Dear sociology colleague

BSA consultation on REF 2021

Details on the proposed REF 2021 guidance and criteria are now available on the news page of HEFCE website here. The BSA is keen to co-ordinate a collective response to this process and we invite all those with interests in sociology to send comments on any aspect of the process to Judith Mudd, BSA Chief Executive by 18 September 2018. They will be reviewed by BSA trustees and the president and will inform our response which we will publish on our website. The more responses we get to our consultation, the more powerful our voice will be. Please make it clear in what capacity you are writing, and give your affiliation and whether you are a BSA member (but you don’t need to be a BSA member to respond)

Please feel free to comment on any aspect of the procedure which you wish: HEFCE have published a list of questions on their website which you may want to use, but please don’t feel constrained to reply using these HEFCE headings.  

The part of the consultation which is most directly attuned to sociological audiences are the subject descriptors since these will elicit the kinds of work which the Sociology sub-panel sees as defining our discipline. We are therefore particularly interested in your views on whether these descriptors adequately capture the definition of sociological research. For ease of reference, we have also appended the list of Sociology descriptors for the 2014 REF so you can more easily identify proposed changes. However, your comments do not need to be confined to these changes – you may wish to comment on descriptors which were used in 2014 and are also proposed to be used in 2021.

Please respond if you want to endorse or support any aspect of the REF guidance and criteria – you do not have to be critical to write a helpful response, indeed this might balance other views.

Please note that you are also encouraged to write your own individual response to HEFCE if you so wish, and responding to our consultation will not prevent you from also doing this.

If anyone wishes to talk informally to a BSA trustee about this consultation, they are invited to make contact with Mike Savage who is the trustee co-ordinating the BSA response. Please send comments on any aspect of the process to Judith Mudd, BSA Chief Executive. 

Proposed UOA 21 Descriptors 2021:

117. Descriptor: Sociology is a social science with a diversity of areas and approaches to the study of social life and society. It is a critical discipline which focusses on and is concerned with issues of social inequality, division and justice. Sociology includes empirical and theoretical study of the social structures, power, cultures and everyday practices, including styles and material standards of living, opinions, values and institutions. It Includes analysis of and attention to the micro, meso and macro levels. It covers all areas of social theory, historical and comparative studies, and social research methodology, philosophy of social science, and research on pedagogy in sociology. Sociology embraces a wide range of methodologies including quantitative, qualitative, and visual; and of all forms of data. The sub-panel also expects to consider sociological research in such interdisciplinary fields as criminology and socio-legal studies, media and cultural studies, social policy, gender and women’s studies, demography, socio-linguistics, social psychology, psychosocial studies, social studies of science and technology, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex studies.
118. The sub-panel expects submissions in this UOA from all fields of sociological enquiry including, but not restricted to, research on cultures, economies, and polities; class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, and age, and their intersections; religion, education, health and medicine, family, media, welfare institutions, and work and employment; environment, technology and the digital; and climate change; the body, interpersonal and inter-group relations, violence; urban and rural issues; language and social interaction; political sociology, public policy, and social movements; political economy, globalisation, development, migration, and diaspora; comparative studies of societies of all kinds, including work on transnational structures and agencies, Europe, world systems.
119. As in previous research assessment exercises, work in interdisciplinary women’s and gender studies may be submitted in this UOA, or may be cross-referred by other sub-panels to Sub-panel 21. Assessors will be appointed to consider the interdisciplinary aspects of women’s and gender studies that fall outside the expertise of the sub-panels.
120. Work submitted in this UOA may overlap significantly with the remit of UOA 20 (Social Work and Social Policy). This arises from the large number of academic units that combine the constituent subject areas and that may make a combined submission in UOA 21 or UOA 20. It is anticipated that the use of joint assessors and cross-referral of parts of submissions may be required in order to ensure an appropriate assessment, in accordance with the arrangements in Part 5, paragraphs 387 to 392.
121. For the avoidance of doubt, it is recognised that criminological research may fall within the boundaries of Sub-panels 18 (Law), 20 (Social Work and Social Policy) and 21 (Sociology). All three sub-panels welcome such work, which will be assessed in accordance with the arrangements noted above, in particular making use of joint assessors and cross-referral as deemed appropriate by the sub-panels. Sociology REF 2014/2021 descriptors

Comparison: UOA 23: Sociology, REF2014

18. Descriptor: The UOA includes empirical and theoretical study of the social structures, cultures and everyday practices of societies, including styles and material standards of living, opinions, values and institutions. It covers all areas of social theory, historical and comparative studies, and social research methodology (including qualitative and quantitative methods and visual methodologies), philosophy of social science, and research on pedagogy in sociology. The sub-panel also expects to consider sociological research in such interdisciplinary fields as criminology and socio-legal studies, media and cultural studies, demography, socio-linguistics, social psychology, psychosocial studies, social studies of science and technology (including science and technology policy), and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex studies.
19. The sub-panel expects submissions in this UOA from all fields of sociological enquiry including, but not restricted to, research on cultures, economies, and polities; class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, and age, and their intersection; religion, education, health and medicine, family, media, welfare institutions, and work and employment; environment, technology, and climate change; the body, interpersonal and inter-group relations, violence; urban and rural issues; language and social interaction; political sociology, public policy, and social movements; political economy, globalisation, development, migration, and diaspora; comparative studies of societies of all kinds, including work on transnational structures and agencies, the European Union, world systems. The sub-panel welcomes works in social theory and the history of social thought.
20. As in previous research assessment exercises, work in interdisciplinary women’s studies may be submitted in this UOA, or may be cross-referred by other sub-panels to Sub-panel 23. Assessors will be appointed to consider the interdisciplinary aspects of women’s and gender studies that fall outside the expertise of the sub-panels.
21. Work submitted in this UOA may overlap significantly with the remit of UOA 22 (Social Work and Social Policy). This arises from the large number of academic units that combine the constituent subject areas and that may make a combined submission in UOA 22 or UOA 23. It is anticipated that the use of joint assessors and cross-referral of parts of submissions may be required in order to ensure an appropriate assessment, in accordance with the arrangements in Part 1, paragraphs 92-100. For the avoidance of doubt, it is recognised that criminological research may fall within the boundaries of Sub-panels 20 (Law), 22 (Social Work and Social Policy) and 23 (Sociology). All three sub-panels welcome such work, which will be assessed in accordance with the arrangements noted above, in particular making use of joint assessors and cross-referral as deemed appropriate by the sub-panels.