![Finn Bowring](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/3097?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Overview
Supervision
I am interested in supervising PhD students whose research is informed by:
- Classical sociology
- Critical theory
- Modern social and political philosophy.
I am interested in empirical projects whose aim is to explore the ethical dimension of social organisations, practices and relationships.
Publication
2025
- Bowring, F. 2025. Trouble with death: Making sense of mortality in the Anthropocene. Death and Culture United Kingdom: Bristol University Press. (10.51952/9781529241266)
2022
- Bowring, F. 2022. Death and the form of life. European Journal of Social Theory 25 (3), pp.349-365. (10.1177/13684310211024534)
2019
- Bowring, F. 2019. Erotic love in sociology, philosophy and literature: from romanticism to rationality. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
2017
- Bowring, F. 2017. Hannah Arendt and the hierarchy of human activity. [Online].www.the-tls.co.uk: TLS. Available at: https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/hannah-arendt-hierarchy-human-activity/#:~:text=In%20The%20Human%20Condition%2C%20Arendt,metabolism%20between%20man%20and%20nature%E2%80%9D.
2016
- Bowring, F. 2016. The individual and society in Durkheim: unpicking the contradictions. European Journal of Social Theory 19 (1), pp.21-38. (10.1177/1368431015585042)
2015
- Bowring, F. 2015. Negative and positive freedom: lessons from, and to, sociology. Sociology 49 (1), pp.156-171. (10.1177/0038038514525291)
2014
- Bowring, F. 2014. Arendt after Marx: rethinking the dualism of nature and world. Rethinking Marxism 26 (2), pp.278-290. (10.1080/08935696.2014.888856)
- Bowring, F. and Fevre, R. 2014. European sociologies and social theories of work. In: Koniordos, S. and Kyrtsis, A. eds. The Routledge Handbook of European Sociology. Routledge International Handbooks London: Routledge. , pp.143-157.
2013
- Bowring, F. 2013. 'Enough: genetic engineering and the end of human nature' by Bill McKibben [Book Review]. [Online].independent.co.uk: The Independent. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/enough-genetic-engineering-and-the-end-of-human-nature-by-bill-mckibben-109753.html.
2012
- Bowring, F. 2012. Against the barbarians. [Online].newhumanist.org.uk: New Humanist. Available at: https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/2732/against-the-barbariansa.
- Bowring, F. 2012. Perplexed, suspicious and committed: sociology in the company of Arendt. Sociology 46 (2), pp.373-378. (10.1177/0038038511416147)
- Bowring, F. 2012. Repressive desublimation and consumer culture: re-evaluating Herbert Marcuse. New Formations 75 , pp.8-24. (10.3898/NewF.75.01.2012)
2011
- Bowring, F. 2011. Comparing Bauman and Arendt: three important differences. Sociology 45 (1), pp.54-69. (10.1177/0038038510387186)
- Bowring, F. 2011. Hannah Arendt: a critical introduction. Modern European Thinkers London: Pluto Press.
- Bowring, F. 2011. Marx's concept of fettering: a critical review. Critique 39 (1), pp.137-153. (10.1080/03017605.2011.537457)
2010
- Bowring, F. 2010. Markets, authority, and democracy: in praise of the professions. Economy and Society 30 (1), pp.155-162. (10.1080/03085140020019133)
- Bowring, F. 2010. Review of Edward Granter’s Critical Theory and the End of Work [Book Review]. Organization 17 (5), pp.647-649. (10.1177/13505084100170050902)
2009
- Bowring, F. 2009. André Gorz: ecology, system and lifeworld. Capitalism Nature Socialism 6 (4), pp.65-84. (10.1080/10455759509358651)
2008
- Bowring, F. 2008. The writer’s malady: André Gorz, 1923–2007. Radical Philosophy (148), pp.52-56.
2007
- Bowring, F. 2007. Animal wrongs. [Online].newhumanist.org.uk: New Humanist. Available at: https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/724/animal-wrongs.
