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Graduate Program in Communication & Culture

Faculty Profiles

John O'Neill

Media & Culture

University   York University, Professor Emeritus
E-Mail Address   joneill@yorku.ca
Phone Number   (416) 736-5148, ext. 66915
Office Location   Founders College, 227
Office Hours  

TBA


Education

B.Sc. Sociology (LSE); M.A. Political Science (Notre Dame); Ph.D. History of Social Thought (Stanford); F.R.S.C.

Biography

Professor O'Neill is Distinguished Research Professor of Sociology at York University, Toronto, a Member of the Centre for Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
He was Senior Scholar at the Laidlaw Foundation 1993-1994, working on the Children at Risk Programme. He is the author of Sociology as a Skin Trade (1972), Making Sense Together (1974), Essaying Montaigne (1982) and Five Bodies: The human shape of modern society (1985).

His more recent books are The Communicative Body: Studies in Communicative Philosophy, Politics and Psychology (1989), Plato's Cave: Desire, Power and the Specular Functions of the Media (1991), Critical Conventions: Interpretation in the Literary Arts and Sciences (1992), The Missing Child in Liberal Theory(1994), and The Poverty of Postmodernism (1995).

He is Co-Editor of the International Quarterly, Philosophy of the Social Sciences and of The Journal of Classical Sociology. Currently, he is working on the political economy of child suffering, welfare state theory and civic practice.

Research Interests

Professor O'Neill's research incorporates a wide range of interests and a great deal of this concerns the interrelationship between, sociology, philosophy, literary theory and psychoanalysis. In the early part of his career he became a specialist in phenomenological sociology and contributed to the development of Merleau-Ponty's work on politics, history, language and art. During this time he also became involved with the critical rethinking of sociology and contributed many articles on critical social theory, political economy and mass culture. He is widely acclaimed for his pioneering work on the sociology of the body. More recently, his attentions have turned to debates surrounding the concept of ‘civic capitalism' and his current works in progress concern the interconnections between the political economy of child suffering, welfare state theory and civic practice. Professor O'Neill is co-editor of the Journal of Classical Sociology and Philosophy of the Social Sciences . He is also an associate editor of Body and Society .

Professor O'Neill will be visiting us in SSPSSR in the week beginning Monday October 9 th 2006. During his visit he will be presenting his work at graduate and staff/graduate research seminars.
Research Keywords: A study of Freud's five case histories (Dora, Little Hans, Rat Man, Wolf Man, Schreber) as the symptomatic texts of of love and violence in in family narratives of Bible, myth, theatre, film

Selected Publications

O'Neill, J. (2002) Incorporating Cultural Theory: Maternity at the Millennium.

O'Neill, J (1995) The Poverty of Postmodernism.

O'Neill, J (1994) The Missing Child in Liberal Theory.

O'Neill, J (1992) Critical Conventions: Interpretation in the Literary Arts and Sciences.

O'Neill, J (1991) Plato's Cave: Desire, Power and the Specular Functions of the Media.

O'Neill, J (1989) The Communicative Body: Studies in Communicative Philosophy, Politics and Psychology.

O'Neill, J (1985) Five Bodies: The human shape of modern society.

O'Neill, J (1982/2001) Essaying Montaigne.

O'Neill, J (1974) Making Sense Together.

O'Neill, J (1972) Sociology as a Skin Trade Selected Online Papers and Articles.

O'Neill, J (2002) "Empire versus Empire" Theory, Culture and Society Vol. 19 (4)
O'Neill, J (2001) "Oh My Others, There Is No Other " Theory, Culture and Society. Vol.18 (2-3)
O'Neill, J (2001) "Psychoanalysis and Sociology: From Freudo-Marxism to Freudo-Feminism" in Handbook of Social Theory eds. Ritzer and Smart, Sage Publications, London.
Link to Personal Webpage: http://www.arts.yorku.ca/soci/joneill/

 

 

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Harold [Innis] taught us how to use the bias of culture and communication as an instrument of research. By directing attention to the bias, or distorting power of the dominant imagery and technology of any culture, he showed us how to understand cultures.
~ Marshall McLuhan