With so many platforms available to share information, there are more means than ever to make a noise. But in the spirit of free speech and academic freedom, those speaking and actually being heard remain grossly unequal. What are the links between voice and power and how can we amplify those voices that we can’t hear?

In this special episode recorded at The Sociological Review Undisciplining II conference, Michaela Benson is joined by Claire Alexander (Professor of Sociology and Head of the School of Social Sciences at The University of Manchester), Dan McCulloch (Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Social Policy at The Open University) and Belinda Scarlett (Library Manager at the Working Class Movement Library) to talk about empowerment, representation and impact, under a common theme: VOICE

Guests: Claire Alexander, Dan McCulloch, Belinda Scarlett
Host: Michaela Benson
Executive Producer: Alice Bloch
Guest Producer: Emma Houlton
Sound Engineer: David Crackles
Music: Joe Gardner
Artwork: Erin Aniker

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Episode Resources

By Claire Alexander 

• Our Migration Story
• The Art of Being Black: The Creation of Black British Youth Identities
• Stuart Hall and ‘Race’

By Dan McCulloch

• Critical Reflections on Participatory Visual Methods and Voice
• Why Deaf Prisoners Have Been in a State of Lockdown Since Well Before COVID-19
• Homelessness and Mortality: an Extraordinary or Unextraordinary Phenomenon? (co-authored with Vickie Cooper)

By Belinda Scarlett

• Working Class Movement Library
• Big Flame Project

From The Sociological Review

• Accent and the Manifestation of Spatialised Class Structure – Michael Donnelly, Sol Gamsu, Alex Baratta
• Youth Voices in Post-English Riots Tottenham: The Role of Reflexivity in Negotiating Negative Representations – Julius Elster

Further resources

• “Sidewalk” – Mitchell Duneier
• Black British Voices – report of project led by Kenny Monrose
• Valuing Voices in the Digital Age – Sharath Srinivasan
• “Why Voice Matters: Culture and Politics After Neoliberalism” – Nick Couldry
• At Home and Not at Home: Stuart Hall in conversation with Les Back; also available for listening

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