Dr David Calvey

Dr David Calvey

Senior Lecturer

My profile

Biography

Three Words to Describe Me: Committed, Sceptical, Collegial.

I have spent a number of years training in different martial arts, which, injuries permitting, I intend to continue. I also intend to take up sea kayaking soon. Most of my time is blissfully taken up as a new father with my baby daughter Mabel, who is a bundle of joy.

I’m interested in undercover research in the social sciences. I have been intellectually intrigued by studies of deception for a number of years and have published and taught in this area.

I’ve also studied bouncers in the nocturnal environment as a study of a stereotype of masculinity in their role as gatekeeper/regulator of after-dark city spaces.

Another research interest is resistance and disobedience at work, both in corporate call centres and micro creative business contexts. I’ve looked into Ethnographic Methodology and forms of auto-ethnography; Ethnomethodology as a form of social theory; extreme lifestyles such as combat sports and lastly, humour studies, particularly polemic stand-up comedy.
 

Words of wisdom

My advice is to be passionate about what you study and put your heart and soul into the three years spent at MMU.

Academic and professional qualifications

Registered Practitioner of the Higher Education Academy, Membership No 4742, January 2006 (formerly the Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, membership from March 2000)

Education

1990-1994  PhD Sociology - University of Manchester - Thesis - ‘The Organisation of Work Culture: The Case of a High-Tech Salesforce’ (ESRC Competition Award, R00428924036)
 
1988-1989  MSc Management Science - UMIST - Dissertation - ‘The Labour Process Debate’.  Courses followed: Industrial Relations, Organisational Psychology, Industrial Sociology, Personnel Management, Research Methodology (ESRC Committee Award, F00428711039)
1984-1987  BA (Hons) History & Sociology (2:1) - University of Manchester - Dissertation - ‘Positivism’ - Baron Boules University Memorial Prize for Final Year Sociology Work
 

Other academic service (administration and management)

  • Year 3 Tutor, Combined Honours (1/9/01-ongoing)
  • Convenor, Sociology Teaching Circle (1/10/04-ongoing) 
  • Convener IRG (Interaction Research Group, formerly KORG) (1/9/05-ongoing)
  • Associate Lecturer Co-ordinator, Sociology Department (1/9/05-ongoing) 
  • Departmental Representative, Faculty Board (1/10/04-ongoing)
  • Departmental Research Committee member, Sociology Department (10/1/07-ongoing)
  • Member (co-opted 11/06), University Academic Ethics Committee (UAEC)

Expert reviewer for external funding bodies

Sociology, British Journal of Sociology, Discourse Studies, The Sociological Review, Contemporary Sociology, Sociological Research Online, Media, Culture and Society.

Visiting and honorary positions

1996, September, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Brisbane, University of Queensland

Membership of professional associations

Registered Practitioner of the Higher Education Academy, Membership No 4742, January 2006 (formerly the Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, membership from March 2000)

Get in touch

0161 247 3464
409 Geoffrey Manton Building

Teaching

Why do I teach?

In my professional work at MMU, my main priority is passing on intellectual knowledge in a democratic way. MMU is a genuine community university with a diverse study body rather than an elite institution of privilege.

Another motivation is the sharing of critical ideas and experiences between students and colleagues in a learning community. It’s important for students to develop types of critical thinking and citizenship that reflect on the society we live in. By doing this, they’ll take a positive and responsible role in shaping society in the future.

How I’ll teach you

My approach to teaching and learning is student-centred. Although I have an expert knowledge in Sociology, it is vital to actively listen to the student voice and connect with them. In this way, they’ll have an ownership of the knowledge and ideas they’re learning.

An empowering and trusting teaching environment enables students to progress in a cooperative yet competitive manner.  I employ a playful teaching method so that the students don’t feel preached to but engaged with. We can be practical and structured about their learning without being patronising or severe.

I’d describe my teaching style as collaborative, creative, and playful.
 

Subject areas

Sociology

Research outputs

Organisation Theory, Critical Management Studies, Popular Cultural Studies, Ethnography, Ethnomethodology, Interactionism, Covert Social Research, Philosophical Methodology, Security work and the Night-time Economy, Gangs, Recreational Drug Cultures, Club Cultures