Research Interests

I am interested in all aspects of the sociology of contemporary Judaism, in particular:

Contemporary Jewish identities.

Jewish communal politics in Britain.

Jewish youth.

Jewish popular music and culture.

I am interested in the problems and potentials of ‘dialogue’ as a way of improving inter and intra-communal relations. I have worked on a number of research projects dealing with inter-faith dialogue. As convenor of New Jewish Thought I am involved in setting up an intra-communal Jewish dialogue project.

My PhD thesis on the sociology of the global Extreme Metal music scene was based on fieldwork carried out in the UK, Sweden and Israel and dealt with the relationship between youth, popular music and transgression.  I remain interested in these issues and my book ‘Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge’ was published by publishers in December 2006.  I am also continuing to explore the issues raised in my thesis through investigating the analytical utility of concepts of ‘subculture’ and ‘scene’.  A collection of essays entitled ‘After Subculture’, that explores theses issues, co-edited by Andy Bennett of Surrey University, was published in 2004. 

I have combined my interests in contemporary Jewish identity, youth culture and popular music culture by researching and writing on contemporary religious popular music in the English-speaking world, based on an analysis of American musicians creating forms of Jewish, religious music. 

I am interested in issues of ‘denial’ in contemporary societies. I am currently developing a comparative research project comparing genocide denial, AIDS denial, evolution denial and global warming denial.