I am Professor of Sociology and Sociological Practice, teaching both sociology and social psychology. 

‘Sociological practice' is deeply rooted in the Millsean /Jephcottian ideas of sociology as 'craft and skills' (see Goodwin 2016). Being a sociologist requires specific skills; the best way to develop them is to enact them continually. This approach is informed by the sociology of Norbert Elias (the best sociological understanding is offered by examining long-term historical, social processes) and the sociology of those who work with auto\biography, such as Liz Stanley, data reanimation, and archival research.

In addition to sociology, I teach social psychology and I am particularly interested in Milgram and Zimbardo's social psychology. In my writings, I have used Elias (psychogenesis and sociogenesis—Elias was one of the first to teach social psychology at Leicester), C Wright Mills (biography and history/character and social structure), and Jephcott (situations versus predispositions). 

My current practice focuses on creative methods including archival research, autoethnography, collaborative autoethnography, visual studies, data reanimation, and poetic inquiry. 

In 2022 I was shortlisted by the THES as the outstanding research supervisor of the year. I have worked at the University of Leicester since 1991.

Check out the new Leverhulme Centre for Humanity and Space (LCHS)

Blog: madeinleicester.com

I am currently using autoethnographic writing and research to examine social class through storytelling and collaborative autoethnography to explore fieldwork experiences.

Beyond this, I have a broad range of research interests including (i) Youth. This includes transitions employment and precarity and past studies of 'troubled' youth. (ii) The sociology of Pearl Jephcott, Norbert Elias and C Wright Mills. The social psychology of Milgram and Zimbardo; (iii) Auto/biographical methods and analysis (correspondence film photographs biography social media art); (iv) The 'reuse' of data and of the value of 'non-standard' forms of data; and (v) sociological understandings of space linking the individual to the cosmos. 

You can find out more about my approach and research interests by watching the following films.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9bgSINGOpw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyeRplkCr0E&t=3130s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mULG6hIB1c&t=1043s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9bgSINGOp
 

Forthcoming /In Development

• Hughes, Goodwin, Dunning and O’Connor et al (2025) Continuity and Change in Community Relations, Palgrave (forthcoming).

• Goodwin and Hughes - Norbert Elias in Frankfurt: Relational Clues in the Photographs of Gisèle Freund, 1932. (archival research, visual sociology)

• Goodwin, Hughes and Hughes - Imagining Czechoslovakia: ‘Reconfiguring’ Pearl Jephcott’s Czech Research Notebook (archival research, visual sociology).

• Goodwin - The Poetics of Norbert Elias’s Fantasy and Reality (archival research, found poetry for Qualitative Psychology)

• Goodwin -  ‘Our Back Yard’: Change and Transformation of One Working-Class Garden Space (visual sociology, autoethnography)

• Goodwin -  An Autoethnography of Childhood Asthma in Three Acts (autoethnography)

• Goodwin - Ilya Neustadt’s African Interlude: A Leicester Sociologist in 1950s Ghana (archival research)

Under Review/Submitted

• Goodwin, J. (2025) Where I Worked, Where I Lived: Past Research Sites and Data Reanimation as Poetic Inquiry.
• Goodwin, J. and O'Connor, H. (2025) Inequality of Prospects: Structural Disadvantage and UK Youth Training Schemes.
• Goodwin, J., Levine, D., Oyenubi, M. and Stekel, D. (2025) Artificial Intelligence and the Interpretation of Draw–and-Write/Talk Data: Creative Possibilities and Epistemological Limits. 

Recent

• Goodwin, J. (2025) Youth Opportunities: Reanimating Data as Found Poems of Transition, Resistance and Representation, Qualitative Inquiry, DOI:   10.1177/10778004251393198

• Goodwin, J. (2025) Telling Autoethnographic and Sociological Stories of Social Class. International Journal of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (forthcoming)

• Goodwin, J. (2025). Encounters with ‘Found’ Photographs: Analytical Potentials for Sociology, Visual Anthropology and Ethnography, Journal of Anthropological and Archaeological Sciences (JAAS), DOI: 10.32474/JAAS.2025.11.000369

• Parsons, L. and Goodwin, J. (2025) Between the Field and Elsewhere: Using Dialogic Collaborative Autoethnography in Ethnographic Restudies, Qualitative Inquiry, DOI: 10.1177/10778004251355903

• Goodwin, J. (2025) Coalville: Imaging ‘Coal Was Our Life', International Sociological Association RC57 VISUAL SOCIOLOGY, Newsletter 25.1, ISA: Madrid.

