Image of Dr Waugh, sitting in an office, stroking a cat

Dr Chris Waugh

Lecturer in Criminology

My profile

Biography

I completed my BA in English at Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge, in 2012. After spending a year working as an executive officer at the Students’ Union, I completed my MPhil in Multi-Disciplinary Gender Studies at Queens’ College, University of Cambridge, in 2014. Between 2014 and 2019, I worked in widening participation, development research consultancy, debt advice, mental health support, and for a major children’s charity. I completed my PhD on masculinity, affect and anti sexism in the British left in 2023, supervised by Dr Kevin Gillan and Dr Gemma Edwards at the University of Manchester.

My current research interests include masculinities (especially within radical left social movements), emotions and affect, sex work, gender violence prevention in housing, zemiology, and the theoretical work of Felix Guattari and Raymond Williams. I am a member of the Contemporary Intimacies, Sexualities and Genders research group at MMU, and an Associate Fellow of the HEA. 

I teach level 4, 5, and 6 units in Sociology and Criminology at MMU, and act as a Personal Tutor for Level 6 students. Previously, I taught at the University of Manchester (BA Sociology; BA Criminology; BA Social Sciences), the University of Leeds (BA Sociology & Social Policy; BA Politics), and the University of Law (BA Criminology; LLB Law with Criminology).

Interests and expertise

  • Left-wing social movements in the UK
  • Affect and culture among Grassroots Activists
  • Masculinities and anti-sexist politics
  • Sex work and pornography
  • Safe spaces policies and resilience among students
  • Responses to domestic violence among LGBT Communities
  • Sex for rent arrangements and structural violence in housing policy

Get in touch

GM444 Geoffrey Manton Building
Fridays 2-4pm

Projects

Structural violence in British Housing Policy and ‘Sex for rent’

I am currently conducting secondary data analysis around ‘sex for rent’ arrangements and structural violence in British housing policy. The results of the project are due to be published in the Routledge Handbook of Gender and Violence (2nd edition) in 2024

Teaching

I currently teach the following modules at MMU:

Researching Crime and Society (Level 4)

Exploring Violence (Level 5)

Body, Sexuality and Culture (Level 6)

My broad areas of teaching expertise are:

  • Gender studies (especially masculinities and queer theory)
  • Social movement studies (especially the British left and queer social movements)
  • Global social inequalities (especially gender inequalities)
  • The sociology of video games
  • Media representation and crime news
  • Structural violence and zemiology
  • The sociology of work
  • Radical social and political theory (especially in the Marxist, feminist and queer traditions)
  • Pornography and sex work

Supervision

I am interested in supervising projects in any of my research areas. Past supervision topics (at undergraduate and postgraduate level):

  • Corporate Social Responsibility and ‘social media activism’
  • Bisexuality and workplace discrimination
  • Online intimacies during Covid-19
  • Social media and affective identities among South Indian diasporas. 
  • Sex positivity and disciplining intimacies in women’s magazines
  • Revolutionary masculinities

Research outputs

Forthcoming publications:

Waugh, C., 2024. Structures of feeling and inarticulate masculinities. Keywords: A Journal of Cultural Materialism (forthcoming)

Waugh, C., 2024. “Towards Inarticulate Masculinities: affect, anti-sexism and men’s activism in Britain,“ in The Future of Masculinities: Theory and Praxis (forthcoming)

  • Chapters in books

    Waugh, C. 'Sex for rent and structural violence in British Housing.' The Routledge Handbook of Gender and Violence.

    Jacobs, S. (2023) 'Violence, Land and Gender: Exploring Connections.' P. Ali and M. Rogers (eds) Gender-Based Violence: A Comprehensive Guide. Springer Nature,

    Waugh, C. (2023) 'Pornography.' Gender-Based Violence: A Comprehensive Guide. pp. 427-439.

    Waugh, C. (2023) 'Workplace Harassment.' Gender-Based Violence: A Comprehensive Guide. pp. 455-470.

    Waugh, C. (2019) 'In Defence of Safe Spaces: Subaltern Counterpublics and Vulnerable Politics in the Neoliberal University.' Time and Space in the Neoliberal University Futures and fractures in higher education. Springer,

    Waugh, C. (2019) 'In Defense of Safe Spaces: Subaltern Counterpublics and Vulnerable Politics in the Neoliberal University.' Time and Space in the Neoliberal University Futures and fractures in higher education. Springer,

  • Journal articles

    Waugh, C. (2022) ''Over the portal of the new world, know thyself shall be written' - Ideology, connectivity and authenticity of the self in radical left social movements.' Political Perspectives, 10(1)