| Post: | Senior Lecturer in Sociology |
| Location: | Friston Building FR-263 |
| Email: | S.Scott@sussex.ac.uk |
| Telephone numbers | |
| Internal: | 3775 or 8890 |
| UK: | (01273) 873775 or (01273) 678890 |
| International: | +44 1273 873775 or +44 1273 678890 |
Biography
Susie is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology, with research interests in medical sociology (especially mental health); self-identity, interaction and everyday life; qualitative methodology; and performance art, celebrity and fandom.
Susie joined the department in 2004, after studying at the universities of Essex (BA 1999, MA 2000) and Cardiff (PhD 2003). In Cardiff , she conducted her ESRC-funded doctoral research on 'the sociology of shyness' and worked as a Research Associate and Teaching Assistant in the School of Social Sciences . She spent her first year at Sussex working as an ESRC-funded Postdoctoral Research Fellow, was a Lecturer A from 2004-6, Lecturer B 2006-8 and Senior Lecturer 2008-present.
Research
My research focuses on questions of self-identity in relation to two main areas: dramaturgy, self-presentation and everyday life; and health, medicine and psychiatric knowledge. More specifically, I am interested in shyness and social anxiety - in terms of both lived experiences and cultural representations. The subject of my doctoral research was 'the sociology of shyness', which culminated in a http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=273779" book (Shyness and Society, Palgrave 2007) and various articles. This study examined the accounts given by self-defined 'shy' people of their experiences of everyday interaction, stigma and social exclusion; see this website for more details.
Since then, I have conducted a number of related projects about shyness. The first was on stage fright and performance anxiety in university lecturers, the second a British Academy funded (pilot) ethnographic study of a Shyness Clinic in the USA (I am currently developing the latter interest into a larger scale study of the medicalisation of shyness), and the third an ongoing study of stage fright, fame and identity in professional performing artists.
I am now working on an EPSRC-funded project, "Supporting Shy Users in Pervasive Computing", with colleagues in Informatics. We are examining the impact of ubiquitous technologies (mobile devices or those built into the environment) upon self-defined 'shy' people in three different social contexts: classrooms, informal networking sites, and art galleries. The Sociology team (myself, Dr Karl Broome and Ms Vuokko Harma) is focusing on the latter, and we are collaborating with Sussex artist in residence Anna Dumitriu and Permanent Gallery curator Polly Carter. You can find out more about the project http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/research/projects/shyness/Supporting+Shy+Users+in+Pervasive+Computing" here.
Within medical sociology, much of my research has explored the construction of patient/client identities in health care, for example in the holistic practices of alternative medicine and in the clinical risk assessments of cancer genetics (in an ESRC funded project with Lindsay Prior, Fiona Wood and Jonathan Gray). In 2006 I become the Principal Investigator of a Wellcome Trust funded project about the 'treatability' and risk assessment of people with 'Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder' (DSPD), working alongside Gillian Bendelow, Bill Fulford, Rachel Cane and Debbie Jones. My shyness research also addresses the construction of pathological identities through the medicalisation and clinical treatment of extreme shyness (as 'Social Phobia' and 'Social Anxiety Disorder').
Meanwhile, within social theory, I specialise in twentieth century American sociology, particularly Symbolic Interactionism, ethnomethodology, phenomenology and Weberian interpretivism. I have published various articles on Goffman's dramaturgical theory, short pieces on Cooley, Klein and Becker, and (with Charles Thorpe) a sociological exploration of the radical anti-psychiatrist, R.D. Laing. These various theories and their applications were discussed in my latest book, Making Sense of Everyday Life (Polity 2009, in press). I am now starting work on a new book about Goffman.
Teaching
I have also authored the teacher and student resources for Companion Websites to two major undergraduate textbooks: Sociology (Fulcher & Scott, 2/e and 3/e) and Social Research Methods (Bryman, 2/e and 3/e).
I convene and teach the Sociology Project (3rd year), Performance, Celebrity and Fandom (3rd year, not 2008-9) and Sociology of Everyday Life (2nd year) courses.
Publications
Books:
- Scott, S. (2009) Making Sense of Everyday Life. Cambridge: Polity Press (in press).
- Scott, S. (2007) Shyness and Society: The Illusion of Competence. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Refereed journal articles:
- Scott, S. (2007) "College hats or lecture trousers? Stage fright and performance anxiety in university lecturers." Ethnography and Education, 2, 2 189-205.
- Scott, S. (2007) "Theatres of talk: the interviewer as stagehand." Qualitative Researcher, 5 (May 2007), 6-8
- Scott, S. & Thorpe, C. (2006a) "The sociological imagination of R.D. Laing." Sociological Theory, 24, 4, 331-353.
- Scott, S. (2006b) "The medicalisation of shyness: from social misfits to social fitness." Sociology of Health and Illness, 28, 2, 133-153.
