Biography

Paul Hodkinson joined the Department of Sociology in August 2003. He was previously Senior Lecturer in Media Studies at University College Northampton and prior to that, he studied at the University of Birmingham at undergraduate and postgraduate level. His PhD - focused upon theories of subculture in relation to ethnographic research of the goth scene - was awarded in 2001. Since then, his research and writing have focused upon subcultural theory, the social significance of social networking sites, theories and understandings of media and ageing youth cultures.

He is author of Goth. Identity, Style and Subculture (Berg 2002) and Media, Culture and Society (Sage 2010). He is also co-editor, with Wolfgang Deicke, of Youth Cultures: Scenes, Subcultures and Tribes (Routledge 2007) and co-editor, with Andy Bennett, of Ageing and Youth Cultures (Berg 2012).

He is co-editor of Sociological Research Online and previously acted as co-editor of the Culture section of the Sociology Compass journal (2011-12). 

For more information and to download selected publications please visit Paul's personal site: http://www.paulhodkinson.co.uk

Research Interests

sociology of youth and youth cultures

ageing and youth subcultures

social networking sites and identity

popular music and society

media and community

approaches to 'insider research' in sociology

Publications

Books

Hodkinson, P. (2010), Media, Culture and Society, London: Sage.

Hodkinson, P. (2002), Goth. Identity, Style and Subculture, Oxford: Berg.

Edited Books

Bennett, A. and Hodkinson, P. (eds.) (2012), Ageing and Youth Cultures: Music, Style and Identity, Oxford: Berg.

Hodkinson, P. and Deicke, W. (2007), Youth Cultures: Scenes, Subcultures and Tribes, London: Routledge.

Journal Special Editions

Geldens, P., Lincoln, S. and Hodkinson, P. (eds.) (2011), 'Youth: Identities, Transitions, Cultures', Journal of Sociology, 47 (4).

Brooks, R. and Hodkinson, P. (eds.) (2008), ‘Young People, New Technologies and Political Engagement’, Special Issue, Journal of Youth Studies, 11 (5).

Journal Papers and Book Chapters

Hodkinson, P. (forthcoming 2013), 'Family and Parenting in an Ageing "Youth" Culture: A Collective Embrace of Dominant Adulthood?', Sociology, Accepted June 2012, Issue TBC.

Hodkinson, P. (forthcoming 2012), 'Spectacular Youth Cultures and Ageing: Beyond Refusing to Grow Up', Sociology Compass, Issue TBC.

Hodkinson, P. (2012), ‘The Collective Ageing of a Goth Festival’ in Bennett, A. and Hodkinson, P. (eds.), Ageing and Youth Cultures: Music, Style and Identity, Oxford: Berg.

Hodkinson, P. (2012), ‘Beyond Spectacular Specifics in the Study of Youth Cultures’, Journal of Youth Studies, I-First, DOI:10.1080/13676261.2012.663891.

Hodkinson, P. (2011), 'Ageing in a Spectacular "Youth Culture": Continuity, Change and Community Amongst Ageing Goths', British Journal of Sociology 62 (2).

Hodkinson, P. (2009), 'Spectacular Youth? Young People's Fashion and Style', in Furlong, A. (ed.), Handbook of Youth and Young Adulthood, London: Routledge.

Hodkinson, P. and Lincoln, S. (2008), ‘Online Journals as Virtual Bedrooms: Young People, Identity and Personal Space', YOUNG, 16 (1). 

Hodkinson, P. (2008), ‘Grounded Theory and Inductive Research', in Gilbert, N. (ed.). Researching Social Life: Third Edition, London : Sage.

Hodkinson, P. (2007), ‘Interactive Online Journals and Individualisation’, New Media and Society, Volume 9 (4). 

Hodkinson, P. (2007), ‘Goth Music and Subculture’, in Spooner, C. and McEvoy, E. (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Gothic, London: Routledge.

Hodkinson, P. (2007), ‘Youth Cultures: A Critical Overview of Key Debates’, in Hodkinson, P. and Deicke, W. (eds), Youth Cultures: Scenes, Subcultures and Tribes, New York: Routledge.

Hodkinson, P. (2007), ‘“We are all individuals, but we’ve all got the same boots on!” Traces of Individualism within a Subcultural Community’, in Bibbly, M. and Goodlad, L. (eds.), Goth: Undead Subculture, North Carolina: Duke University Press.

Hodkinson, P. (2006), ‘Subcultural Blogging. Online Journals and Group Involvement Among UK Goths’, in Bruns, A. and Jacobs, J. (eds), Uses of Blogs, New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 187-198. 

