Books

Savage, Mike and Friedman, Sam (2015) Social class in the 21st century. Penguin Books, London, UK. ISBN 9780241004227

Savage, Mike (2010) Identities and social change in Britain since 1940: the politics of method. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. ISBN 9780199587650

Bennett, Tony, Savage, Mike, Bortolaia Silva, Elizabeth, Warde, Alan, Gayo-Cal, Modesto and Wright, David (2008) Culture, class, distinction. CRESC. Routledge, London, UK. ISBN 9780415422420

Articles

Branson, Nicola, Hjellbrekke, Johs, Leibbrandt, Murray, Ranchhod, Vimal, Savage, Mike and Whitelaw, Emma (2024) The socioeconomic dimensions of racial inequality in South Africa: a social space perspective. British Journal of Sociology. ISSN 0007-1315

Savage, Mike (2024) In defence of sociological description: a ‘world-making' perspective. British Journal of Sociology, 75 (3). 360 - 365. ISSN 0007-1315

Savage, Mike and Vaughan, Michael (2024) Durability in inequality discourse in the UK public sphere, 2008-2023. Javnost - the Public, 31 (1). 176 - 192. ISSN 1318-3222

Prieur, Annick, Savage, Mike and Flemmen, Magne (2023) Distinctions in the making: a theoretical discussion of youth and cultural capital. British Journal of Sociology, 74 (3). pp. 360-375. ISSN 0007-1315

Hecht, Katharina, Savage, Mike and Summers, Kate (2022) Why isn’t there more support for progressive taxation of wealth? A sociological contribution to the wider debate. LSE Public Policy Review, 2 (4). ISSN 2633-4046

Savage, Mike (2022) History and sociology: a twenty-first century rapprochement? Twentieth Century British History, 33 (3). pp. 416-431. ISSN 0955-2359

Savage, Mike and Waitkus, Nora (2022) Property, wealth, and social change: Piketty as a social science engineer. British Journal of Sociology, 72 (1). 39 - 51. ISSN 0007-1315

Savage, Mike and Li, Chunling (2021) Introduction to thematic series “new sociological perspectives on inequality”. Journal of Chinese Sociology, 8 (1). ISSN 2198-2635

Koch, Insa, Fransham, Mark, Cant, Sarah, Ebrey, Jill, Glucksberg, Luna and Savage, Mike (2021) Social polarisation at the local level: a four-town comparative study on the challenges of politicising inequality in Britain. Sociology, 55 (1). 3 - 29. ISSN 0038-0385

Savage, Mike (2021) Bourdieu comes to town: part II. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 45 (1). 150 - 153. ISSN 0309-1317

Paidipaty, Poornima and Savage, Mike (2021) Debating Capital and Ideology: an introduction to the special issue. British Journal of Sociology, 72 (1). 3 - 7. ISSN 0007-1315

Savage, Mike and Meersohn Schmidt, Cynthia (2020) The politics of the excluded: abjection and reconciliation amongst the British precariat. Journal of Chinese Sociology, 7 (1). ISSN 2198-2635

Upton-Hansen, Chris, Kolbe, Kristina and Savage, Mike (2020) An institutional politics of place: rethinking the critical function of art in times of growing inequality. Cultural Sociology. ISSN 1749-9755

Mijs, Jonathan J.B and Savage, Mike (2020) Meritocracy, elitism and inequality. Political Quarterly, 91 (2). 397 - 404. ISSN 0032-3179

Cant, Sarah, Savage, Mike and Chatterjee, Anwesa (2020) Popular but peripheral: the ambivalent status of sociology education in schools in England. Sociology, 54 (1). pp. 37-52. ISSN 0038-0385

Simson, Rebecca and Savage, Mike (2020) The global significance of national inequality decline. Third World Quarterly, 41 (1). 20 - 41. ISSN 0143-6597

Savage, Mike (2019) What makes for a successful sociology? A response to “Against a descriptive turn”. British Journal of Sociology, 71 (1). 19 - 27. ISSN 0007-1315

Savage, Mike and Flemmen, Magne (2019) Life narratives and personal identity: the end of linear social mobility? Cultural and Social History, 16 (1). pp. 85-101. ISSN 1478-0038

