A G R Smith

Biographic Data

ID3590981
NAMEA G R Smith
GIVEN NAMESA G R
FAMILY NAMESmith
SIGNATURESMITH A G R
AFFILIATIONSUniversity of Glasgow
ORCID0000-0003-1514-8553
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS50
TOTAL CITATIONS172
AUTHOR COUNT50
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1969
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX9

  • Refusing to accept the present as definitive

    Open AccessA G R SmithARTICLEDialogues in sociology2026

    This brief reply reflects further on three inter-related questions raised in the thoughtful commentaries provided by my respondents. I argue: (i) that whilst they are right to caution against the dangers of a reductive materialism, we should not discard the analytical move which seeks to explain dominant forms of knowledge by reference to economic imperatives; (ii) that whilst critical attention to historical and cultural specificity is important…

  • Enclosing urban green spaces. The fences of Finsbury Park

    Open AccessA G R Smith, Andrew Smith et al.ARTICLELandscape Research2026Cited by: 1References: 21

    Fences are one of the defining features of public parks, particularly in England. In other parts of the world, fences have been removed or lowered to make parks more open and accessible. But many park authorities in England have retained perimeter fencing, as they feel it protects people and environments. In this paper, we evaluate justifications for, and attitudes towards, fences; and evaluate how they affect park users, park activities and park…

  • We are the backbone of the community’

    Open AccessJo Mcbride, A G R Smith et al.ARTICLEHuman Relations2026References: 31

    This article critically examines the complex dynamics related to dignity at work (DAW) in contemporary precarious employment in the United Kingdom. It argues that current DAW frameworks are typically focused on workers with one job, but what about the experiences of those who need to work in multiple jobs to make ends meet? To consider this, the article focuses on the complex experiences related to dignity when navigating between and participatin…

  • What post-colonial sociology forgets

    Open AccessA G R SmithARTICLEDialogues in sociology2025

    In this essay, I call for the re-engagement of a tradition of black radical and anti-colonial writing which sought to develop a specifically materialist account of colonial ideologies. For the writers in that tradition, such as C.L.R. James, Walter Rodney, Frantz Fanon and the early Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, the crucial de-reifying move was to show that particular forms of knowledge, particular ways of making sense of the world, were a determinate conse…

  • Violent abstractions

    A G R SmithARTICLEIdentities2025References: 5

    No abstract available

  • Reflections on Wallace’s The Culture Trap

    Open AccessA G R SmithARTICLEEthnic and Racial Studies2024

    In this response to Wallace’s new study I reflect, in particular, on an implicit conversation between the analytical perspectives of Pierre Bourdieu and Stuart Hall which is threaded through the study as a whole. Part of what makes The Culture Trap as compelling as it is, I argue, is the deft but tricky balance that Wallace strikes in this regard, and I explore some of the ways in which that balance is enacted, particularly in relation to questio…

  • Histories of place

    Open AccessB Byrne, Lindsey Garratt et al.ARTICLEIdentities2023

    We argue that the stories told about the histories and nature of places, are vehicles for narrating race. Drawing on interviews with professionals and community workers in Butetown in Cardiff and Govanhill in Glasgow, we explore how they negotiated – and contested – racialized histories of place, constructing different versions or claims to belong. Drawing on Henri Lefebvre’s spatial concepts we explore this conceptualization through examination …

  • Media Review

    Open AccessHamid Foroughi, A G R Smith et al.ARTICLEOrganization Studies2023

  • Tearing asunder the pretty fancies of capitalism

    Open AccessA G R SmithARTICLEJournal of Classical Sociology2022Cited by: 3References: 4

    This chapter argues for a recognition of the nuanced complexity of Marx's account of empire. In particular, I argue, that account came to be characterised by: (i) a recognition of the historical centrality of anticolonial resistance; (ii) a provincialisation of his own assessment of capitalism's development in Western Europe; (iii) an understanding of imperialism as a historically regressive force. In seeking to understand the history of European…

  • Everyday Aesthetics, Locality and Racialisation

    Open AccessA G R Smith, B Byrne et al.ARTICLECultural Sociology2021

    In this essay we reflect on the relationship between aesthetic practices and racialised conceptions of belonging. In particular, we explore attributions of beauty and ugliness, order and disorder, as these are made in relation to local space, and we consider how these attributions can be linked to proprietorial claims about who is welcome in those spaces. Our focus is thus on the everyday aesthetics of location: the ways in which aesthetic judgem…

  • Resilient resistance? The third sector in the London Borough of Newham at a time of ‘post-racial’ politics

    Open AccessLindsey Garratt, B Byrne et al.ARTICLECritical Social Policy2021Cited by: 4References: 14

    This article engages with the shift towards an emphasis on ‘resilience’ in local government discourses. Using the London Borough of Newham as a case study, it will argue that contradictory definitions of the term have, until recently, been used to justify the erosion of the third sector in the borough, specifically groups who support religious and linguistic minorities. Interviews and documentary analysis are used to consider how the concept of r…