- Scott, S. (2005a) "The red, shaking fool: dramaturgical dilemmas in shyness." Symbolic Interaction, 28, 1, 91-110.
- Scott, S., Prior, L., Wood, F. & Gray, J. (2005b) "Repositioning the patient: the implications of being 'at risk'." Social Science and Medicine, 60, 8, 1869-1879.
- Scott, S. (2004a) "The shell, the stranger and the competent other: towards a sociology of shyness." Sociology, 38, 1, 121-137.
- Scott, S. (2004b) "Researching shyness: a contradiction in terms?" Qualitative Research, 4, 1, 91-105.
Shorter pieces:
- Scott, S. (2008) "On Conrad's The Medicalization of Society and Murcott's (ed.) Sociology and Medicine: Selected Essays by P.M. Strong." (Review essay). Health Sociology Review, 17, 1, 115-118.
- Scott, S. (2007) "Erving Goffman", "Howard Becker" and "Melanie Klein". Entries in J. Scott (ed.) (2007) Fifty Key Sociologists: The Contemporary Theorists. London: Routledge.
- Scott, S. (2007) "Charles Cooley". Entry in J. Scott (ed.) (2007) Fifty Key Sociologists: The Formative Theorists. London: Routledge.
- Scott, S. (2007) "Self and identity", "Negotiated order" and "Cyber-ethnography". Entries in J. Scott (ed.) (2007) Sociology: The Key Concepts. London: Routledge.
- Scott, S. (2006) "Three handbooks of qualitative research and data analysis." (Review essay). Qualitative Research, 5, 1, 133-137.
Other publications:
- Scott, S. (2007) "Stage fright in the classroom." Sociology Review, Vol.16, No. 4 (April 2007, in press)
- Scott, S. (2003) "A Sociology of Shyness?" (Sociology Review, Vol. 12, No. 3, February 2003)
- Scott, S. (1999) "Applying Sociology to Everyday Experiences" (Sociology Review, Vol. 8, No.4, April 1999)
- Scott, S. (1997) "Sociology of the Corridor" (Network: BSA Newsletter, No. 68, Sept 1997)
- Scott, S. (1996) "Reflections On Project Work" (Sociology Review, Vol. 6, No.2, Nov 1996)
- Scott, S. (1996) "Advice, Encouragement and Success: A Student Resource Centre" (ATSS journal, Vol. 26, No. 1, 1996)
- Scott, S. (1996-1999) "Letter From An Undergraduate" (ATSS Newsletter, regular feature)
- Scott, S. (1995) "On The Mastering Of Skills" (ATSS Journal, Vol. 25, No. 2, 1995)
- Scott, S. (1994) "Testing Taken For Granted Assumptions In The Family" (ATSS Journal, Vol. 24 No. 2, 1994)
Conference and seminar presentations:
Conference and seminar presentations:
Conference and seminar presentations:
Conference and seminar presentations:Conference and seminar presentations:
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- Department of Sociology annual lecture, University of Essex, 20th November 2008. "Shyness, interaction and dramaturgical deviance." (invited as guest speaker)
- BSA Medical Sociology Annual Conference, University of Sussex, 5th September 2008. "The medicalisation of shyness." (invited as guest speaker, Mental Health Study Group)
- Department of Sociology seminar, University of Brighton, UK, 14th May 2008. "Shyness as a form of social deviance." (invited as guest speaker)
- BSA Medical Sociology Annual Conference, Liverpool, UK, 8th September 2007. "A values-based approach to understanding Antisocial Personality Disorder and `dangerousness'."
- Gender and the Emotions seminar, Department of Sociology, University of Sussex, 29th November 2006. "Shyness, stage fright and dangerousness."
- Department of Sociology and Social Policy seminar, University of Southampton, 29th November 2005. "The Paradox of Shy Performativity." (invited as guest speaker)
- BSA Medical Sociology Annual Conference, September 2005, University of York. "Sparing Blushes: The Medicalisation of Shyness."
- Department of Sociology, University of Sussex, April 2005. "Issues in the Medicalisation of Shyness."
- Department of Sociology, University of Sussex, February 2005. "Shyness as a Sociological Puzzle."
- BSA Annual Conference 2005, University of York. "Making Shy Identities: Self-(Re)Presentation or Cultural Creation?"
- Couch-Stone Symposium 2004, Vancouver, Canada.
- BSA Annual Conference 2003, University of York.
- Scott, S. (2003) "A Sociology of Shyness?" (Sociology Review, Vol. 12, No. 3, February 2003)
- Scott, S. (2007) "Charles Cooley". Entry in J. Scott (ed.) (2007) Fifty Key Sociologists: The Formative Theorists. London: Routledge.
- Scott, S. (2007) "Theatres of talk: the interviewer as stagehand." Qualitative Researcher, 5 (May 2007), 6-8