Professor Jason Hughes

I am a Professor of Sociology, elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Science, and appointed Member of the European Academy, Academia Europaea. My research interests centre on problematised consumption (e.g. substance use) and production (e.g. work). I've been awarded prizes for excellence in teaching (e.g. Distinguished Teaching Award, 2005), and I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (since 2018). I am also interested in (developing, applying and teaching) sociological theory and methods. My published work has won various prizes and awards, including the Sage Innovation prize (2017); Emerald Literati Prize (2013); and Norbert Elias Prize (2006).

I am editor of Sociological Research Online, member of the editorial board of Historical Social Research, chair of the editorial board for Human Figurations and have acted as guest editor for journals such as International Journal of Social Research Methods; Crime, Media and Culture; The Journal of Workplace Learning, and Historical Social Research. I am one of three members of the Board of the Norbert Elias Foundation, Amsterdam (a scholarly Foundation that oversees Elias's estate and promotes his work internationally).

I have a broad range of research interests, all of which stem from my core engagement with relational/processual sociology: that is, sociology which focuses on social processes, human relationships, and which is centrally concerned with how the stuff of the social world 'comes to be'. Thus far, I have extended this engagement with relational/processual sociology to three key areas: consumption and regulation; sociological practice; and work, emotions and identity.

Recent studies include:

As PI:
• 'Raising community voice for future health research'. UK Research and Innovation Fund. £35086.00. FEC contribution from the University of Leicester £31717.22 Total FEC Equivalent Value of £66,803.22. Awarded December 2019. RS14G0092.

• 'Adolescent Vaping Careers'. Principal Investigator, Funded by Cancer Research UK. C60744/A23882. FEC Value of £278,321.17. 2017-2020.

As Co-I:
• The Regulation of E-Cigarettes in and Around Organisational Lives. Co-Investigator (PI Dr Charlotte Smith, Leicester Business School). Funded by CRUK. C60666/A23885. FEC value of £102,246.83. 2017-2020.

• 'Social media use and adolescent mental health'. Wellcome Trust. 019393/Z/15/Z. £4160.

Authored Books

Simpson, R., Hughes, J., Slutskaya, N. (2016) Gender, Class and Occupation: Working Class Men Doing Dirty Work. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

Dunning, E. and J. Hughes (2013) Norbert Elias and Modern Sociology: Knowledge, Interdependence, Power, Process. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Hughes, J. (2003) Learning to Smoke: Tobacco Use in the West. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

 

Edited Books

Goodwin, J., Hughes, J. and Hughes, K. (eds) (2017) Contemporary Approaches to Ethnographic Research, four volumes, Sage Benchmarks in Social Research Methods Series. London: Sage.

Hughes, J. and Goodwin, J. (eds) (2014) Documentary and Archival Research. Four Volume Major Works Series. Sage Benchmarks in Social Research Methods. London: Sage.

Critcher, C., Hughes, J., Petley, J. and Rohloff, A. (eds) (2013) Moral Panics in the Contemporary World. London: Bloomsbury.

Hughes, J. (ed.) (2012) Visual Methods. Four Volume Major Works Series. London: Sage.

Hughes, J. (ed.) (2012) Internet Research Methods. Four Volume Major Works Series. London: Sage.

Hughes, J., N. Jewson, L. Unwin (eds) (2007) Communities of Practice: Critical Perspectives, London: Routledge.

 

Journal Articles

Hughes, J., Saramago, A., Dunning, M. and Hughes, K. (Accepted April 2022) 'Fields, worlds and figurations: Using Elias to revisit depth conceptual imagery and emancipatory critique'. Sociologia & Antropologia

 Pritchard, R., Bhavsar, S., Campbell-Morris, P., Modi, P., Nugent, M., Hughes, J. (2021) 'Lessons from the field: the role of agility in a coproduction project encompassing the COVID-19 pandemic. Health Expectations, https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.13372

Hughes, J., Sykes, K., Hughes, K., O’Reilly, M., Goodwin, J., Sutton, C., Karim, K. (2021) ‘From gateways to multilinear connections: A qualitative longitudinal investigation of the relationships between vaping and smoking among adolescent users’. International Journal of Drug Policy. 92. November, 2021: 103341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103341

Hughes, K., Hughes, J., Tarrant, A. (2021) ‘Working at a remove: continuous, collective and configurative research engagement through Qualitative Secondary Analysis’. Quality and Quantity. Online First: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11135-021-01105-x.pdf

