Professor Brendan Burchell

College positions: Fellow, Director of Studies in Human, Social, and Political Sciences (Sociology)

University position: Professor of the Social Sciences

Subject: Sociology

Group membership: Governing Body

Brendan Burchell is a Professor in the Social Sciences and a Director of Studies in Human, Social and Political Science (Sociology) at Magdalene.

Professor Brendan Burchell's first degree was in Psychology from Birmingham University from 1977-80. From there he went to Warwick University to take a PhD in Social Psychology, researching person perception under laboratory conditions. He then took a one-year post at The City University teaching social psychology, statistics and computing.

His career took a change of direction when, in 1985, he was appointed to the Department of Applied Economics at Cambridge as a Research Officer to assist in a project entitled the Social Change and Economic Life Initiative, working collaboratively with economists, social psychologists and sociologists on a variety of aspects of labour markets and their effects on individuals.

In 1988 Professor Burchell transferred from the Department of Applied Economics to take a Lectureship in the Faculty of Human, Social, and Political Science. He is the Professor of the Social Sciences in the Department of Sociology. He is also a member of the Individual in the labour Market Research Group.

Research Interests

  • The effects of labour market experiences (e.g. job insecurity, work intensification, bankruptcy, unemployment) on psychological well-being.
  • Analysis of complex work and life histories data.
  • Gender segregation, men’s and women’s life cycles and careers.
  • Emotional reactions to personal finances: “Financial Phobia”.
  • Self-Employment and Job Quality
  • The relationship between hours of work and well-being.
  • The quality of policing work and PTSD

Qualifications

  • BSc, Birmingham University
  • PhD, Warwick University

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KEY PUBLICATIONS

Books

Introducing Social Psychology, B.J. Burchell, C. Fraser, G. Duveen, D. Hay & F. Hilmi, 2012, Jordan: Massira. Re-written and translated into Arabic.

Systems of Production: Markets, Organisations and Performance, B.J. Burchell, S. Deakin, J. Michie & J. Rubery, 2003, London: Routledge.

Job Insecurity and Work Intensification, B.J. Burchell, D. Ladipo & F. Wilkinson (Eds), 2002, London: Routledge.

Introducing Social Psychology, C. Fraser & B.J. Burchell, with D. Hay & G. Duveen (Eds), 2001, Oxford: Polity.

New Forms and New Patterns of Employment: The Role of Self-Employment in the UK, B.J. Burchell, J. Earnshaw & J. Rubery, 1993, University of Bremen: Zentrum für Europäische Rechts Politik.

Peer-Reviewed Journals

Alienation Is Not ‘Bullshit’: An Empirical Critique of Graeber’s Theory of BS Jobs, M. Soffia, A.J. Wood, B. Burchell, 2021, Work, Employment and Society.

Spatial and Temporal Segmenting of Urban Workplaces: The Gendering of Multi-Locational Working, B. Burchell, D. Reuschke, M. Zhang, 2020, Urban Studies.

How to Create Trust Quickly: A Comparative Empirical Investigation of the Bases of Swift Trust, F. Kroeger, G. Racko, B. Burchell, 2020, Cambridge Journal of Economics.

An Exploration of the Multiple Motivations for Spending Less Time at Work, S.U. Balderson, B. Burchell, D. Kamerade, S. Wang, A. Coutts, 2020, Time and Society.

Can Active Labour Market Programmes Emulate the Mental Health Benefits of Regular Paid Employment? Longitudinal Evidence from the United Kingdom, S. Wang, A. Coutts, B. Burchell, D. Kamerade, S.U. Balderson, 2020, Work, Employment and Society.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in UK Police Officers, C. Brewin, J. Miller, M. Soffia, A. Peart, B. Burchell, 2020, Psychological Medicine, pp. 1-9.

A Shorter Working Week for Everyone: How Much Paid Work is Needed for Mental Health and Well-Being?, D. Kamerade, S. Wang, B. Burchell, S.U. Balderson, A. Coutts, 2019, Social Science and Medicine.

Job Quality in European Employment Policy: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back?, A. Piasna, B. Burchell, K. Sehnbruch, 2019, Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, Vol. 2, pp. 165-180.

Prevalence of Restless Legs Syndrome and Associated Factors in an Otherwise Healthy Population: Results from the Danish Blood Donor Study, M. Didriksen, A.S. Rigas, R.P. Allen, B.J. Burchell, E. Di Angelantonio, M.H. Nielsen, H. Ullum, 2017, Sleep.

Comorbidities to Restless Legs Syndrome – Results from the Danish Blood Donor Study, M.T. Didriksen, A. Rigas, R. Allen, B. Burchell, L. Thørner, K. Nielsen, E. Di Angelantonio, M. Nielsen, et al., 2017, Sleep Medicine, 40, e79.

Economics Education and Value Change: The Role of Program Normative Homogeneity and Peer Influence, G. Racko, K. Strauss, B. Burchell, 2016, Academy of Management Learning and Education.

Equal Pay as a Moving Target: International Perspectives on Forty Years of Addressing the Gender Pay Gap, J. O'Reilly, M. Smith, S. Deakin, B. Burchell, 2015, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 39(2), pp. 299-317.

Human Development and Decent Work: Why Some Concepts Succeed and Others Fail to Make an Impact, K. Sehnbruch, B. Burchell, N. Agloni, A. Piasna, 2015, Development and Change, 46(2).

The Quality of Employment and Decent Work: Definitions, Methodologies, and Ongoing Debates, B.J. Burchell, K. Sehnbruch, A. Piasna, N. Agloni, 2014, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 38(2), pp. 459-477.

Employee Motivation and Work Ethic in the State and Private Sector in Ghana: A Survey of Teaching and Banking Professions, B. Burchell, K.D.A. Tumawu, 2014, Online Journal of African Affairs, 3(4), pp. 55-62.

Teleworking and Social Capital: Is Teleworking an Isolating or a Community-Friendly Form of Work?, D. Kamerade, B.J. Burchell, 2004, European Sociological Review, 20(4), pp. 345-361.

Job Insecurity and the Difficulty of Regaining Employment: An Empirical Study of Unemployment Expectations, A. Felstead, F. Green, B.J. Burchell, 2000, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 62(2), pp. 855-883.

Email
bb101@cam.ac.uk

Call
01223 332148