Hanquinet, Laurie and Savage, Mike (2018) Feeling European in a globalised world and the role of mobility, networks, and consumption: a comparative approach to British exceptionalism. European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology, 5 (4). 423 - 454. ISSN 2325-4823

Savage, Mike, Hanquinet, Laurie, Cunningham, Niall and Hjellbrekke, Johs (2018) Emerging cultural capital in the city: profiling London and Brussels. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 42 (1). pp. 138-149. ISSN 0309-1317

Hey, Ana Paula, Grimaldi-Christensen, Anna and Savage, Mike (2017) Elites in the UK: new approaches to contemporary class divisions. Tempo Social, 29 (3). pp. 161-179. ISSN 1809-4554

Halford, Susan and Savage, Mike (2017) Speaking sociologically with big data: symphonic social science and the future for big data research. Sociology, 51 (6). pp. 1132-1148. ISSN 0038-0385

Dodd, Nigel, Lamont, Michèle and Savage, Mike (2017) Introduction to BJS special issue. British Journal of Sociology, 68 (S1). S3-S10. ISSN 0007-1315

Flemmen, Magne and Savage, Mike (2017) The politics of nationalism and white racism in the UK. British Journal of Sociology, 68 (S1). S233-S264. ISSN 0007-1315

Savage, Mike (2017) Déclin et renouveau de l’analyse de classe dans la sociologie britannique, 1945-2016. Actes de la Recherche En Sciences Sociales, 2017/4 (219). pp. 42-55. ISSN 0335-5322

Nichols, Georgia and Savage, Mike (2017) A social analysis of an elite constellation: the case of Formula 1. Theory, Culture & Society, 34 (5-6). pp. 201-225. ISSN 0263-2764

Cunningham, Niall and Savage, Mike (2017) An intensifying and elite city. City: Analysis of Urban Trends, Culture, Theory, Policy, Action, 21 (1). pp. 25-46. ISSN 1470-3629

Savage, Mike (2016) End class wars. Nature, 537 (7621). pp. 475-479. ISSN 0028-0836

Savage, Mike (2016) The fall and rise of class analysis in British sociology, 1950-2016. Tempo Social, 28 (2). pp. 57-72. ISSN 1809-4554

Hall, Suzanne M. and Savage, Mike (2016) Animating the urban vortex: new sociological urgencies. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 40 (1). 82 - 95. ISSN 0309-1317

Friedman, Sam, Savage, Mike, Hanquinet, Laurie and Miles, Andre (2015) Cultural sociology and new forms of distinction. Poetics, 53. pp. 1-8. ISSN 0304-422X

Olcese, Cristiana and Savage, Mike (2015) Notes towards a ‘social aesthetic’: guest editors' introduction to the special section. British Journal of Sociology, 66 (4). pp. 720-737. ISSN 0007-1315

Savage, Mike, Devine, Fiona, Cunningham, Niall, Friedman, Sam, Laurison, Daniel, Miles, Andrew, Snee, Helene and Taylor, Mark (2015) On social class, anno 2014. Sociology, 49 (6). pp. 1011-1030. ISSN 0038-0385

Wakeling, Paul and Savage, Mike (2015) Entry to elite positions and the stratification of higher education in Britain. Sociological Review, 63 (2). pp. 290-320. ISSN 0038-0261

Savage, Mike (2015) Introduction to elites from the ‘Problematic of the Proletariat’ to a class analysis of ‘Wealth Elites’. Sociological Review, 63 (2). pp. 223-239. ISSN 0038-0261

Cunningham, Niall and Savage, Mike (2015) The secret garden? Elite metropolitan geographies in the contemporary UK. Sociological Review, 63 (2). pp. 321-348. ISSN 0038-0261

Savage, Mike (2014) Piketty's challenge for sociology. British Journal of Sociology, 65 (4). pp. 591-606. ISSN 0007-1315

Hanquinet, Laurie, Roose, Henk and Savage, Mike (2014) The eyes of the beholder: aesthetic preferences and the remaking of cultural capital. Sociology, 48 (1). pp. 111-132. ISSN 0038-0385