Hughes, J., Hughes, K., Sykes, G., Wright, K. (2021) ‘Moving from what data are to what researchers do with them: a response to Martyn Hammersley’. International Journal of Social Research Methodology. 1–3. https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/CMXEJPPW4A4XVY4ZUKJV/full?target=10.1080/13645579.2021.1874606

Hughes, J., Hughes, K., Sykes, G., Wright, K. (2020) ‘Beyond performative talk: critical observations on the radical critique of reading interview data’. International Journal of Social Research Methodology. 23(5): 547–563. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2020.1766757

Hughes, K., Hughes, J., Tarrant, A. (2020) ‘Re-approaching interview data through qualitative secondary analysis: interviews with internet gamblers’. International Journal of Social Research Methodology. 23(5): 565–579. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2020.1766759

Hughes, K., Hughes, J., Portier-Le Cocq, F. (2020) ‘Introduction: making the case for qualitative interviews’. International Journal of Social Research Methodology. 23(5): 541–545. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2020.1766756

Hughes, J., Hughes, K., Sykes, G., Wright, K. (2020) ‘Response to Whitaker and Atkinson’, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 23(6):759–761 https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2020.1806590

Dunning, M., & Hughes, J. (2020). Power, Habitus, and National Character: The Figurational Dynamics of Brexit. Historical Social Research/Historische Sozialforschung, 45(1 (171)), 262-291. doi:10.2307/26873888 https://www.jstor.org/stable/2687388

Kuzmics, H., Reicher, D., & Hughes, J. (2020). State, Emotion, Authority, and National Habitus. State-Related Problems of Our Time and Methodological Discourses in Sociology and Historical Sociology. Historical Social Research/Historische Sozialforschung, 45(1 (171)), 7-41. doi:10.2307/26873878 https://www.jstor.org/stable/26873878

O'Reilly, M., Adams, S., Whiteman, N., Hughes, J., Reilly, P. and Dogra, N. (2018) 'Whose responsibility is adolescent mental health in the UK? The perspectives of key stakeholders'. School Mental Health. 10: 450–461.

O'Reilly, M., Dogra, N., Hughes, J., Reilly, P., George, R. et al. (2018) 'Potential of social media in promoting mental health in adolescents'.Health Promotion International, day056. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/day056

O'Reilly, M., Dogra, N., Whiteman, N., Hughes, J., Eruyar, and Reilly, P. (2018) 'Is social media bad for mental health and wellbeing? Exploring the perspectives of adolescents'.Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 23(4): 601–613. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359104518775154

O'Reilly, M., Adams, S., Whiteman, N., Hughes, J., Reilly, P. and Dogra, N. (2018) 'Whose responsibility is adolescent mental health in the UK? The perspectives of key stakeholders'.School Mental Health. 10(4): 450–461.

Hughes, J., Simpson, R., Slutskaya, N. and Simpson, A. (2017) 'Beyond the Symbolic: A Relational Approach to Dirty Work through a Study of Refuse Collectors and Street Cleaners'. Work, Employment and Society. Online First. DOI: 10.1177/0950017016658438. Winner of the 2018 Sage Innovation Prize.

Hughes, K., Goodwin, J. and Hughes, J. (2016) 'Documenti e reperti umani come figurazioni'. CAMBIO: Rivista sulle trasformazioni sociali – Journal of Social Transformations, 6(11): 123–138. http://dx.doi.org/10.13128/cambio-18788

Goodwin, J., Hughes, J. and O'Connor, H. (2016) 'Return to Winston Parva: Starting to Reconstruct The Established and the Outsiders ‘From the Margins’. Historical Social Research, 40(1): 8–18.

Hughes, J. and Goodwin, J. (2016) 'Established–Outsider Relations and Figurational Analysis'. Historical Social Research, 40(1): 7–17.

Hughes, J., Simpson, R., Slutskaya, N. and Simpson, A. (2016) 'Beyond the Symbolic: A Relational Approach to Dirty Work through a Study of Refuse Collectors and Street Cleaners'. Work, Employment and Society.Online First. DOI: 10.1177/0950017016658438

Slutskaya, N., Simpson, R., Hughes, J., Simpson, A. and Uygur, S. (2016) 'Masculinity and class in the context of dirty work'. Gender, Work and Organisation, 23(2): 165–182.

