People

Professor Linsey McGoey

Head of Department - Professor (R)
Department of Sociology and Criminology
Professor Linsey McGoey
  • Email

  • Telephone

    +44 (0) 1206 873544

  • Location

    5A.321, Colchester Campus

  • Academic support hours

    Please email me for an appointment.

Profile

Biography

McGoey is Professor of Sociology, with expertise in social theory and economic sociology. She is recognized internationally for playing a pioneering role in the establishment of ignorance studies, an interdisciplinary field focused on exploring how strategic ignorance and the will to ignore have underpinned economic exchange and political domination throughout history. Her research on ignorance has led to new conceptual frameworks for understanding the political value of ignorance and the unknown. She is also recognized for work on philanthropic foundations and their role in the global economy. Her book, No Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy, is the first book-length analysis of the Gates Foundation's influence, both negative and positive, on global health and development. Her research on the new philanthropy links to her general focus on the role of power, ignorance and knowledge in contemporary society, with an emphasis on how corporate power and corporate domination affect well-being and inequality around the world Peer-reviewed articles appear in Economy and Society, Theory, Culture and Society, Science, Technology and Human Values, Politix, and the British Journal of Sociology. Books include No Such Thing as a Free Gift (Verso, 2015) and The Unknowers (Zed, 2019). She is a founding editor, with Matthias Gross and Michael Smithson, of the Routledge Research in Ignorance Studies book series. McGoey is on the Advisory Board of the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Solidarity, University of Vienna, the Editorial Board of Economy and Society, and the Editorial Advisory Board of Finance and Society. She has held visiting fellowships at the Brocher Foundation, the LSE and Sciences Po. She writes extensively for a general audience, with articles in the New York Times, Guardian, Jacobin, Fortune, the Spectator and Open Democracy. Media coverage of her work include Radio France, The Hindu, BBC Radio 4, BBC World News, The New Humanist, The Washington Post, New York Times, the Guardian, the Globe and Mail, and Canada's CBC news.

Research and professional activities

Research interests

Social theories of knowledge and ignorance

Open to supervise

Economic sociology

Open to supervise

Global health governance

Open to supervise

Human rights-based approaches to health and development

Open to supervise

Teaching and supervision

Current teaching responsibilities

  • Sociological Research Design (SC905)

Previous supervision

Lukas Griessl
Lukas Griessl
Thesis title: Polling, Power and Legitimacy: The Politics of Representation and the Making of Publics
Degree subject: Sociology
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 17/5/2024
Jana Kujundzic
Jana Kujundzic
Thesis title: Marital Rape in Croatia: Law, Economic Precarity and the Politics of Professional Judgement
Degree subject: Criminology
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 23/3/2022
Amy Victoria Dickens
Amy Victoria Dickens
Thesis title: The Right to Health Implications of Data-Driven Health Research Partnerships
Degree subject: Human Rights
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 4/10/2021
Daniela Boraschi
Daniela Boraschi
Thesis title: Cervical Cancer At the Crossroads. an Historical Ontology of Evidence in Cervical Cancer Prevention
Degree subject: Sociological Research
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 5/12/2019
Eduardo Vicente Goncalves
Eduardo Vicente Goncalves
Thesis title: Crowd Funding: Between Politics and Antipolitics
Degree subject: Sociology
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 24/6/2019

Publications

Journal articles (30)

McGoey, L., INCÓGNITAS ESTRATÉGICAS. Revista Inter-Legere. 3 (29), c23359-c23359

Bacevic, J. and McGoey, L., (2024). Liberal fatalism, Covid-19 and the politics of impossibility. Economy and Society. 53 (1), 163-182

Langley, P., Ashenden, S., Barry, A., Bear, L., Kelly, A., McGoey, LJ., Molyneux, M., Neyland, D., Parry, B., Tonkiss, F. and Weszkalnys, G., (2023). Nigel Dodd: An appreciation. Economy and Society. 52 (1), 1-8

McGoey, L., (2021). Philanthrocapitalism and the Separation of Powers. Annual Review of Law and Social Science. 17 (1), 391-409

McGoey, L., (2021). Hiding the Rentier Elephant in Plain Sight: The Epistemology of Vanishing Rent. Sociologica. 15 (2), 75-93

McGoey, L., (2020). Micro-Ignorance and Macro-Ignorance in the Social Sciences. Social Research: An International Quarterly. 87 (1), 197-217

McGoey, L., (2018). Bataille and the Sociology of Abundance: Reassessing Gifts, Debt and Economic Excess. Theory, Culture and Society. 35 (4-5), 69-91

McGoey, L. and Thiel, DJ., (2018). Charismatic violence and the sanctification of the super-rich. Economy and Society. 47 (1), 111-134

Kelly, AH. and McGoey, L., (2018). Facts, power and global evidence: a new empire of truth. Economy and Society. 47 (1), 1-26

McGoey, L., Thiel, D. and West, R., (2018). Philanthrocapitalism and crimes of the powerful [Le philanthrocapitalisme et les « crimes des dominants »]. Politix. 2018 (1), 29-54

Mallard, G. and McGoey, L., (2018). Strategic ignorance and global governance: an ecumenical approach to epistemologies of global power. The British Journal of Sociology. 69 (4), 884-909