Savage, Mike (2013) The 'social life of methods': a critical introduction. Theory, Culture & Society, 30 (4). 3 - 21. ISSN 0263-2764

Savage, Mike and Silva, E. B. (2013) Field analysis in cultural sociology. Cultural Sociology, 7 (2). pp. 111-126. ISSN 1749-9755

Meuleman, R. and Savage, Mike (2013) A field analysis of cosmopolitan taste: lessons from the Netherlands. Cultural Sociology, 7 (2). pp. 230-256. ISSN 1749-9755

Prieur, Annick and Savage, Mike (2013) Emerging forms of cultural capital. European Societies, 15 (2). pp. 246-267. ISSN 1461-6696

Savage, Mike, Devine, Fiona, Cunningham, Niall, Taylor, Mark, Li, Yaojun, Hjellbrekke, Johs., Le Roux, Brigitte, Friedman, Sam and Miles, Andrew (2013) A new model of social class? Findings from the BBC's Great British Class Survey experiment. Sociology, 47 (2). pp. 219-250. ISSN 0038-0385

Ruppert, Evelyn S., Law, John and Savage, Mike (2013) Reassembling social science methods: the challenge of digital devices. Theory, Culture & Society, 30 (4). pp. 22-46. ISSN 0263-2764

Miles, Andrew and Savage, Mike (2012) The strange survival story of the English gentleman, 1945–2010. Cultural and Social History, 9 (4). pp. 595-612. ISSN 1478-0038

Hanquinet, Laurie and Savage, Mike (2012) ‘Educative leisure’ and the art museum. Museum and Society, 10 (1). pp. 42-59. ISSN 1479-8360

Hanquinet, Laurie, Savage, Mike and Callier, Louise (2012) Elaborating Bourdieu's field analysis in urban studies: cultural dynamics in Brussels. Urban Geography, 33 (4). pp. 508-529. ISSN 0272-3638

Miles, Andrew, Savage, Mike and Bühlmann, Felix (2011) Telling a modest story: accounts of men's upward mobility from the National Child Development Study. British Journal of Sociology, 62 (3). pp. 418-441. ISSN 0007-1315

Branson, Nicola, Hjellbrekke, Johs, Leibbrandt, Murray, Ranchhod, Vimal, Savage, Mike and Whitelaw, Emma (2024) The socioeconomic dimensions of racial inequality in South Africa: a social space perspective. British Journal of Sociology. ISSN 0007-1315

Savage, Mike (2024) In defence of sociological description: a ‘world-making' perspective. British Journal of Sociology, 75 (3). 360 - 365. ISSN 0007-1315

Savage, Mike and Vaughan, Michael (2024) Durability in inequality discourse in the UK public sphere, 2008-2023. Javnost - the Public, 31 (1). 176 - 192. ISSN 1318-3222

Prieur, Annick, Savage, Mike and Flemmen, Magne (2023) Distinctions in the making: a theoretical discussion of youth and cultural capital. British Journal of Sociology, 74 (3). pp. 360-375. ISSN 0007-1315

Hecht, Katharina, Savage, Mike and Summers, Kate (2022) Why isn’t there more support for progressive taxation of wealth? A sociological contribution to the wider debate. LSE Public Policy Review, 2 (4). ISSN 2633-4046

Savage, Mike (2022) History and sociology: a twenty-first century rapprochement? Twentieth Century British History, 33 (3). pp. 416-431. ISSN 0955-2359

Savage, Mike and Waitkus, Nora (2022) Property, wealth, and social change: Piketty as a social science engineer. British Journal of Sociology, 72 (1). 39 - 51. ISSN 0007-1315

Savage, Mike and Li, Chunling (2021) Introduction to thematic series “new sociological perspectives on inequality”. Journal of Chinese Sociology, 8 (1). ISSN 2198-2635

Koch, Insa, Fransham, Mark, Cant, Sarah, Ebrey, Jill, Glucksberg, Luna and Savage, Mike (2021) Social polarisation at the local level: a four-town comparative study on the challenges of politicising inequality in Britain. Sociology, 55 (1). 3 - 29. ISSN 0038-0385