Slutskaya, M., Hughes, J., Simpson, A. and Valseechi, R. (2015) 'Future avenues and challenges of exploring complex personhood'. Qualitative Research in Organisations and Management, 10(4): 314–319.

Hughes, J. (2015) 'Looking elsewhere: Howard S. Becker as organizational sociologist'. Organization, 22(6): 769–787.

Hughes, J. (2014) 'A füst számüzése a dohányzásból: e-cigaretták, önszabályozás, társdalmi szabályozás és civilizációs folyamatok' (The erasure of smoke from smoking: e-cigarettes, self-regulation, social regulation and civilising processes'). Erdélyi Társadalom, 12(2): 123–142.

Goodwin, J., Miklós, H., Hughes, J., Plugor, R. (2014) 'Bevezetés: Norbert Elias és a folyamatszociológia' (Introduction: Norbert Elias and Process Sociology). Erdélyi Társadalom, 12(2): 9–18.

Hughes, J. (2014) 'E-cigarettes and the "civilising" of smoking'. Cambio, 4(7): 169–181.

Simpson, A., Slutskaya, N., Hughes, J. and Simpson, R. (2014) 'The use of ethnography to explore meanings that refuse collectors attach to their work'. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, 9(3). http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/QROM-01-2013-1133

Jugureanu, A., Hughes, J. and Hughes, K. (2014) 'Towards a developmental sociology of happiness', Sociological Research Online, 19(2) 2. http://www.socresonline.org.uk/19/2/2.html

Simpson, R., Hughes, J., Slutskaya, N. and Balta, M. (2014) 'Sacrifice and distinction in dirty work: men’s construction of meaning in the butcher trade'. Work, Employment and Society, 28(5): 754–770.

Hughes, J. and Goodwin, J. (2013) ‘Drawing Elias – sketches from four interviews’. Human Figurations, 2(2). http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.11217607.0002.207

Hughes, J. (2013) ‘Norbert Elias and The Habits of Good Sociology’. Human Figurations, 2(1): http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.11217607.0002.107

Slutskaya, N., Simpson, A. and Hughes, J. (2012) ‘Lessons from Photoelicitation: Encouraging Working Men to Speak’, Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, 7(1): 16–33.

Goodwin, J. and Hughes, J. (2011) ‘Ilya Neustadt, Norbert Elias, and the Leicester Department: personal correspondence and the history of sociology in Britain’, British Journal of Sociology, 62 (4): 677–695.

Simpson, R., Slutskaya, N. and Hughes, J. (2011) ‘Emotional dimensions of dirty work: men’s encounter with taint in the butcher trade’, International Journal of Work Organization and Emotion 4 (2): 195–212.

Hughes, J., Rohloff, A., David, M. and Petley, J. (2011) ‘Foreword: Moral panics in the contemporary world’, Crime, Media, Culture, 7(3): 211–214.

David, M., Rohloff, A., Petley, J. and Hughes, J. (2011) ‘The idea of moral panic – ten dimensions of dispute’, Crime, Media, Culture, 7 (3) : 215–228.

Hughes, J. (2010) ‘Emotional intelligence: Elias, Foucault and the reflexive emotional self’, Foucault Studies: 8: 28–52.

Hughes, J. (2005) ‘Bringing emotion to work: emotional intelligence, resistance, and the reinvention of character’, Work Employment and Society. 19 (2): 603–635.

Seow, C. and Hughes, J. (2005) ‘Guest editorial’. The Journal of Workplace Learning, 17 (5/6): 273–275.

Hughes, J. (2001) ‘The learning organisation: what is it? Does it constitute a useful set of ideas for the HRD practitioner’. International Journal of Applied Human Resource Management,  2(2): 109–122.

Hughes, J. (2001) ‘Getting emotional: the learning organisation and emotional intelligence’, International Journal of Applied Human Resource Management. 2(3): 12–29.

Hughes, J. (2000) ‘Low-investment internet-based distance learning solutions: systems and procedures’, Techknowlogia, July/August 2000: 23–27.

