Wendy Bottero

Wendy studied Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cambridge, before completing her PhD at the University of Edinburgh. She taught at the University of Abertay, Dundee, worked as a Researcher on the Family History Project at Cambridge University, and then moved to a Lecturership at the University of Southampton. She has been at Manchester since January 2006 and was Head of Sociology from 2013-16.

Specific research interests:

I am interested in social hierarchies, and how inequalities are wound through our personal ties and social connections. I have explored this from different angles in my work: using the patterning of social ties to map hierarchies; thinking about how social ties and interaction can help us to theorise hierarchy and inequality; and exploring how our web of social connections affects the visibility of inequality. 

My research addresses three distinct but interrelated areas: the conceptualisation and measurement of stratification and social mobility; the theorization of class subjectivities and ‘cultural’ inequality; and the theorization of cultural practices, pleasure and commitment (with a focus on the sociology of music and family history).    All three strands of my research are ongoing, and my forthcoming book 'A Sense of Inequality' (Rowman and Littlefield) extends my work theorizing the subjectivities of inequality

Supervision areas:

I am keen to supervise research students in the areas of stratification and inequality; social mobility and social reproduction; social ties and interaction; and identities and social divisions.