- Bowring, F. 2007. John Gray's bad faith. [Online].Vol. 2newhumanist.org.uk: New Humanist. Available at: https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/626/john-grays-bad-faith.
- Bowring, F. 2007. The future of human nature. [Online].Vol. 3newhumanist.org.uk: New Humanist. Available at: https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/650/the-future-of-human-nature.
2005
- Bowring, F. 2005. André Gorz: autonomy and equity in the post-industrial age. In: Jones, C. and Munro, R. eds. Contemporary Organization Theory. Oxford: Blackwell. , pp.134-147.
- Bowring, F. 2005. 'Bio-evolution: how biotechnology is changing our world' Michael Fumento [Book Review]. Politics and the Life Sciences 24 (1-2), pp.92-94. (10.2990/1471-5457(2005)24[92:MFBHBI]2.0.CO;2)
- Bowring, F. 2005. To relish the sublime? Culture and self-realisation in postmodern times [Book Review]. Capital and Class 86 (2), pp.174-179. (10.1177/030981680508600112)
2004
- Bowring, F. 2004. 'Contested commodities' by Margaret Jane Radin and 'The commercialisation of intimate life' by Arlie Russell Hochschild [Book Review]. Capital and Class 28 (2), pp.185-190. (10.1177%2F030981680408300111)
- Bowring, F. 2004. From the mass worker to the multitude: a theoretical contextualisation of Hardt and Negri's Empire. Capital and Class 28 (2), pp.101-132. (10.1177/030981680408300105)
- Bowring, F. 2004. Therapeutic and Reproductive Cloning: A Critique. Social Science & Medicine 58 (2), pp.401-409. (10.1016/S0277-9536(03)00206-5)
2003
- Bowring, F. 2003. Manufacturing scarcity: food biotechnology and the life sciences industry. Capital and Class 27 (1), pp.107-144. (10.1177/030981680307900107)
- Bowring, F. 2003. Science, seeds and cyborgs: biotechnology and the appropriation of life. London: Verso.
2002
- Bowring, F. 2002. Post-Fordism and the End of Work. Futures 34 (2), pp.159-172. (10.1016/S0016-3287(01)00053-2)
2000
- Bowring, F. 2000. Andre Gorz and the Sartrean legacy: arguments for a person-centred social theory. Palgrave Macmillan UK. (10.1057/9780230288744)
- Bowring, F. 2000. Social exclusion: limitations of the debate. Critical Social Policy 20 (3), pp.307-330. (10.1177%2F026101830002000303)
1999
- Bowring, F. 1999. Job scarcity: the perverted form of a potential blessing. Sociology 33 (1), pp.69-84. (10.1177/S0038038599000048)
1998
- Bowring, F. 1998. An unencumbered freedom: Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed. Anarchist Studies 6 (1), pp.21-37.
- Bowring, F. 1998. LETS: An eco-socialist initiative?. New Left Review 232 , pp.91-111.
- Bowring, F. 1998. Morality, Blood and Shit. 'The New Golden Rule' Amitai Etzioni [Book Review]. [Online].radicalphilosophy.com: Radical Philosophy. Available at: https://www.radicalphilosophy.com/reviews/89-reviews.
1997
- Bowring, F. 1997. Communitarianism and morality: in search of the subject. New Left Review 222 , pp.93-113.
1996
- Bowring, F. 1996. A lifeworld without a subject: Habermas and the pathologies of modernity. Telos 106 , pp.77-104. (10.3817/1296106077)
- Bowring, F. 1996. Misreading Gorz. New Left Review 217 , pp.102-122.
1995
- Bowring, F. 1995. 'Manipulating Needs: Capitalism and Culture' Conrad Lodziak [Book Review]. Radical Philosophy 75 , pp.53-54.
Articles
- Bowring, F. 1996. A lifeworld without a subject: Habermas and the pathologies of modernity. Telos 106 , pp.77-104. (10.3817/1296106077)
- Bowring, F. 1998. An unencumbered freedom: Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed. Anarchist Studies 6 (1), pp.21-37.