 

 

Book Chapters/Others

Nugent, M., Hughes, J., Pritchard, R., Bhavsar, S., Campbell-Morris, P., Modi, P., Asani, F. (2022) Leicester Voices. Figshare resource. https://doi.org/10.25392/leicester.data.c.5855160.v1

Hughes, J., Tarrant, A., Hughes, K., Sykes, G. (2021) ‘F**k ups in social research: learning from what goes “wrong”’. LSE Impact Blog. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2021/08/02/fk-ups-in-social-research-learning-from-what-goes-wrong/

 Simpson, R. and Hughes, J. (2020) 'Mary Douglas: the cultural and material manifestations of dirt and dirty work'. Chapter 3 of Robert McMurray and Alison Pullen (eds) Rethinking Culture, Organisation and Management. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429279720 

Rojek, C. and Hughes, J. (2020) 'Dunning, Eric (1936–2019) in G. Ritzer (ed.) The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Sociology. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405165518.wbeos1575

Hughes, J. (2020) 'Becker, Howard S.'. In P. Atkinson, S. Delamont, M.A. Hardy, & M. Williams (eds.), SAGE Research Methods Foundations. doi: 10.4135/9781526421036860818. http://methods.sagepub.com/foundations/becker-howard-s

Hughes, J. (2019) ‘Preface’ in Rohloff, A. Climate Change, Moral Panics and Civilization. Ed. André Saramago. London: Routledge.

Simpson, R. and Hughes, J. (2018) 'Mary Douglas: the cultural and material manifestations of dirt and dirty work'. Chapter in R. McMurray and A. Pullen (eds) Routledge Focus on Women Writers in Organizational Studies. London: Routledge.

Simpson, R., Slutskaya, N. and Hughes, J. (2018) 'Meanings and dirty work: a study of refuse collectors and street cleaners'. Chapter in A. Madden (ed.) Oxford Handbook of Meaningful Work. Oxford: OUP.

O’Reilly, M., Dogra, N., Hughes, J., Reilly, P., Whiteman, N. (2017) Written evidence for Parliament: Mental health in schools. http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/health-committee/children-and-young-peoples-mental-healththe-role-of-education/written/45583.pdf

Hughes, J. (2017) 'Norbert Elias and Process Sociology', in Stones, R. (ed.) Key Sociological Thinkers, third edition (London: Macmillan).

Hughes, J. (2014) 'E-cigarettes and the "civilising" of smoking'. Chapter 7, pp. 93–110 of A. Ohira (ed.) Norbert Elias as Social Theorist: Figurational Sociology and its Applications. Tokyo: DTP Publishing.

Hughes, J. and Goodwin, J. (2014) ‘Human documents as figurations’. Chapter 1 of J. Hughes and J. Goodwin (eds) Human Documents and Archival Research. Four Volume Major Works Series. London: Sage.

Rohloff, A., Hughes, J., Petley, J. and Cricher, C. (2013) ‘Moral panics in the contemporary world: enduring controversies and future directions’. Chapter 1 of C. Critcher, J. Hughes, J. Petley, and A. Rohloff (eds) Moral Panics in the Contemporary World. London: Bloomsbury. pp. 1–32.

Malcolm, D., Mansfield, L., Hughes, J. ‘Norbert Elias’ (2013) chapter in Tony Blackshaw (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Leisure Studies. London: Routledge.

Hughes, J. (2012) ‘Editor’s introduction: Sage Visual Methods’. Chapter 1 of J. Hughes (ed.) Sage Visual Methods. Four Volume Major Works Series. London: Sage. pp. xxi–xlv.

Hughes, J. (2012) ‘Editor’s introduction: Sage Internet Research Methods’. Chapter 1 of J. Hughes (ed.) Sage Internet Research Methods. Four Volume Major Works Series. London: Sage. pp. xxi–xli.

Simpson R., Slutskaya N., and Hughes, J. (2012) ‘Gendering and embodying dirty work: men managing taint in the context of nursing care’. Pages 165–181 of R. Simpson, N. Slutskaya, H. Hopfl (eds) Dirty Work: Concepts and Identities. London: Palgrave.

Hughes, J. (2010) ‘Os hábitos da boa sociologia’ (‘The habits of good sociology’) in de Souza, E. F., Simões, J. L. & Figueiredo Lucena, R. (eds) Escritos a Partir de Norbert Elias, (vol. 2). Recife-PE: Editoria Da UFPE.

Hughes, J. (2009) ‘“Corações Inteligentes”: intelligencia emocional, trabalho emocional e informalização’. (‘“Intelligent hearts”: emotional intelligence, emotional labour and informalisation’) Pages 135–163 of Gebara, A. and Wouters, C. (eds) O Controle Das Emoções. Paraíba: UFBP.

