Award recognises Manchester sociologist's extraordinary life

11 Apr 2016

This year’s BSA Distinguished Service Award was given to Professor Emeritus David Morgan, of The University of Manchester

The award is given to an outstanding individual who has contributed most to the discipline by leading an extraordinary life as a sociologist.

It was presented at the BSA’s annual conference at Aston last week by Professor Lynn Jamieson, the BSA’s President.

She said that Professor Morgan was “the theorist of families and relationships in the UK and has been for many decades.

“He has not only been in the forefront of writing about families and relationships, but has developed other strands of work including studies of masculinity and autobiography.

“It’s the way he ties together personal life and social theory that is such an important contribution. His work was responsible for rescuing the family from the theoretical backwater that it was inhabiting.”

Professor Jamieson said that Professor Morgan, a former President of the BSA, had made “decades of contributions” to the association. “He is generous to a fault and always has been...this award is incredibly deserved.”

Professor Morgan thanked the BSA, which had “from the earliest times in my career” given him social support, inspiration and collegiality.

“The BSA, particularly its study groups, plays an immense function in bringing people into contact with each other and encouraging and supporting people in social inquiry.”

He also thanked Ronnie Frankenberg, who died recently, a colleague who had been “a source of support and encouragement” and who had “inspired by his understanding of sociology – that it was both playful and serious, often at the same time, something that I’ve tried to follow.”

The University's Morgan Centre for Research into Everyday Lives is named after Professor Morgan.