- Bowring, F. 2009. André Gorz: ecology, system and lifeworld. Capitalism Nature Socialism 6 (4), pp.65-84. (10.1080/10455759509358651)
- Bowring, F. 2014. Arendt after Marx: rethinking the dualism of nature and world. Rethinking Marxism 26 (2), pp.278-290. (10.1080/08935696.2014.888856)
- Bowring, F. 2005. 'Bio-evolution: how biotechnology is changing our world' Michael Fumento [Book Review]. Politics and the Life Sciences 24 (1-2), pp.92-94. (10.2990/1471-5457(2005)24[92:MFBHBI]2.0.CO;2)
- Bowring, F. 1997. Communitarianism and morality: in search of the subject. New Left Review 222 , pp.93-113.
- Bowring, F. 2011. Comparing Bauman and Arendt: three important differences. Sociology 45 (1), pp.54-69. (10.1177/0038038510387186)
- Bowring, F. 2004. 'Contested commodities' by Margaret Jane Radin and 'The commercialisation of intimate life' by Arlie Russell Hochschild [Book Review]. Capital and Class 28 (2), pp.185-190. (10.1177%2F030981680408300111)
- Bowring, F. 2022. Death and the form of life. European Journal of Social Theory 25 (3), pp.349-365. (10.1177/13684310211024534)
- Bowring, F. 2004. From the mass worker to the multitude: a theoretical contextualisation of Hardt and Negri's Empire. Capital and Class 28 (2), pp.101-132. (10.1177/030981680408300105)
- Bowring, F. 1999. Job scarcity: the perverted form of a potential blessing. Sociology 33 (1), pp.69-84. (10.1177/S0038038599000048)
- Bowring, F. 1998. LETS: An eco-socialist initiative?. New Left Review 232 , pp.91-111.
- Bowring, F. 1995. 'Manipulating Needs: Capitalism and Culture' Conrad Lodziak [Book Review]. Radical Philosophy 75 , pp.53-54.
- Bowring, F. 2003. Manufacturing scarcity: food biotechnology and the life sciences industry. Capital and Class 27 (1), pp.107-144. (10.1177/030981680307900107)
- Bowring, F. 2010. Markets, authority, and democracy: in praise of the professions. Economy and Society 30 (1), pp.155-162. (10.1080/03085140020019133)
- Bowring, F. 2011. Marx's concept of fettering: a critical review. Critique 39 (1), pp.137-153. (10.1080/03017605.2011.537457)
- Bowring, F. 1996. Misreading Gorz. New Left Review 217 , pp.102-122.
- Bowring, F. 2015. Negative and positive freedom: lessons from, and to, sociology. Sociology 49 (1), pp.156-171. (10.1177/0038038514525291)
- Bowring, F. 2012. Perplexed, suspicious and committed: sociology in the company of Arendt. Sociology 46 (2), pp.373-378. (10.1177/0038038511416147)
- Bowring, F. 2002. Post-Fordism and the End of Work. Futures 34 (2), pp.159-172. (10.1016/S0016-3287(01)00053-2)
- Bowring, F. 2012. Repressive desublimation and consumer culture: re-evaluating Herbert Marcuse. New Formations 75 , pp.8-24. (10.3898/NewF.75.01.2012)
- Bowring, F. 2010. Review of Edward Granter’s Critical Theory and the End of Work [Book Review]. Organization 17 (5), pp.647-649. (10.1177/13505084100170050902)
- Bowring, F. 2000. Social exclusion: limitations of the debate. Critical Social Policy 20 (3), pp.307-330. (10.1177%2F026101830002000303)
- Bowring, F. 2016. The individual and society in Durkheim: unpicking the contradictions. European Journal of Social Theory 19 (1), pp.21-38. (10.1177/1368431015585042)
- Bowring, F. 2008. The writer’s malady: André Gorz, 1923–2007. Radical Philosophy (148), pp.52-56.