Hughes, J. (2007) ‘Norbert Elias and process sociology’, in Stones, R. (ed.) Key Sociological Thinkers. Second Edition. London: Macmillan.

Hughes, J., N. Jewson, L. Unwin (2007) ‘Communities of practice: an idea whose time has come?’ in Hughes, J., N. Jewson, L. Unwin (eds) Communities of Practice: Critical Perspectives, London: Routledge.

Hughes, J. (2007) ‘Lost in translation: communities of practice — the journey from academic model to practitioner tool’ in Hughes, J., N. Jewson, L. Unwin (eds) Communities of Practice: Critical Perspectives, London: Routledge.

Jewson, N., J. Hughes, L. Unwin (2007) ‘The future for communities of practice’ in Hughes, J., N. Jewson, L. Unwin (eds) Communities of Practice: Critical Perspectives, London: Routledge.

Hughes, J. (2006) ‘Smoking’, in Ritzer, G. (ed.) The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, London: Blackwell.

Hughes, J. (2005) ‘Tobacco: Social and Cultural Uses’, pp. 551–568 in Goodman, J., M. Norton, M. Parascandola (eds) Tobacco in History and Culture: An Encyclopaedia. Detroit: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Hughes, J. (2005) ‘Snuff’, pp. 547–51 in Goodman, J., M. Norton, M. Parascandola (eds) Tobacco in History and Culture: An Encyclopaedia. Detroit: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Hughes, J. (2005) ‘Elias’, in A. Harrington, B. Marshall & H. P. Müller (eds) Routledge Encyclopaedia of Social Science, London: Routledge.

Hughes, J. (2005) ‘Figuration’, in A. Harrington, B. Marshall & H. P. Müller (eds) Routledge Encyclopaedia of Social Science, London: Routledge.

Hughes, J. (2005) ‘Civilisation’, in A. Harrington, B. Marshall & H. P. Müller (eds) Routledge Encyclopaedia of Social Science, London: Routledge.

Hughes, J. (2004) ‘Tobacco use as a civilizing process’, chapter in Wada, S. (ed.) Collected Works on Cultural and Sociological Conceptualizations of ‘Rationality’, Tokyo: Waseda University.

Hughes, J. (2003) ‘From panacea to pandemic: tobacco use in the West’, chapter in, E. Dunning and S. Mennell (eds) Norbert Elias, London: Sage.

Hughes, J. (2001) ‘La consommation de tabac dans le processus de civilisation’ (Tobacco-use in the civilising process), chapter in H. S. Becker (ed.) Qu’est-ce Qu’une Drogue? (What is a drug?), Paris: Atlantica Press.

 

I have previously supervised research students in relation to such diverse topics as: retirement power and influence; e-cigarettes and tobacco control; punk and ageing; homelessness among Polish migrants; graduate 'talent stories'; the sociogenesis of hypermasculinity; representations of climate change and moral panics; happiness well-being and positivity; terrorism and civilisation; higher education and communities of practice; Chinese culture and learning; web 2.0 research; dark tourism; higher education and epistemic regimes; genocide and ethnic cleansing; knowledge management and knowledge sharing. I am interested in supervising research that fits with my current interests and cognate areas of concern but am open to considering other topics.

Current Supervisions

·      Magdalena Brzeska: Homeless Polish Migrants’ Conceptions of Home

·      Peter Emmerson: Towards a Sociogenesis and Psychogenesis of Retirement in the Police

·      Tom Furniss: Video Reflexive Ethnography in Urgent Care Settings

·      Laurie Parsons:Sociological Storytelling: Working with the Problem of Cruise Ships Dancers and Family Relations

·      Jan Davis: The Sociogenesis of a Village

·      Bob Athwal: The Cultural Encoding of Social Backgrounds into Recruitment and Selection Processes

·      Matt McIntosh: A Critical Examination of Hypermasculinity: Gender and Power in the United States

·      Anthony Chan:  Sources and Representations of Taiwanese National Identity and Habitus

Programme Director for MA Media, Culture and Society
Module Leader: SY7037 Social and Cultural Theory
Module Leader: SY7043 Exploring the Social World
Module Leader: SY2084 Bringing Sociology to Work
Various other contributions to BA Sociology, MA Contemporary Sociology, MSc Social Research

E-cigarette use manners smoking dirty work