• Goodwin, J. (2025) Revisiting Ethnographies from Sociology’s Past: A Research Note on ‘Other Voices’ in Pearl Jephcott’s Work, Global Journal of Archaeology & Anthropology

• Goodwin, J. (ed) (2023) Selected Works of Pearl Jephcott: Social Issues and Social Research - 5 volumes (editor and forewords) Routledge. 

• Ana Caetano, John Goodwin, Magda Nico & Anabela Pereira (2022) Back to basics? Portraits of the first Covid-19 lockdown in Portugal, Visual Studies, DOI: 10.1080/1472586X.2022.2134815

• Goodwin, J. (2022) Slower Sociologies for the Sociology of the Future, Sociology, Vol.57. 2 https://doi.org/10.1177/00380385221127106

• Goodwin, J. O’Connor, H. and Parsons, L. (2022) From Nottinghamshire to Notting Hill: Contemporary Lessons from Pearl Jephcott’s Ethnographies of ‘Troubled Areas’, Serendipities. Journal for the Sociology and History of the Social Sciences Vol. 6 No. 1 , 39-54. 

• Goodwin J, Parsons L. (2021) A Life in Motion: Exploring Auto/Biographical Exchanges by ‘Walking With’ Nelson Sullivan. Sociological Research Online. July 2021. doi:10.1177/13607804211025541

I am a very experienced supervisor having supervised well over well 230 MA/MSc dissertations and 46 Doctoral theses to completion (two of which won the Outstanding DSocSci prize). I also have a significant amount of Doctoral examining experience both at Leicester and beyond. I am interested in supervising students in the following areas:

Creative Methods - Auto/Biography, Ethnography, Autoethnography, Visual

Methods, Reuse of Qualitative Data, Storytelling, Poetic Inquiry.

The work of C Wright Mills, Pearl Jephcott, Norbert Elias, and Stanley Milgram.

Example Current PhD Student Topics

• Putting Norbert Elias to the test - A community case study of 'Clootie Mill'.
• Transformation of the fertility intentions of Chinese rural fertile women
• Gender Inequalities in The School-to-Work Transition at Chongqing Normal University, China
• Research on the Current Situation and Future Development of Flexible Employment of Chinese Artist under the Background of Gig Economy
• Social Capital and the Prosperous Community: A Sociological Investigation into British Indian socio-economic success

Current PhD Topics 'Post Viva'

• Ethnic identity development of second-generation Turkish immigrants and Ethnicizing Habitus of Turkish Communities in London.
• Rise and Fall of Marriage: A Sample of Turkish Graduate Students in The United Kingdom.
• Has punk really died in the UK? An investigation into the post-punk lifestyle of ageing punks and members who use punk for social change.
• Growing Understanding: Meaningful Career Development of Non-PLAR and PLAR Students
  

Examples of Completed PhD Topics I have Supervised

• Shadows of Hope: Using Haunting-Informed Auto/biography to Explore Women Family-Making Across Three Women in One Family.
• Saudi People’s Perceptions And Motives For Volunteering.
• Sociological Investigation Into The Usage Of Religious Symbolism, Garments And Iconography In Fashion.
• Die Like A Man! The Role Of Masculinity In Middle-Aged Male Suicide
• It Doesn’t Count Here, Super-Diverse Community Experiences In A Local History Museum.
• Your Coworker Undressed: Tattoos, Identity, And Stigma In The Workplace.
• The Sociogenesis Of A Village: From Wicked To 'Wicked'.
• The effect of electronic written communication on organisations, their cultures and hierarchies, and the implications for human resource development
• Exploring The Social Conditions Which Govern The Processes Of Migration And Non-Migration Of Highly Skilled Indian Professionals To The UK.
• Palestinian Women Of Syria Speaking Back: Portraying Stateless Female Diaspora.
• The Sociogenesis Of Native American Inequality.
•  Digital Freedom Versus Physical Immobility: The Appropriation Of ICTS By The (Forced) Migrants In Greece.
• Environmental Portraits Of Saudi Women Entrepreneurs: A Digital Ethnography Study.
• The Impact of Structural and Agentic Influences on Graduate Career Choice.
• Can adherence to religious teachings, principles, values and traditions affect HRM practices?  A case study of Saudi Arabia.
• How can workplace learning help to reposition Ireland’s engineering industry towards a high-skills route?
• What factors contribute to the successful transition of army veterans to civilian employment?
• The accidental tiger: an exploration of the Irish economic disposition during the belated golden age of development.
• Market Driven Education and Opportunities for improved school to work transitions within working class communities.
• Public Administration in Ireland- Failure and Learning.
• Chinese Culture and Performance Management.
• When the curtain comes down: career transitions of freelance dancers.
• Higher Education Students’ Experience of the Transition Process from University to Working Life.
• Racialized transitions: the pathways from education to the labour market for black Caribbean young people.
   