Savage, Mike (2021) Bourdieu comes to town: part II. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 45 (1). 150 - 153. ISSN 0309-1317

Paidipaty, Poornima and Savage, Mike (2021) Debating Capital and Ideology: an introduction to the special issue. British Journal of Sociology, 72 (1). 3 - 7. ISSN 0007-1315

Savage, Mike and Meersohn Schmidt, Cynthia (2020) The politics of the excluded: abjection and reconciliation amongst the British precariat. Journal of Chinese Sociology, 7 (1). ISSN 2198-2635

Upton-Hansen, Chris, Kolbe, Kristina and Savage, Mike (2020) An institutional politics of place: rethinking the critical function of art in times of growing inequality. Cultural Sociology. ISSN 1749-9755

Mijs, Jonathan J.B and Savage, Mike (2020) Meritocracy, elitism and inequality. Political Quarterly, 91 (2). 397 - 404. ISSN 0032-3179

Cant, Sarah, Savage, Mike and Chatterjee, Anwesa (2020) Popular but peripheral: the ambivalent status of sociology education in schools in England. Sociology, 54 (1). pp. 37-52. ISSN 0038-0385

Simson, Rebecca and Savage, Mike (2020) The global significance of national inequality decline. Third World Quarterly, 41 (1). 20 - 41. ISSN 0143-6597

Savage, Mike (2019) What makes for a successful sociology? A response to “Against a descriptive turn”. British Journal of Sociology, 71 (1). 19 - 27. ISSN 0007-1315

Savage, Mike and Flemmen, Magne (2019) Life narratives and personal identity: the end of linear social mobility? Cultural and Social History, 16 (1). pp. 85-101. ISSN 1478-0038

Hanquinet, Laurie and Savage, Mike (2018) Feeling European in a globalised world and the role of mobility, networks, and consumption: a comparative approach to British exceptionalism. European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology, 5 (4). 423 - 454. ISSN 2325-4823

Savage, Mike, Hanquinet, Laurie, Cunningham, Niall and Hjellbrekke, Johs (2018) Emerging cultural capital in the city: profiling London and Brussels. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 42 (1). pp. 138-149. ISSN 0309-1317

Hey, Ana Paula, Grimaldi-Christensen, Anna and Savage, Mike (2017) Elites in the UK: new approaches to contemporary class divisions. Tempo Social, 29 (3). pp. 161-179. ISSN 1809-4554

Halford, Susan and Savage, Mike (2017) Speaking sociologically with big data: symphonic social science and the future for big data research. Sociology, 51 (6). pp. 1132-1148. ISSN 0038-0385

Dodd, Nigel, Lamont, Michèle and Savage, Mike (2017) Introduction to BJS special issue. British Journal of Sociology, 68 (S1). S3-S10. ISSN 0007-1315

Flemmen, Magne and Savage, Mike (2017) The politics of nationalism and white racism in the UK. British Journal of Sociology, 68 (S1). S233-S264. ISSN 0007-1315

Savage, Mike (2017) Déclin et renouveau de l’analyse de classe dans la sociologie britannique, 1945-2016. Actes de la Recherche En Sciences Sociales, 2017/4 (219). pp. 42-55. ISSN 0335-5322

Nichols, Georgia and Savage, Mike (2017) A social analysis of an elite constellation: the case of Formula 1. Theory, Culture & Society, 34 (5-6). pp. 201-225. ISSN 0263-2764

Cunningham, Niall and Savage, Mike (2017) An intensifying and elite city. City: Analysis of Urban Trends, Culture, Theory, Policy, Action, 21 (1). pp. 25-46. ISSN 1470-3629

Savage, Mike (2016) End class wars. Nature, 537 (7621). pp. 475-479. ISSN 0028-0836

Savage, Mike (2016) The fall and rise of class analysis in British sociology, 1950-2016. Tempo Social, 28 (2). pp. 57-72. ISSN 1809-4554

Hall, Suzanne M. and Savage, Mike (2016) Animating the urban vortex: new sociological urgencies. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 40 (1). 82 - 95. ISSN 0309-1317

