Teaching

Kevin currently convenes and teaches the core year one social theory unit Theorising Social Life.  He also teaches the final year unit Violence, War & Society drawing upon his latest research. He contributes to the year one course Observing Society, and co-ordinates the Sociology Dissertation.  He has also taught courses on Technology, Science & Social Life, and Self and Society.

Higher Degree Teaching/Supervision

Kevin contributes to a variety of MA courses and offers PhD supervision in the areas of war and violence; social and cultural theory; the body; technology and new media.

Selected Recent Publications

• McSorley, K. (ed) (2012) War and the Body: Militarisation, Practice and Experience London: Routledge
• McSorley, K. (2012) Helmetcams, Militarised Sensation and ‘Somatic War’ Journal of War and Culture Studies, 5, 1, 47-48

Professional Activities

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

Full research profile

Dr Kevin McSorley