General Election 2010

Well, the general election has been announced (6th May for those of you living under a stone...) and you don't need me (or maybe you do...) to tell you that this is VERY important to sociologists. The political party who is in power has an enormous impact on social policy, and therefore on the work we do as sociologists. Everything, from education to poverty, from social mobility and crime and deviance- it's all decided and influenced by politicians and these are areas which the politicians from the various parties are going to be debating over the next month or so.

As you watch the coverage of the election, as you read newspaper reports and hear interviews on the radio, start to make connections between what you hear/read/see, and the things you study in sociology. Start to think about how you might link what the politicians are saying to what you know about what certain sociologists say.... as well as thinking carefully about what YOU think of the issues being discussed. Some of you might be too young to vote, but some of you won't and you should be thinking about for whom your vote will be cast!