  • Passing through difference

    Open AccessA G R SmithARTICLEIdentities2020Cited by: 1References: 6

    This essay offers a comparative analysis of the work of Henri Lefebvre and C.L.R. James, both key contributors to the emergence of a humanist form of Marxism in the twentieth century. Independently of each other, both writers, I show, developed a mode of critique which emphasised capitalism’s dehumanizing social effects, and which rejected a merely instrumental or utilitarian political response. Consequently, both writers placed critical emphasis…

  • "Divide and conquer". Anti-racist and community organizing under austerity

    Open AccessBethan Harries, B Byrne et al.ARTICLEEthnic and Racial Studies2020Cited by: 10References: 21

    This paper examines the effects of austerity on anti-racist and community organizing. We focus on three key shifts: changes to public funding, the push to entrepreneurialism and the mainstreaming of Equalities legislation. The paper contributes to critical understandings of the changing relationship between civil society and the state and the challenges this creates for working against racism. We highlight how austerity acts as an alibi to furthe…

  • Citizens’ attitudes towards mega-events

    Open AccessA G R Smith, Andrew Smith et al.ARTICLEAnnals of Tourism Research2019Cited by: 3References: 17

  • Paying for parks. Ticketed events and the commercialisation of public space

    A G R Smith, Andrew SmithARTICLELeisure Studies2018Cited by: 4References: 23

    Music festivals, sport events, funfairs, exhibitions and other ticketed events provide a source of income for authorities struggling to pay for parks. Park events are also justified as ways of making city parks more exciting and attracting a more diverse range of users. However, commercial events are often contested as they restrict the availability of public space and compromise the status of parks as accessible, ‘open spaces’ that are free to u…

  • A view through a window

    Open AccessShirin Hirsch, A G R Smith et al.ARTICLEThe Sociological Review2018Cited by: 1References: 11

    In this article the authors ask what it would mean to think sociologically about the window as a specific material and symbolic object. Drawing on qualitative analysis of a series of comparative interviews with residents in three different streets in a diverse local area of Glasgow, they explore what the use and experience of windows tells us about their respondents' very different relationships to the places where they live. On the one hand, the…

  • Racism, Empire and Sociology

    Open AccessA G R Smith, Andrew Smith et al.ARTICLESociology2017References: 7

    Reviews of Gurminder K Bhambra, Connected Sociologies; Peo Hansen and Stefan Jonsson, Eurafrica: The Untold History of European Integration and Colonialism; Wulf D. Hund, Alana Lentin (eds) Racism and Sociology

  • Racism and Everyday Life

    Open AccessA G R Smith, Andrew SmithBOOKRacism and Everyday Life2016

    What does it mean to talk about everyday racism, and why should we do so? Racism and Everyday Life brings together the sociologies of racism and everyday life in a new way in order to reflect on these questions. Smith argues that racism and everyday life are not just 'act' and 'context' respectively, but rather they are part of the making of each other. Using a variety of historical and contemporary examples, this book draws on the pioneering ins…

  • The window and the wardrobe

    Open AccessA G R SmithARTICLEJournal of Postcolonial Writing2016

    This article explores the materialist reading of culture developed by C.L.R. James. Central to James’s approach was his refusal to respect the implicit segregation between “high” and “low” or “intellectual” and “popular” forms of culture. In important respects, the article argues, it is precisely because James begins from an analysis of the practices and audiences of popular sport that his approach to the analysis of literature is as valuable as …

  • Revisiting the host city

    Open AccessGraham Brown, A G R Smith et al.ARTICLETourism Management2016Cited by: 18References: 90

  • Ruin and Redemption

    A G R Smith, Andrew SmithARTICLEThe Journal of Legal History2016

    There is an extensive literature on the historical evolution of bankruptcy law in the UK and the United States. As a result of this research, we have a good idea of how interest groups, cultural sh

  • Visualising conversations between care home staff and residents with dementia

    Open AccessROSEMARY BAKER, Daniel Angus et al.ARTICLEAgeing and Society2015Cited by: 2References: 27

    People with dementia living in residential care often face the dual disadvantage of increasing difficulty with communication and reduced opportunities for conversation. Social interaction is central to wellbeing of residents with dementia, so it is important that care staff have the skills to engage in conversation with them. We studied conversations in 20 care staff–resident dyads, to examine conversation structure and content, patterns of engag…

  • Rethinking the 'everyday' in 'ethnicity and everyday life

    Open AccessA G R SmithARTICLEEthnic and Racial Studies2015Cited by: 15References: 18

    While 'ethnicity and everyday life' is a familiar collocation, sociologists concerned with racism and ethnicity have not engaged very much with the extensive body of social theory that takes the 'everyday' as its central problematic. In this essay, I consider some of the ways in which the sociology of the everyday might be of use to those concerned with investigating ethnicity and racism. For its part, however, the sociology of the everyday has t…

  • Darcus Howe

    Andrew F Smith, A G R Smith et al.ARTICLEEthnic and Racial Studies2015Cited by: 1

    No abstract available

  • Prosuming creative urban areas. Evidence from East London

    Open AccessIlaria Pappalepore, Robert Maitland et al.ARTICLEAnnals of Tourism Research2014Cited by: 20References: 42