- Bowring, F. 2004. Therapeutic and Reproductive Cloning: A Critique. Social Science & Medicine 58 (2), pp.401-409. (10.1016/S0277-9536(03)00206-5)
- Bowring, F. 2005. To relish the sublime? Culture and self-realisation in postmodern times [Book Review]. Capital and Class 86 (2), pp.174-179. (10.1177/030981680508600112)
Book sections
- Bowring, F. 2005. André Gorz: autonomy and equity in the post-industrial age. In: Jones, C. and Munro, R. eds. Contemporary Organization Theory. Oxford: Blackwell. , pp.134-147.
- Bowring, F. and Fevre, R. 2014. European sociologies and social theories of work. In: Koniordos, S. and Kyrtsis, A. eds. The Routledge Handbook of European Sociology. Routledge International Handbooks London: Routledge. , pp.143-157.
Books
- Bowring, F. 2000. Andre Gorz and the Sartrean legacy: arguments for a person-centred social theory. Palgrave Macmillan UK. (10.1057/9780230288744)
- Bowring, F. 2019. Erotic love in sociology, philosophy and literature: from romanticism to rationality. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
- Bowring, F. 2011. Hannah Arendt: a critical introduction. Modern European Thinkers London: Pluto Press.
- Bowring, F. 2003. Science, seeds and cyborgs: biotechnology and the appropriation of life. London: Verso.
- Bowring, F. 2025. Trouble with death: Making sense of mortality in the Anthropocene. Death and Culture United Kingdom: Bristol University Press. (10.51952/9781529241266)
Websites
- Bowring, F. 2012. Against the barbarians. [Online].newhumanist.org.uk: New Humanist. Available at: https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/2732/against-the-barbariansa.
- Bowring, F. 2007. Animal wrongs. [Online].newhumanist.org.uk: New Humanist. Available at: https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/724/animal-wrongs.
- Bowring, F. 2013. 'Enough: genetic engineering and the end of human nature' by Bill McKibben [Book Review]. [Online].independent.co.uk: The Independent. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/enough-genetic-engineering-and-the-end-of-human-nature-by-bill-mckibben-109753.html.
- Bowring, F. 2017. Hannah Arendt and the hierarchy of human activity. [Online].www.the-tls.co.uk: TLS. Available at: https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/hannah-arendt-hierarchy-human-activity/#:~:text=In%20The%20Human%20Condition%2C%20Arendt,metabolism%20between%20man%20and%20nature%E2%80%9D.
- Bowring, F. 2007. John Gray's bad faith. [Online].Vol. 2newhumanist.org.uk: New Humanist. Available at: https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/626/john-grays-bad-faith.
- Bowring, F. 1998. Morality, Blood and Shit. 'The New Golden Rule' Amitai Etzioni [Book Review]. [Online].radicalphilosophy.com: Radical Philosophy. Available at: https://www.radicalphilosophy.com/reviews/89-reviews.
- Bowring, F. 2007. The future of human nature. [Online].Vol. 3newhumanist.org.uk: New Humanist. Available at: https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/650/the-future-of-human-nature.
Research
- Marxism and critical theory
- Existential phenomenology
- Andre Gorz
- Hannah Arendt
- Love
Current Interest
- Death
Teaching
- First year Introduction to Sociology (contributor)
- Second year Social Theory (convenor)
- Critical Perspectives in Social Science - Masters module (convenor)
Biography
Originally from Sheffield, I did a degree in Communication Studies at Nottingham Trent University, followed by a British Academy funded PhD in the Philosophy department at Lancaster University. After my PhD I was a Simon Marks Research Fellow in the Sociology department at Manchester University, before joining Cardiff University as a lecturer in SOCSI in 2000. I am a UCU rep for the School, and a member of the charitable organisation Giving What We Can. My current admin role is SOCSI Assessment and Feedback Lead.