Hodkinson, P. (2005), ‘Insider Research in the Study of Youth Cultures’, in Journal of Youth Studies, Vol. 8 (2): 131-149. 

Hodkinson, P. (2005), ‘Communicating Goth: Online Media’, in Gelder, K. (ed.), The Subcultures Reader, Second Edition, London: Routledge, 564-574.

Hodkinson, P. (2004) ‘The Goth Scene and (Sub)Cultural Substance’, in Bennett, A. and Harris, K. (eds.) After Subculture: Critical Studies in Contemporary Youth Culture, London: Palgrave, 135-147.

Hodkinson, P. (2004), ‘Trans-Local Connections in the Goth Scene’, in Bennett, A. and Peterson, R. (eds.), Music Scenes: Local, Translocal and Virtual, Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 131-148.

Hodkinson, P. (2003), ‘ “Net.Goth”. On-line Communications and (Sub)Cultural Boundaries’, in Muggleton, D. and Weinzierl, R. (eds.), The Post-Subcultural Reader, Oxford: Berg, 285-298.

Some of these publications are available to download from Paul's personal site at http://www.paulhodkinson.co.uk

Selected Conference Papers

Hodkinson, P. (2011), ‘Style, Subculture and Identity in the Goth Scene’, invited public seminar talk, Template for Terror: The Revival of Gothic, Institute for Contemporary Arts, London.

Hodkinson, P. (2011), Beyond the Meaning of Style: On the Continuing Role of Content in Subcultural Analysis, keynote address, Youth Subcultures in Changing Societies, Tallinn University, Estonia.

Hodkinson, P. (2009), 'MySpace or Our Space? Social Networking Sites and Emerging Identities', invited address, ESRC Funded Seminar: Global Youth, University of Kent.

Hodkinson, P. (2009), 'Subculture as Subversion?' Subculture and Style Symposium, invited address, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York.

Hodkinson, P. (2008), ‘Youth, Personal Space and Online Communication’, invited keynote address, The 21^st Century Teenager: Media Representation, Theory and Policy, Leeds Trinity College.

Hodkinson, P. (2008), Youth, Personal Space and Identity: An Examination of Social Networking Sites', keynote, The Place of Youth: Young People and Social Space, University of Kingston, London.

Hodkinson, P. (2006), ‘Style as Subculture? Contrasting Interpretations of Goth’, invited public seminar talk, Vooruit Theatre, Ghent, Belgium.

Hodkinson, P (2006), ‘Subcultural or Postsubcultural: The Case of the Goth Scene’, Invited Keynote, ‘Theoretical and Methodological Workshop’, organised by Framework 6 Project: Society and Lifestyles: Towards Enhancing Social Harmonisation through Knowledge of Subcultural Communities.

Hodkinson, P. and Lincoln, S. (2005), ‘Online Journals and Teenage Bedrooms?’, Young People and New Technologies: BSA Youth Study Group Conference, University of Northampton.

Hodkinson, P. (2005), Young People, Internet Communication and Individualisation’, British Sociological Association Annual Conference, University of York.

Hodkinson, P. (2004), ‘Subcultural Blogging: Individual, Community and Communication’, Association of Internet Researchers Conference, University of Sussex.

Hodkinson, P. (2003), ‘Balancing Subjectivity and Objectivity: Reflections on Being a Critical Insider’, Scenes, Subcultures and Tribes: BSA Youth Study Group Conference, University College Northampton.

Teaching

Current Teaching

Media, Power and Control (level 2 undergraduate)

Popular Music and Society (level 3 undergraduate)

Understanding Youth Culture (level 3 undergraduate)

Music, Media and Technology (level 3 undergraduate)

Dissertation supervision (undergraduate and postgraduate)

PhD supervision

Selected previous teaching

Sociological Analysis

Social Research Methods

Media, Communication and Society 

Social Theory

Departmental Duties

Current Duties

Deputy Head and Director of Teaching and Learning, Department of Sociology

Selected Previous Duties

Programme Director, BSc Sociology, Culture and Media; BA Media Studies

Chair of Department Teaching and Learning Committee

Member, Faculty Teaching and Learning Committee

Member, Faculty Ethics Committee

Academic Misconduct Arbitrator

External Examining

Paul has just taken up an external examiner role for BA Media and Communications and related programmes at Demontfort University.

Previously, Paul acted as external examiner for the MA in Popular Music Studies at the University of Liverpool from 2008-11.

Paul has acted as external examiner for PhD students at University of Liverpool, University of Glasgow, London School of Economics, Brunel University, University of Essex, University of Bolton, Canterbury Christ Church University and University of Wollongong.