KEN PLUMMER was born in April 4, 1946 in Palmers Green, London) and taught sociology for thirty years at the University of Essex from 1975.
I took early retirement in 2005 because of the need for a liver transplant. During my formal working life I worked primarily in ten areas of sociology:
- lesbian, gay and queer studies
- a sociology of critical sexualities
- a sociology of suffering
- pragmatism and symbolic interactionism;
- documents of life as a research method;
- the sociology of story telling/ narrative theory
- intimate citizenship;
- critical humanism as method, theory and politics;
- general sociology and theory;
- criminology, deviance, stigma, control and labelling
After my illness, I spent some time writing about my illness. See My Multiple Bodies
I was the founder editor of the journal Sexualities (edited it from 1996 to 2012), and the author of several textbooks: Sociology: The Basics and Sociology: A Global Introduction.
In my ‘semi-retirement’, I still write a little from time to time including; Imaginations 50 Years of Essex Sociology; and Cosmopolitan Sexualities; Narrative Power and Critical Humanism.
I have written a series of ‘Manifestos’ that you can now find under the page marked Manifestos.
You can find a few of my recent articles under the page marked Selected Articles.
You can find a few more recent presentations under the page marked Presentations.
Some of my other diversions can be found under the page marked Fascinations.
Since 1978, I have lived in Wivenhoe, Essex, England with my life partner and ‘bestest friend’, Everard Longland