Chris Doran

Dr. Doran is a Professor of Sociology within the Department of Social Science at the University of New Brunswick.

Dr. Doran's major research interests are post-structural social theory, Feminist discourse/textual analysis, and historical sociology. He introduced Foucault’s ‘parrhesian standpoint’ theory into sociology (Doran 2015), and is currently completing a book on post-Foucauldian, post-Feminist theory. In this research monograph, he develops the concepts of ‘Encodification’ and of ‘Parrhesia’ (Doran; forthcomingA) as crucial resources for any contemporary theorization of the ‘underdog’.

Born of Irish parents, he received his BA (Honours, Social Science) from the University of York, England, and then his MA (Linguistics) and PhD (Sociology) from the University of Calgary, Canada. In addition to teaching at UNB, he has held teaching appointments at the University of Saskatchewan, Memorial University of Newfoundland, and McMaster University, Ontario. He has pioneered the development of graduate studies options in inter-disciplinary studies and cultural sociology at UNB Saint John.

Books

Doran, Nob. Forthcoming. "Discipline, Punish, Codify and Incorporate: The birth of panoptic liberalism" Oxford: Routledge, Taylor and Francis

Doran, N., Torries, R., Nyaga, D., Onishenko, D.. (eds). 2024. Critical Reflexive Research Methodologies. Leyden: Brill Press

Selected articles and book chapters

Doran, Nob. 2024. Reflexivity, Recursion and Re-evaluation: Some Reflections on ‘institutional ethnography. In Torries, R., Nyaga, D., Onishenko, D., and Doran, N. (eds) Critical Reflexive Research Methodologies .

Doran, Nob 2020 “Bifurcation of Consciousness/Line of Fault” Invited dictionary entry for the Wiley- Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Sociology, Second edition (online). Edited by Chris Rojeck and George Ritzer.

Doran, Nob. 2017 "What do Official Statistics Tell Us About Ourselves" in "Questioning Sociology" 3rd edition, edited by G.Pavlich, G. and M. Hird, Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press, pp 142-152.

Doran, Nob. 2015 `Beyond Phenomenological Anti-Sociologies: Foucault's ”Care of his Self” as Standpoint Sociology’ in the Canadian Journal of Sociology 40(2): 131-162.

Doran, Nob. 2012 "What do Official Statistics Tell Us About Ourselves(revised)" in "Questioning Sociology" 2nd edition, edited by G.Pavlich, G. and M. Hird, Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press, pp 158-168.

Doran, Nob. 2009 "Theorizing Globally, Resisting Locally: University Reform, Neo-Liberalism and a self-sufficient New Brunswick" in Exploring the Dimensions of Self-Sufficiency for New Brunswick, edited by M. Boudreau, P. Toner, and T. Tremblay, New Brunswick and Atlantic Studies Research and Development Centre, pp 119-141.

Doran, Nob. 2008 "Decoding encoding: Moral Panics, Media Practices and Marxist Presuppositions". Theoretical Criminology, volume 12(2): 191-221.

Doran, Nob. 2007a "What do Official Statistics Tell Us About Ourselves" in Questioning Sociology, edited by G. Pavlich, G. and M. Hird, Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press, pp 150-173.

Doran, Nob. 2007b "University Reform, Neo-liberalism and Embodied Resistance: Some lessons from around the English-speaking world".

Doran, Nob. 2005-2006 "Discipline, punish and ... codify: Statistics, Class and Self in the Post-Foucauldian era". International Journal of the Humanities, volume 3 (7): 175-188.

Doran, Nob. 2004 'Re-writing the Social, Re-writing sociology: Donzelot, genealogy and working class bodies' in the Canadian Journal of Sociology, 29.3: 333-357'.

Doran, Nob. 2002a 'Medico-legal expertise and industrial disease compensation: Discipline, surveillance and Disqualification in the era of the "Social" in Social Context and Social Location in the Sociology of Law, edited by G. MacDonald, Broadview Press, pp 159 - 180.

Doran, Nob. 2002b "Making Sense" of Moral Panics: Excavating the Cultural foundations of the "Young, Black Muggers" in Crimes of Colour: Racialization and the Criminal Justice System in Canada", edited by W. Chan and K. Mirchandani, Broadview Press, pp 157-175.

Doran, Nob. 2000 "Growing up under suspicion": The Problematization of 'Youth' in Recent criminologies" in New Perspectives on Deviance: The Construction of Deviance in Everyday Life, edited by L. Beamna, Prentice Hall, pp 192-207.

Doran, Nob. 1996 "From embodied 'health' to official 'accidents': Class, codification and early British Factory Legislation, 1831 - 1844" in Social & Legal Studies, volume 5 (4), 523-546.

Doran, Nob. 1994a "Risky Business: Codifying Embodied experience in the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows" in Journal of Historical Sociology, volume 7 (2), 131 - 154.

Doran, Nob. 1994b "Maintaining the Simulation Model - A Case study of Contemporary Workers' Compensation", in the Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, volume 31 (4), 446 - 469.

Selected conference presentations

2023 - “Growing up Panopticised: learning how to ‘talk back” Paper presented, virtually, at the “Social Theory” session, entitlted “Theories of the background: Responding to the everyday”, Canadian sociology association meetings 2023, York university Toronto May 30 8:30 - 10 a.m. Eastern time.

