Peter Saunders
Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Sussex
Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Independent Studies
Professorial Research Fellow, Civitas
Independent Author
Peter Saunders...
"Brash, brilliant and cannot be ignored" Times Higher Education Supplement
"That rare beast, a sensible sociologist" Max Hastings, Daily Mail
"Absolutely second-to-none" LBC Radio
"The antithesis of an Ivory Tower intellectual" ABC National Radio, Australia
"Ideas wrecker" The Guardian
Latest...
WHY NOBODY WANTS TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT SOCIAL MOBILITY
Guest blog on IdeasSleepFuriously
Despite 60 years of tinkering with the education system, middle-class kids are still, on average, out-performing working-class kids in school exams and university entry. Politicians persist in saying the system is unfair, but the truth is much simpler (though less palatable).
Guest blog published August 2022
Read it here
RELEASE OF SEQUEL TO 'CROYDON BOY'
Croydon Boy II: Settling Down in Unsettled Times
Covering the 1970s and 1980s, the second volume in the planned 'Croydon Boy' trilogy takes a wry look back at what it was like raising a family, building a career and searching for the meaning of life in the years after the Beatles disbanded and Crystal Palace got relegated back to Division III of the football league.
Paperback published January 2022.
More details here
WHY KIDS FROM PRIVATE SCHOOLS ARE MORE LIKELY TO GET TO UNIVERSITY
Private school pupils may be under-represented at top universities
Only 7% of kids attend independent schools, but they account for 42% of entrants to Oxford and Cambridge. Critics say this is evidence of class bias in selection procedures. But is it?
Article published by Private Education Policy Forum, 4 October 2021 - download here
MEET THE FAMILY!...
Why Cornelius Stott changed his name, and other family stories
Tales of coal miners, cotton workers, farmworkers, pinhead makers, prostitutes, hatters, rag sorters and soldiers whose names are lost to history but who created our modern world. A prequel to Croydon Boy.
Published July 2021
More details here
NEW ARTICLE ON SOCIAL MOBILITY
The Myth of Social Immobility
Summarises the key points from my book, Social Mobility Truths.
Published on Conservative Home, 6 May 2021
(and read critical response by Peter Taylor-Gooby here)
NEW EDITION OF CROYDON BOY
Croydon Boy: Growing Up in Post-War Britain
Now available in paperback
More details here
RE-RELEASED CLASSIC!
A Nation of Home Owners
A re-issue by Routledge (with a new Preface) of my 1990 monograph: part of a series on Housing Policy and Home Ownership - published March 2021
More details here
Biographical Note
Born Croydon, 1950
EDUCATION & QUALIFICATIONS
Selhurst Grammar School for Boys, Croydon (1961-68)
University of Kent 1968-71. BA in Sociology 1971
Chelsea College London 1971-73. PhD in Sociology 1975
ACADEMIC CAREER HISTORY
Research Officer, Dept of Sociology, University of Essex (1973-76)
Lecturer in Sociology, University of Sussex (1976-84)
Reader in Sociology & Urban Studies, University of Sussex (1984-88)
Professor of Sociology, University of Sussex (1988-2001)
VISITING ACADEMIC POSITIONS
Dept of Environmental Planning, University of Melbourne (1981)
Urban Research Unit, Australian National University (1982)
Dept of Sociology, University of Canterbury, New Zealand (1982)
ZWE (Arbeit und Region), Universitaet Bremen, Germany (1992)
Dept of Sociology, Brown University, USA (1996)
POST-ACADEMIC CAREER HISTORY
Research Manager, Australian Institute of Family Studies (1999-2000)
Director of Social Research, Centre for Independent Studies, Sydney (2001-2008)
Freelance researcher and independent author since 2008
LISTEN:
"I Used To Be A Sociologist But I'm Alright Now"
Interview on Australia's ABC National Counterpoint programme, with Michael Duffy and Paul Comrie-Thomson.
The interview, conducted just before I left Australia to return to England in June 2008, discusses my work and career, and my reflections on sociology and politics.