Prof Luke Martell

Luke's main interests are in political sociology, especially socialism and social democracy, social movements and globalisation.

He is writing a book on Alternative Societies. This will look at: communist, non-capitalist and non-market societies; libertarian and decentralised societies; alternative communities and economies; radical education; participatory political organisation; post-patriarchal, non-racist and post-colonial society; alternative societies for developing countries; green and sustainable society; societies without work; global society without borders; the politics of transition to alternatives; and the role of sociology as critical, utopian and normative.

The Sociology of Globalization, 2010, looked at: concepts and perspectives on globalisation; the history of globalisation; technology, media and globalised culture; global migration - problem or solution?; the global economy and global inequality; the nation-state and social democracy under globalisation; cosmopolitan democracy and the anti-globalisation movement; and American power and war.

In the late 1990s Luke's work was mainly on New Labour and the third way resulting in two books with Stephen Driver, New Labour, 1998, and Blair's Britain, 2002. The edited Social Democracy: global and national perspectives, 2001, looks at changes and national differences in social democracy, its relationship to Europe and globalisation, and criticisms and alternatives. The Third Way and Beyond: criticisms, futures, alternatives, co-edited, 2004, examines critical perspectives on the third way in relation to equality, the state and community.

Ecology and Society, 1994, looked at political and sociological dimensions of environmentalism. Topics covered in the book include: ecology and industrialism; the sustainable society; green philosophy; the green movement; ecology and political theory; rethinking relations between society and nature; and the future of environmentalism.

Luke's PhD thesis in the late 1980s looked at revisionist socialist responses to social changes such as globalisation, the rise of the new right and post-fordism. The thesis focused mainly on associational socialism and market socialism. The main outcome of this was two articles on new ideas of socialism in the journal Economy and Society in 1992 and 1993.

Downloadable publications here.

Core Sociology course on Themes and Perspectives in Sociology

Sociology options on Globalisation: history, theories and culture and Globalisation: migration, economy and politics

Politics and Sociology option on The Death of Socialism?

A new course on Alternative Societies, currently being designed.

Luke supervises PhD students in areas such as: globalisation and global politics; capitalism and socialism; environmentalism; social democracy and public policy; and political participation and democracy.

Student Consultation

As teaching is finished I don't have office hours any more but I'm about and if you'd like to meet up any time just drop me a line and we can fix something up! l.martell@sussex.ac.uk.

Martell, Luke (2013) The Sussex occupation and the privatisation of university education. Bright Green [weblog article, 25 March 2013].

Martell, Luke (2013) The marketisation of our universities. Shifting Grounds.

Martell, Luke (2013) Social democracy after the crisis in Europe and the crisis of social democracy. Renewal: a journal of social democracy. ISSN 0968-252X (In Press)

Martell, Luke (2012) Fighting for the public university. Open Democracy.

Martell, Luke (2012) Ed Miliband and one nation politics. Social Europe Journal [weblog article, 3 Oct 2012]. ISSN 2046-9810

Martell, Luke (2012) Has occupy had an impact? Bright Green, 2012 (22/09).

Martell, Luke (2012) Can predistribution deliver responsible capitalism? Social Europe Journal [weblog article, 11 Sept 2012]. ISSN 2046-9810

Martell, Luke (2012) Has the Left forgotten the world? Shifting Grounds.

Martell, Luke (2012) A future for the graduate without a future. Bright Green, 12 (11/09).

Martell, Luke (2012) Do we need freedom from work? Liberal Conspiracy [weblog article, 28 July 2012].

Martell, Luke (2012) The privatisation of the universities. Shifting Grounds [weblog article, 9 July 2012] .

Martell, Luke (2012) Miliband's mistake on migration. LabourList [weblog article, 6 July 2012].

Martell, Luke (2012) What kind of freedom does the Left want? Liberal Conspiracy [weblog article, 23 June 2012 ].

Martell, Luke (2012) The Crisis in Europe and the Crisis of Social Democracy. Social Europe Journal, 2012 (12/06). ISSN 2046-9810

Martell, Luke (2012) The French Election and the Democratic Left. New Left Project.

Martell, Luke (2012) Social democracy in a global era. In: After the third way: the future of social democracy in Europe. I.B. Tauris, London, pp. 29-44. ISBN 9781848859937

Martell, Luke (2011) Conflicts in cosmopolitanism and the global left. Policy Network.

Martell, Luke (2011) Cosmopolitanism and global politics. Political Quarterly, 18 (4). pp. 618-627. ISSN 1467-923X

Martell, Luke (2011) History of the Sussex sociology department. In: Making the Future: a history of the University of Sussex. University of Sussex, Brighton. ISBN 2200000103437

Martell, Luke (2011) The privatisation of the English university. Perspectives on Europe, 41 (1). pp. 11-15. ISSN 00462802

Martell, Luke (2011) How New is the New Politics? Euroscope, 45.

Martell, Luke (2010) Safeguarding education: why we take industrial action with a heavy heart. The Badger.

Martell, Luke (2010) Election 2010 - what does it mean? Polity, Polity Blog - Anthony Giddens.