Friedman, Sam, Savage, Mike, Hanquinet, Laurie and Miles, Andre (2015) Cultural sociology and new forms of distinction. Poetics, 53. pp. 1-8. ISSN 0304-422X

Olcese, Cristiana and Savage, Mike (2015) Notes towards a ‘social aesthetic’: guest editors' introduction to the special section. British Journal of Sociology, 66 (4). pp. 720-737. ISSN 0007-1315

Savage, Mike, Devine, Fiona, Cunningham, Niall, Friedman, Sam, Laurison, Daniel, Miles, Andrew, Snee, Helene and Taylor, Mark (2015) On social class, anno 2014. Sociology, 49 (6). pp. 1011-1030. ISSN 0038-0385

Wakeling, Paul and Savage, Mike (2015) Entry to elite positions and the stratification of higher education in Britain. Sociological Review, 63 (2). pp. 290-320. ISSN 0038-0261

Savage, Mike (2015) Introduction to elites from the ‘Problematic of the Proletariat’ to a class analysis of ‘Wealth Elites’. Sociological Review, 63 (2). pp. 223-239. ISSN 0038-0261

Cunningham, Niall and Savage, Mike (2015) The secret garden? Elite metropolitan geographies in the contemporary UK. Sociological Review, 63 (2). pp. 321-348. ISSN 0038-0261

Savage, Mike (2014) Piketty's challenge for sociology. British Journal of Sociology, 65 (4). pp. 591-606. ISSN 0007-1315

Hanquinet, Laurie, Roose, Henk and Savage, Mike (2014) The eyes of the beholder: aesthetic preferences and the remaking of cultural capital. Sociology, 48 (1). pp. 111-132. ISSN 0038-0385

Savage, Mike (2013) The 'social life of methods': a critical introduction. Theory, Culture & Society, 30 (4). 3 - 21. ISSN 0263-2764

Savage, Mike and Silva, E. B. (2013) Field analysis in cultural sociology. Cultural Sociology, 7 (2). pp. 111-126. ISSN 1749-9755

Meuleman, R. and Savage, Mike (2013) A field analysis of cosmopolitan taste: lessons from the Netherlands. Cultural Sociology, 7 (2). pp. 230-256. ISSN 1749-9755

Prieur, Annick and Savage, Mike (2013) Emerging forms of cultural capital. European Societies, 15 (2). pp. 246-267. ISSN 1461-6696

Savage, Mike, Devine, Fiona, Cunningham, Niall, Taylor, Mark, Li, Yaojun, Hjellbrekke, Johs., Le Roux, Brigitte, Friedman, Sam and Miles, Andrew (2013) A new model of social class? Findings from the BBC's Great British Class Survey experiment. Sociology, 47 (2). pp. 219-250. ISSN 0038-0385

Ruppert, Evelyn S., Law, John and Savage, Mike (2013) Reassembling social science methods: the challenge of digital devices. Theory, Culture & Society, 30 (4). pp. 22-46. ISSN 0263-2764

Miles, Andrew and Savage, Mike (2012) The strange survival story of the English gentleman, 1945–2010. Cultural and Social History, 9 (4). pp. 595-612. ISSN 1478-0038

Hanquinet, Laurie and Savage, Mike (2012) ‘Educative leisure’ and the art museum. Museum and Society, 10 (1). pp. 42-59. ISSN 1479-8360

Hanquinet, Laurie, Savage, Mike and Callier, Louise (2012) Elaborating Bourdieu's field analysis in urban studies: cultural dynamics in Brussels. Urban Geography, 33 (4). pp. 508-529. ISSN 0272-3638

Miles, Andrew, Savage, Mike and Bühlmann, Felix (2011) Telling a modest story: accounts of men's upward mobility from the National Child Development Study. British Journal of Sociology, 62 (3). pp. 418-441. ISSN 0007-1315

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See a comprehensive list of Professor Savage's publications

 

Mike’s work fundamentally addresses the analysis of long-term social change. Drawing on a strong historical sensitivity (indebted to his initial training in history, he is sceptical of ‘hyperbolic’ or ‘presentist’ sociology, such as claims that we have moved into some kind of new ‘epoch’ of social life. His book Identities and Social Change in Britain since 1940: the politics of method (2010) argues that we need to place our understanding of the contemporary in the context of detailed historical research. Recently he has focused on how wealth accumulation is a key driver of social change, an argument he has elaborated in his book The Return of Inequality: social change and the weight of the past (2021).