SY3100: Social Psychology
MA in Space and Society: Micro, Macro and the Universe: Intersections of Biography and History in Space

I also contribute guest lectures to various modules across the school.

John's work has featured in local, national and international print and broadcast media, including The Guardian, Publico, CNN, the BBC as well as advising on the content of documentaries. John is happy to discuss potential contributions in his research areas.

Professional Association Membership
American Sociological Association (Social Psychology and Teaching Sociology Sections) 
American Psychological Association (Society for Qualitative Inquiry in Psychology; Society for Personality and Social Psychology; Society for the History of Psychology) 
International Sociological Association (RC08 History of Sociology)
Visual Studies Association
Working Class Studies Association
Royal Historical Society (Fellow) 

Professional Practice (recent)
Chair of the Data-Driven Qualitative, Creative and Mixed Methods Scoping Study, ESRC
Chair, American Sociological Association Teaching & Learning Section Publications Committee
ESRC Research Talent Advisory Group member 2024
UKRI Talent Peer Review College Member 2023 
QAA Sociology Subject Benchmark Advisory Group 25/26.
Editor - Youth and Young Adulthood Book Series, Routledge
Serendipities. Journal for the Sociology and History of the Social Sciences - Editorial Board Member from 2024 onwards

• Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS)
• Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS)
• Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
• Academic Fellow, CIPD (AFCIPD)

• University of Leicester, Citizen's Awards 2023. Research Supervisor of the Year. Finalist.
• Times Higher Education Awards 2022. Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year, Shortlisted.
• University of Leicester, Discovering Excellence Awards 2019. Teaching Excellence. Finalist.
• University of Leicester, Discovering Excellence Awards 2018. President’s Award. Nominated.
• Emerald Publishing, Outstanding Paper Award for Excellence 2004. Winner.
  
   