Martell, Luke (2010) Migration - problem or solution? Supplement to Anthony Giddens (2009) Sociology, 6th edition [online article, 11 Jan 2010].

Martell, Luke (2010) Foreword. In: A Framework for Sustainable Global Development and Effective Governance of Risk. Edwin Mellen, New York. ISBN 9780773437425

Martell, Luke (2010) Globalization after Copenhagen and the financial crisis. Polity International, Polity Blog.

Martell, Luke (2010) The Sociology of Globalization. Polity Press, Cambridge. ISBN 9780745636733

Martell, Luke (2010) The Third Way and the Latin American Left. In: Unset Unpublished. (Submitted)

Martell, Luke (2010) The third way and the Latin American left.

Martell, Luke (2009) Global inequality, human rights and power: a critique of Ulrich Beck's cosmopolitanism. Critical Sociology, 35 (2). pp. 253-272. ISSN 0896-9205

Martell, Luke (2009) Globalisation and Economic Determinism. In: Global Studies Association Conference, Royal Holloway, London, September 2009.

Martell, Luke (2008) Britain and Globalisation. Globalizations, 5 (3). pp. 449-466. ISSN 14747731

Martell, Luke (2008) Beck's Cosmopolitan Politics. Contemporary Politics, 14 (2). pp. 129-143. ISSN 1356-9775

Martell, Luke (2008) Globalisation, social democracy and cosmopolitan politics. Re-public: Re-imagining democracy. ISSN 1791-857X

Martell, Luke (2007) The third wave in globalisation theory. International Studies Review, 9 (2). pp. 173-196. ISSN 15219488

Hale, Sarah, Leggett, Will and Martell, Luke, eds. (2004) Third Way and Beyond: Criticisms, futures, alternatives. Manchester University Press, Manchester. ISBN 0719065992

Hale, Sarah, Leggett, Will and Martell, Luke, eds. (2004) The Third Way and beyond: Criticisms, futures, alternatives. Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York. ISBN 9780719065996

Martell, Luke (2004) National differences and the rethinking of social democracy: third ways in Britain and Europe. In: Good Governance, Democratic Societies and Globalisation: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Sage, London, pp. 92-110. ISBN 9780761998488

Martell, Luke and Driver, S (2002) Third Ways in Britain and Europe. In: The Third Way Transformation of Social Democracy: normative claims and policy initiatives in the 21st century. Ashgate.

Driver, Stephen and Martell, Luke (2002) Blair's Britain. Polity Press. ISBN 978-0745624594

Driver, Stephen and Martell, Luke (2002) New Labour, Work and the Family. Social Policy and Administration, 36, 1. pp. 46-61.

Martell, Luke, van den Anker, Christien, Browne, Matthew, Hoopes, Stephanie, Larkin, Phil, Lees, Charles, McGowan, Francis and Stammers, Neil, eds. (2001) Social Democracy: Global and National Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke. ISBN 0333804058

Driver, Stephen and Martell, Luke (2001) From Old Labour to New Labour: a comment on Rubinstein. Politics, 21 (1). pp. 47-50.

Driver, Steven and Martell, Luke (2001) Blair and Britishness. In: British Cultural Studies. Oxford University Press.

Martell, Luke (2001) Capitalism, globalisation and democracy: Does social democracy have a role? The Global Site.

Driver, Stephen and Martell, Luke (2000) Left, Right and the Third Way. Politics and Policy, 28 (2). pp. 147-161.

Martell, Luke (1999) Medienshow ohne substanz? New Labour's 'dritter weg'. Blaetter fuer Deutsche und Internationale Politike, 7. pp. 848-857. ISSN 00064416

Driver, Stephen and Martell, Luke (1998) New Labour: Politics after Thatcherism. Polity Press. ISBN 978-0745620510

Outhwaite, William and Martell, Luke, eds. (1998) The Sociology of Politics. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 978 1 85278 901 5

Driver, Stephen and Martell, Luke (1998) New Labour: Culture and Economy. In: Culture and Economy after the Cultural Turn. Sage.

Driver, Stephen and Martell, Luke (1997) New Labour's Communitarianisms. Critical Social Policy, 17 (52). pp. 27-46. ISSN 0261-0183

Martell, Luke and Stammers, Neil (1996) The study of solidarity and the social theory of Alain Touraine. In: Alain Touraine. Consensus and Controversy: Falmer Sociology Series . Falmer Press, London, pp. 127-144. ISBN 0750705523

Martell, Luke and Driver, Stephen (1996) Beyond Equality and Liberty: New Labour's Liberal Conservatism. Renewal, 4 (3).

Martell, Luke (1994) Ecology and society: an introduction. Polity Press, London. ISBN 9780745610238

Martell, Luke (1993) Rescuing the middle ground: neo-liberalism and associational socialism. Economy and Society, 22 (1). pp. 100-113. ISSN 0308-5147

Martell, Luke (1992) New Ideas of Socialism. Economy and Society, 21 (2). pp. 152-172. ISSN 0308-5147