2022 “Underdog Genealogy: Counter-conducts, knowledge-power and Early Liberalism” Paper submitted to the “Recasting subjects and subjectivities in the writing of history” Workshop, June 22-24, Scuola Superiore Meridionale, Naples, Italy. Placed on short list.

2022 “Reflection, Recursion and Re-evaluation: Dorothy Smith as a ‘parrhesian standpoint’ theorist”. Paper presented at the “Feminist Sociology: Theory past, present and future” Session of the CSA annual meetings, 19 May 2022; Conference held virtually, May 16-20, 2022.

2020 “Foucault’s blindspot with regard to the ‘Liberal art of governing’: The emergence of the ‘working classes’ as a counter-conduct” Paper to be presented at the ‘Historical sociology’ section of the CSA annual meetings, June 1, 2020, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario. (Covid19 forced the cancellation of the conference).

2019 “From ‘feminist standpoint’ (via ‘working class standpoint’) to `parrhesian standpoint.’ Autobiogra-theory and the Class Experience. Paper presented at the Working Class 2019Studies Association Conference, Sept 6, 2019, University of Canterbury, Canterbury, Kent, England

2019 “Solving a Thirty year old mystery: Introducing the “parrhesian” approach to qualitative analysis” Paper presented at the 36th Qualitative analysis conference , Fredericton New Brunsciwk May 10, 2019.

2017 - “Pete Youschuk’s parrhesian standpoint perspective” presented at the Canadian Sociology Association’s Annual meetings, May 29th 2017, Ryerson University, Toronto.

2016 - ‘Beyond Critical and feminist criminologies: The potential of a Parrhesian criminology’ Paper presented at the Atlantic Criminal Justice conference, May 2016 University of New Brunswick (Saint John campus)

2015 - "Beyond Phenomenological Anti-Sociologies: Foucault's “Care of the Self” as Standpoint sociology’ presented at the 14th annual International Social Theory Colloquium (ISTC) conference, Cambridge University, Cambridge (England), June 17th-20th

2012 - "Critical criminology, Feminist sociology, Parrhesian critique" paper presented at the "Critical Perspectives: Criminology and Social Justice" Conference, Carleton University, Ottawa (Canada), May 5-6th, 2012.

2011 - "Post-phenomenological theorizing on the self: Becoming a parrhesian intellectual" paper presented at the CSA annual meetings, UNBF/STU, Fredericton NB (Canada), Friday June 1st, 2011.

2011 - "Parrhesian perspective as a radical critique of criminology" Paper presented at the "York Deviancy Conference", University of York (England), June 29th – July 1st, 2011.

2009 - "Docile bodies in the Academy? University Reform and neo-liberal 'transformational change' in New Brunswick". Paper presented at the Canadian Sociology Association's annual meetings, Ottawa, ON, May 26-29.

2008 - a) "University Reform, Neo-liberalism and the embodied self: Developing a genealogy from below". Paper presented at the New Brunswick and Atlantic Studies Research and Development Centre (NBASRDC) conference on "Exploring the dimensions of self-sufficiency for New Brunswick", May 9-10. b) "The Social Construction of a 'theoretical self': Or why did French post-structuralists start promoting the Chicago School". Paper presented at the 25th annual Qualitative Analysis conference, UNB Fredericton, NB, May 21-24.

2007 - a) "Statistics, genealogy and standpoint in the Post-Foucauldian Era". Paper presented at the 32nd Social History Society Conference, University of Exeter, England, March 30-April 1. b) "Rethinking 'encoding/decoding': From a structuralist-semiotics model to a post structuralist-simulation model". Paper presented at the British Sociology Association's annual meeting, University of East London, England, April 12-14.

2005 - "A system of insurance would be simply a license to destroy life": Embodied class resistance to the aleatory foundations of modern workers' compensation law (revised version of 2003b). Presented at the CSAA annual meetings, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, June 2.

2003 - a) 'Re-writing the social: From Dorothy Smith to Jacques Donzelot'. Paper presented at the British Sociological Association's annual meetings, York University, April 11-13. b) 'Resisting Insurance technology: Some lessons from mid-nineteenth century England'. Paper presented (in poster format) at the "Vital Politics: Health, Politics and Bioeconomics in the 21st century" conference, London School of Economics, London, England, September 5-7.

2001 - a) "Culture, ideology and the generational effect: From Political 'signification to cultural 'incorporation'". Paper presented at the BSA annual conference, Manchester, England, April. b) From Political 'signification' to cultural incorporation: Beyond Stuart Hall's critical criminology. Presented to the 'Critical Criminology' session of the CSAA annual conference, Quebec City, May 27. c) "Governmentality and class: some preliminary remarks on cultural incorporation". Paper presented at the 'Governmentality and freedom for whom and for what?' session of the CSAA annual conference, Quebec City, May 30. d) Crime, class and bodies: Carol Smart's utility for genealogical analysis'. Paper presented at the 'Disciplining Transgressions/Transgressing Disciplines' conference, University of New Brunswick Saint John, September 28.

2000 - a) "Muggings, moral panics and the Marxist paradigm" (originally submitted as "From Policing the Crisis to Policying the Underclass"). Presented at the BSA annual conference, York, April 19. b) "Beyond ideological signification: Notes towards a theory of 'incorporation'". Paper presented at the 'Rethinking Marxism' conference, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA, September.

1999 - "Growing up under suspicion": The Problematization of 'Youth' in Recent Criminologies. Presented at the AASA conference, Fredericton, New Brunswick, October.