This perspective has led him to be a leader in the revival of the sociology of elites, where he investigates how increasing elite power and prominence is a fundamental force that is reshaping social inequalities, including older class relationships. He is currently editing a definitive Handbook on the Sociology of Global Elites with Annette Lareau and Maria-Luisa Mendez.

This interest in understanding how intensified economic inequalities are transforming class inequality underpinned Mike’s leadership of the BBC’s Great British Class Survey, which spawned one of the most popular piece of digital sociology ever (with 9 million hits on the BBC’s ‘class calculator’). His book Social class in the 21st Century which argues that older models of class which focused on the divide between middle and working class have been eclipsed by an elite class pulling away at the top, and greater fragmentation in the middle levels of the social structure, has been a bestseller.

A further element of Mike’s interest in wealth inequality is concerned with excavating the importance of the racial wealth divide, where he is conducting collaborative research in the UK and South Africa. Mike explores how intense wealth inequalities between differing racialised groups can be traced back to older imperial forms of domination and extraction, and he is now working on a collaborative book to draw out these themes.

A key aspect of Mike’s work is relating structural aspects of inequality with understanding how they are experienced. This leads him to long term engagements with the writings of Pierre Bourdieu, the most sophisticated sociologist to have addressed this issue. With Tony Bennett, Elizabeth Silva and Alan Warde directed the most comprehensive study of cultural capital and taste ever conducted in the UK, which was published in 2008 as Culture, Class, Distinction. This has attracted considerable international interest and influenced numerous studies on the cultural aspects of inequality. In Class Analysis and Social Transformation (2000) he has written about the ‘paradox of class’: that as economic inequality intensifies, so popular awareness of class seems to wane. He is fascinated by the challenge posed by the ‘cultural turn’ in sociology and remain attracted to elements of Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology as a means of making sense of these paradoxical situations.

Mike has long standing interests in recognising the significance of spatiality and temporality in social science. He sees this as vital in championing context based sociology which resists abstraction. He has long standing interests in urban sociology, including his book Globalisation and Belonging (with Gaynor Bagnall and Brian Longhurst, 2005) which emphasised how globalisation might be congruent with increasing localised attachments. His text book Urban Sociology, Capitalism and Modernity (with Alan Warde and Kevin Ward, 2003) has been a best seller.

Mike sees rigorous research methods as fundamental to sociological inquiry and is especially interested in using innovative and mixed methods. He has applied sequencing methods, social network analysis, and multiple correspondence analysis in his work. His paper with Roger Burrows proclaiming ‘The coming crisis of empirical sociology’ in 2007 provoked huge interest through its claim that sociology could no longer rely on its tried and trusted repertoire of sample surveys and qualitative interviews in an increasingly digitalised world – but in fact he is also an inveterate user of such methods. He has recently been working with Jane Elliott, Carrie Friese, and an international collaborative team to develop large scale qualitative research initiatives.

Mike has an outstanding track record in supporting the discipline. Between 1993 and 2016 he was on the Editorial Board of The Sociological Review, where he was editor between 2001 and 2007, and as Chair of the Editorial Board between 2011 and 2016 oversaw its transition into a fully recognised charity. He was a member of the Sociology research evaluation exercises (RAE 2008 and REF 2013) and a trustee of the British Sociological Association (2017-19). He collaborates extensively with civil society and campaigning organisations, and was a trustee of the Young Foundation (2017-20).

Mike set up the MSc Inequalities and Social Science programme in 2015 in association with colleagues at the International Inequalities Institute. He has a record as an outstanding doctoral supervisor and mentor, having supervised over 40 doctoral students to completion during his career at Keele, Manchester, York and LSE. On his retirement in 2024 he no longer actively teaches in the Department.