• Goodwin, J. and O’Connor, H. (2025) From Found Data to Young Worker Archive, Beyond the ‘archival turn’: Making and using sociological archives (BSA),  Sir Bob Burgess Building, University of Leicester, 30 June 2025. 
• Goodwin, J. (2025) Days that Changed the World: Launch of Sputnik 4/10/1957.  Leicester Institute of Advanced Study/Literary Leicester, Attenborough Arts Centre, 21/3/25.
• Goodwin, J. (2025) Sociological Walking Research and Practice. Through the Walking Lens Event. Institute of Advanced Study, Cosin’s Hall, Durham University, 18/3/2025.
• Goodwin, J. (2025) Finding Pearls: Biographical Traces, The Sociological Craft, and a Lost Study of Delinquency, CFR, University of Warsaw. 
• Goodwin, J. and Hughes, H. (2024) (Re) Imagining Czechoslovakia: Pearl Jephcott’s Czech Research Notebook,  Social Figurations: long-term processes, present concerns, and future directions conference,  Prague, Czech Republic, 5/12/24.
• Goodwin, J. (2024) ‘Other Voices in the Archive’: Pearl Jephcott’s Homes in High Flats (1971),  "Sources, Data, and Methods for the History of Sociology,  ISA RC08 Online Conference, 16/10/24.
• Goodwin, J. (2024) Revisiting Radby: Lessons from the Social Background to Delinquency, Journal of Youth Studies Conference, University of Ulster, Belfast. September 2024.  
• Berriman, L. G, Fenton. L., Goodwin, J. Thomson, R & McGeeney, E. (2024) Archive Methods: Reanimating Youth Studies: Panel. Journal of Youth Studies Conference, University of Ulster, Belfast. September 2024. 
• Goodwin, J. (2024) Holidays by the Sea: A Ten-Minute Film, International Working-Class StoryFest.  A conference organised by The Working-Class Collective, the Working-Class Theatre Makers, and The Working-Class Studies Association,  23rd March 2024. 
• Goodwin, J. (2023) Adventures in Restudies, Autobiographical Methods and Storytelling: Lessons for Possible Futures from the Past and Present, University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education/Rudd Research and Professional Practice Centre. 8th March 2023.
• Goodwin, J. (2022) Disruptions, Disputes and Dilemmas: Elias and the ‘Empirical’ Sociology at Leicester 1950s-1970s, University of Warsaw, 9th December 2022.
• Goodwin, J. (2022) A year in the life: Living portraits of the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal. Centro de Ivestigação e Estudos de Sociolgia, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal. Lisboa. Portugal. Biographical Echoes Conference 16th September 2022. 
• Goodwin, J. (2022) Biographies and the Practice of Storytelling.  Centro de Ivestigação e Estudos de Sociolgia, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal. Lisboa. Portugal. Biografias e Trajectories,  14th September 2022. 
• Goodwin, J (2022) The Practice of Story Telling: Learning to Read, College Court, University of Leicester. 13th July 2022.
• Goodwin, J (2022) The Sociological Practice of Story Telling, Attenborough Arts Centre, University of Leicester. 
• Caetano, A., Goodwin, J., Nico, M. et al (2021) Back to Basics? Photographic Portraits of Domestic Confinement During the Covid-19 Pandemic, European Sociological Association Conference, 3rd September 2021. 
• Goodwin, J. (2021) A Juventude através dos tempos. Keynote. QUESTÕES SOCIAIS: Novo Encontro Juventudes, 27th and 28th February, 2021. Fundaçāo Fransico Manuel Dos Santos, Pavilhão Carlos Lopes, Lisboa. Portugal
• Goodwin, J. (2021) C. Wright Mills – ‘Reality Congruent Revolution’, Out of Time: Revolutionary Arguments - Past and Present, University of Leicester – Virtual International Symposium, Friday 10th September 2021. 

BSc (Loughborough) Sociology and Social Psychology (1991)

Ph.D. (Leicester) Sociology (1997)

PhD Thesis Title: Men's work and male lives : exploring men and employment in the national child development study. The thesis offers an empirical account of men's employment via a secondary analysis of the National Child Development Study (1991). The analysis suggested that men's lives were/are far more complex (and less homogeneous) than originally thought. External Examiner: Professor Mike Gane. Internal Examiner: Professor Annie Phizacklea. Supervisor: Professor David Ashton.

Doctor of Letters (Leicester) due for submission Spring 2026
I am currently registered for a DLitt. 

Doctor of Letters Thesis Title: A Detour via the Data: Reflections on Data Reuse, Non-Standard Sources and Stories in Sociological Practice. The thesis is an autoethnographic exploration of my journey through the 'sociological data landscape' as documented in thirty-four years of writing, publications and creative academic practice. Autoethnography is an orientation 'to research and writing that seeks to describe and systematically analyse (graphy) personal experience (auto) in order to understand cultural experience (ethno)' (Ellis et al. 2011: 1). Systematically interpreting my own experiences and my long-term transition from a PhD researcher using large-scale quantitative cohort study data (see Goodwin 1999) to an advocate of qualitative, creative and story based sociology (see Goodwin 2022) juxtaposes the start and middle phases of my career and, through thick evocative description, serves as a point of contrast against broader sociological research trends. More specifically, examining my sociological career via autoethnography (i) facilitates a problematization of my data user and/or data creator 'journey' as both 'subject' and 'object' in the analysis; (ii) enables critical analysis of my 'data experiences' in various substantive fields of enquiry; (iii) provides a revelatory function in offering a better understanding of sociological practice; (iii) allows me to reconsider how research and teaching are co-created which, in turn (iv) leads to an understanding of how my sociological biography intersects with the changing contours of the discipline and vice-versa (see Goodwin 2016, 2023, 2023a, 2024). External Examiner: TBC  Supervisor: Professor Nick Mai.