Our research interests

The focus of the Age, Generation and Everyday Life research group is on exploring contemporary social life and social issues with an emphasis on later life and ageing, childhood, and youth. Age, age categories, and associated cultural constructions, are examined both as social divisions and as social phenomena in their own right. The group undertakes innovative work on everyday life in respect of sleep, food, popular culture and youth culture, and sexuality, particularly investigating these within the framework of age, generation and the life course. It also engages with questions concerning health, employment and welfare provision in the context of gender and age.

Current Members: 
Academic Members: Sara Arber, Ann Cronin, Kate Davidson, Sarah Earthy, Jane Fielding, Jay Ginn, Paul Hodkinson, Paul Johnson, Robert Meadows, Jo Moran-Ellis
Research staff: Alex Dregan, Rebekah Luff, Robert Meadows, Susan Venn
Research Students: Paula Aubrey, Elena Avetova, Amanda Blood, Marc Bush, Emma Cope, Lesley Durant, Theresa Ellmers, Emma Froud, Julie Gibbs, Helen Lewis, Lloyd Morgan, Akiko Odo, Sophie Sarre, Toni Schwarz, Elizabeth Thompson, Jessica Underhill, Vicky Vaughan.

Current and recent research:
Research uses both qualitative methodologies and the secondary analysis of large-scale survey datasets. This research grouping is closely linked to the Centre for Research on Ageing and Gender (CRAG) established in 2000 and the Sociology of Sleep research group.

Innovative research is being conducted by Sara Arber, Rob Meadows, Susan Venn, Jo Moran-Ellis and colleagues in the sociology of sleep, focusing on negotiation of sleep among couples across the life course, the changing social factors influencing sleep with ageing (SomnIA), and children’s sleep in household contexts. This research brings a sociological perspective to work with colleagues in biological and biomedical sciences. This inter-disciplinary interest is also reflected in the work of Kate Davidson and Sara Arber in a recent EU research project looking at food choices in the lives of older people. The interaction of age, gender and sexuality underpins Ann Cronin’s research into the lives of mid-life and older non-heterosexual women, focusing on sexual identities and narratives. Paul Hodkinson’s research in the area of youth cultures and sub-cultures, focusing particularly on style, consumption and media, also examines issues connected to the interaction of identity and age. At a community level, Sarah Earthy's research has explored experiences of everyday social exclusion in urban and rural settings, examining within this issues of inter-generational conflict.

The health focus of the group intersects with research on food, sleep and age, examining the sociological dimensions of the multi-faceted relationships between these aspects of everyday life and health. Research undertaken by Sara Arber brings a strong focus on inequalities in health with particular reference to gender. Kate Davidson has carried out extensive research on health behaviours of community dwelling older men and gender differences in the experience of widowhood. Jo Moran-Ellis researches the provision of children's mental health services locally.

Funded projects:
Current and recently funded research projects include:

• SomnIA 'Optimising quality sleep among older people in the community and care homes'. A New Dynamics of Ageing (NDA) cross-council funded Collaborative Research Project involving six disciplines, four Universities and five project partners.
• an EU Marie Curie Research Training Network on the sociological and biological factors influencing sleep
• ESRC-funded research on how couples negotiate sleep across the life course (see Sociology of Sleep website)
• an EU project on gender differences in food consumption among older men and women living alone and with others (with the Food, Consumer Behaviour and Health Research Group)
• a project in conjunction with Age Concern Surrey, and SSMR (Surrey Social and Market Research) and funded by the ‘Big Lottery Fund’ to gain an understanding of the diverse needs of older men with a view to finding ways in which the social and emotional needs of older men can be met.

Doctoral Research in the group:
A very active group of about 20 doctoral students are undertaking research within the 'Age, Generation and Everyday Life' research group. Students are studying a wide range of topics. In the area of sleep this includes the impact of shiftwork on family members, sleep among older people and masculinities and sleep. In the area of childhood and youth, research includes children's mental health, young people and risky health behaviours, and the everyday lives of children with cerebral palsy. In the area of health, research includes parents' experiences of stillbirth, secondary analysis of ethnicity and mental ill health, and the impact of end-stage renal failure young people's transitions to adulthood. In the area of ageing, research includes generational differences in attitudes towards financial management, changing women's roles in Saudia Arabia, and gender differences in the activities and identities of older spouses in Japan.

Doctoral students run their own journal club where they discuss relevant articles and their own ongoing research on a regular basis. Doctoral students are funded through a range of sources, including ESRC and ESRC/MRC studentships, by their employers (eg the NHS) and overseas fellowships.PhD students.

Professional Activities:
Members of the group have been elected to positions in major professional associations including Kate Davidson as President of the British Society of Gerontology (2005-2008), and Governor of the Centre for Policy on Ageing (CPA), Sara Arber as President of the British Sociological Association (1999-2001), Vice President of the European Sociological Association (2005-07) and President of the International Sociological Association RC11 Research Committee on Sociology of Aging (2006-2010); Jo Moran-Ellis as Secretary of the RC53 Childhood Research Committee (http://www.ucm.es/info/isa/rc53.htm) of the International Sociological Association (2002-2006); Robert Meadows as Executive Committee member of the British Sleep Society (2002-2006 and 2008-2010); Paul Hodkinson is co-convenor of the BSA Youth Study Group. Jo Moran-Ellis also spent time recently as a Visiting Scholar at the Norwegian Centre for Child Research (NOSEB) at the Norwegian University of Science of Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway.

Members of the group are on various Editorial Boards, including Ageing and Society (Kate Davidson), Sociology of Health and Illness (Sara Arber), and International Journal of Sociology of the Family (Sara Arber)

To find out more contact members of the groups at:

Department of Sociology
University of Surrey
Guildford
Surrey GU2 7XH
UK
Tel. 01483 689450
Fax 01483 689551
E-mail: s.arber@surrey.ac.uk