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=The History of Sociology at The University of Birmingham=

Sociology at Birmingham University has a long, but troubled history. The University was founded as Britain‟s first 'civic' University in 1902, with an emphasis upon commerce and engineering, chemistry, physics and metallurgy, reflecting the dynamic manufacturing base in the city. All these subjects were part of the Faculty of Commerce. Social studies was incorporated into the curriculum with the adoption of the Diploma in Social Studies previously offered by the Women‟s Settlement (the latter had used the term Sociology, but this was not liked by the founding Professor of Commerce, W.J. Ashley, who commented that it stood "for nothing in particular but everything in general that had to do with society").

Poet and journalist Charles Madge was appointed Professor of Sociology in 1950, but a Department of Sociology was not finally established until 1962 under the headship of William (Gi) Baldamus. In the 1960s and 1970s, the University expanded interdisciplinary studies, mainly focussing on professional education and applied social studies. This was also the period when the world famous Centre for the Study of Contemporary Cultural Studies was set up (in 1964) to flourish under the leadership of Richard Hoggart and Stuart Hall, although it was regarded with hostility by sociologists at Birmingham.

Members of the Department of Sociology were active in the general student unrest of 1968 and the Department came under pressure from the University which blocked the appointment of radical sociologist, Dick Atkinson to a lectureship, after it had been recommended by the appointment committee (Dick Atkinson is now OBE, following his lifelong social and community activism with Balsall Heath Forum). This led to an external embargo being placed upon the University, which did more to harm sociology at Birmingham than to bring about a change in the attitudes of senior management. The Department of Sociology was finally closed in 1986 with its members dispersed to other Departments, including the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, which became a Department of Cultural Studies responsible for undergraduate programmes, including sociology.

In 1991 the University reorganised the Department of Cultural Studies to provide a higher profile for sociology by creating a Department of Cultural Studies and Sociology, but the union was short-lived. In 2002, following what the University regarded as a weak performance in the 2001 RAE, the Department was closed. There were fifteen members of staff and the University proposed to retain just 4 of them. In the words of the then Head of Department, Frank Webster, "it was indicated that I should remain to see through the unavoidably disrupted coming months, then – with 'deadwood' staff removed – we would be free to make appointments of better quality people after a decent interlude. However, this would be on changed organisational terms".

Frank Webster declined the offer and left to take up a post at City University. Professor David Marsh stepped in on secondment from the Department of Political Science and International Studies, to run the programmes on an interim basis, while the University made a decision about the long-term future of sociology at Birmingham. In 2004 it decided to establish a new Department of Sociology and undertook a strategic review chaired by Professor Judith Petts, who became PVC for Research and Knowledge Transfer shortly after. The University committed itself to a 10-year project for the development of the new Department. The strategic review group was aware that the department was set up in the middle of the RAE period and was to have a large proportion of staff in their first RAE.

Professor Petts wrote that, "it may be over optimistic to expect the RAE panel to make such allowances and the University needs to recognise that the outcome of 2008 may be modest relative to the leading departments. The panel cannot emphasise strongly enough that should this be the case, the University must hold its nerve and continue to support the department." !reference needed!

The RAE result in 2008 was modest and the Head of the newly formed College of Social Sciences, Professor Edward Peck, indicated his wish to conduct a major review of the Department. That review concluded in 2009 and the Department has once again been threatened with closure. The manner of the closure is remarkably similar to that of 2002. There were 16 full-time members of staff submitted in the RAE and just 3 are recommended to remain.

The Department is currently housed in the refurbished Muirhead Tower, the former home of CCCS and the Department of Cultural Studies and Sociology. Emblazoned on the wall of the foyer to the 'Learning Centre' is the slogan: "The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing"