About Dr Tom Rodgers
I'm a sociologist and criminologist whose teaching and research interests coalesce around contemporary political economy, social theory, social harm, and digital/social media.
In 2017, I completed an ESRC 1+3-funded MA in social research and a PhD titled 'Into the Social Factory: an Investigation into Labour and Value in the Video-Games Industry'.
Following this, I joined the University in 2019 as a Lecturer in BSc (Hons) Criminology. Having a long-standing interest in both criminology and sociology, my teaching and research cut across both of these disciplines.
I currently lead undergraduate modules on Criminological Theory, Sociological Theory, and Punishment and Society. I'm also a dissertation supervisor and active lecturer on various modules on MSc Inequality and Society.
Alongside my role as a lecturer, I'm an active member of the Faculty's Centre for Applied Social Sciences (CASS).
Teaching and supervision
I teach BSc (Hons) Criminology. I'm the module leader for:
- Classical Readings in Criminology
- Theoretical Issues in Criminology
- Punishment and Society
- Understanding Society: Concepts and Perspectives on Social Change.
I supervise dissertations for Criminology and MSc Inequality and Society.
Interests
My interests are:
- Critical/social/cultural theory
- Criminological theory
- Political economy (especially relating to labour, value, and values)
- Violence, hatred, and social harm
- Digital/social media
- Video games.
Research
My doctoral thesis 'Into the Social Factory: an Investigation into Labour and Value in the Video-Games Industry' examined the processes of valorisation within the video-games industry through an interrogation of political economic theories of value in order to consider the continuing relevance of the latter to explain and interpret the interactions between the "rationales" of commercial media and the mass extraction of economic value from spheres of everyday social life - in this case video-gaming.
I am currently in the process of preparing key sections of this project for publication as peer-reviewed journal articles that focus on, but are not limited to: theorising and researching the valorisation of everyday sociality; measurement, metrics and monetisation as valorisation strategies within the video-games industry; and, finally, an attempt to revisit the works of Isaak Rubin within the broader context of the extant 'value-critique' literature.
Alongside this, I have been working on developing my long-standing criminological interest in the roles new forms of popular media play in the dissemination and seeming 'normalisation' of hyper-masculinist, militaristic, and hatred-fuelled social value systems. This research interest of mine is a continuation of my collaborative work with Prof. Rowland Atkinson (University of Sheffield), published in 2016.
Publications
See all of Dr Tom Rodgers's publicationsFurther information
Written outputs and publications:
- Rodgers, T. (2014) 'Video-Gaming', in Atkinson, R. (ed) Shades of Deviance: A Primer on Crime, Deviance and Social Harm, pp 87-89, London: Routledge.
- Atkinson, R. and Rodgers, T. (2016) 'Pleasure Zones and Murder Boxes: Online Pornography and Violent Video-Games as Cultural Zones of Exception', British Journal of Criminology 56(6): 1291-1307.
Selected conference papers:
- Rodgers, T. (2011) 'Mobility, Time-Space and Dioramic Description: Exploring a Data Visualisation Method', Paper presented at Envisioning the Future of the Social Sciences, University of York.
- Atkinson, R. and Rodgers, T. (2011) 'Inside the Murder Box', Paper presented at Concentrationary Imaginaries/Imaginaries of Violence, Leeds University.
- Rodgers, T. (2012) 'Notes on the Value Logic of Social Media: Data, Measure and Monetisation', Paper presented at the ICS Symposium The Co-Production of Knowledge, University of York.
- Rodgers, T. (2014) 'Labour, Value and New Media: Some Notes Toward a Critical Project', Paper presented at the ESRC ISRF: Critique and Critiques, University of York.