McGoey, L., (2017). The Elusive Rentier Rich: Piketty's Data Battles and the Power of Absent Evidence. Science, Technology, & Human Values. 42 (2), 257-279

Clark, J. and McGoey, L., (2016). The black box warning on philanthrocapitalism. The Lancet. 388 (10059), 2457-2459

McGoey, L., (2014). The philanthropic state: market-state hybrids in the philanthrocapitalist turn. Third World Quarterly. 35 (1), 109-125

McGoey, L., (2012). Philanthrocapitalism and its critics. Poetics. 40 (2), 185-199

Davies, W. and McGoey, L., (2012). Rationalities of ignorance: on financial crisis and the ambivalence of neo-liberal epistemology. Economy and Society. 41 (1), 64-83

McGoey, L., (2012). Strategic unknowns: towards a sociology of ignorance. Economy and Society. 41 (1), 1-16

McGoey, L., (2012). The logic of strategic ignorance. The British Journal of Sociology. 63 (3), 533-576

McGoey, L., Reiss, J. and Wahlberg, A., (2011). The global health complex. BioSocieties. 6 (1), 1-9

McGoey, L., (2010). Profitable failure: antidepressant drugs and the triumph of flawed experiments. History of the Human Sciences. 23 (1), 58-78

McGoey, L., (2009). Pharmaceutical Controversies and the Performative Value of Uncertainty. Science as Culture. 18 (2), 151-164

McGoey, L. and Jackson, E., (2009). Seroxat and the suppression of clinical trial data: regulatory failure and the uses of legal ambiguity. Journal of Medical Ethics. 35 (2), 107-112

McGoey, L., (2009). Compounding Risks to Patients: Selective Disclosure is Not an Option. The American Journal of Bioethics. 9 (8), 35-36

Kendall, T., McGoey, L. and Jackson, E., (2009). If NICE was in the USA. The Lancet. 374 (9686), 272-273

McGoey, L., (2009). Sequestered Evidence and the Distortion of Clinical Practice Guidelines. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine. 52 (2), 203-217

Wahlberg, A. and McGoey, L., (2007). An Elusive Evidence Base: The Construction and Governance of Randomized Controlled Trials. BioSocieties. 2 (1), 1-10

McGoey, L., (2007). On the will to ignorance in bureaucracy. Economy and Society. 36 (2), 212-235

Kendall, T. and McGoey, L., (2007). Truth, Disclosure and the Influence of Industry on the Development of NICE Guidelines: An Interview with Tim Kendall. BioSocieties. 2 (1), 129-140

Mcgoey, L., (2007). Pharmaceutical Hope. Science as Culture. 16 (4), 489-492

McGoey, L., (2007). On the will to ignorance in bureaucracy. ECONOMY AND SOCIETY. 36 (2), 212-235

Books (7)

Gross, M. and McGoey, L., (2022). Routledge International Handbook of Ignorance Studies. Routledge

Gross, M. and McGoey, L., (2022). Revolutionary Epistemology. Routledge

McGoey, L., (2019). The Unknowers: How Strategic Ignorance Rules the World. Zed Books Ltd. 978-1780326351

McGoey, L., (2015). No Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy. Verso Publication. 9781784780838

Gross, M. and McGoey, L., (2015). Routledge International Handbook of Ignorance Studies. Routledge. 978-0-415-71896-7

McGoey, L., (2014). An introduction to the sociology of ignorance: essays on the limits of knowing. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. 1-13-877967-9. 978-1-13-877967-9

Hunt, P., Bustreo, F., Gruskin, S., Eide, A., McGoey, L., Rao, S., Songane, F., Tarantola, D., Unnithan, M., Yamin, AE., van Bolhuis, A., Ferguson, L., Halliday, E., Kuruvilla, S., Popay, J. and Sander, G., (2013). Women's and Children's Health: Evidence of Impact of Human Rights. World Health Organization. 9789241505420

Book chapters (9)

McGoey, L., (2022). Philanthropy. In: The Routledge Handbook of Global Development. Routledge. 119- 128

McGoey, L., (2015). From accidental to ambitious sociology. In: Sociologists' Tales Contemporary narratives on sociological thought and practice. Editors: Twamley, K., Doidge, M. and Scott, A., . Policy Press. 9781447318675

McGoey, L., (2015). Vom Nutzen und Nachteil strategischen Nichtwissens. In: Vom Nutzen des Nichtwissens: Sozial- und kulturwissenschaftliche Perspektiven. Editors: Wehling, P., . transcript Verlag. 53- 74. 9783839426296

Thiel, D., (2015). Criminal Ignorance. In: Routledge International Handbook of Ignorance Studies. Editors: Gross, M. and McGoey, L., . Routledge. 1- 14. 978-0-415-71896-7

Gross, M. and McGoey, L., (2015). Introduction. In: Routledge International Handbook of Ignorance Studies. Routledge. 1- 14

Davies, W. and McGoey, L., (2014). Rationalities of ignorance: on financial crisis and the ambivalence of neo-liberal epistemology. In: An introduction to the sociology of ignorance: essays on the limits of knowing. Editors: McGoey, L., . Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. 64- 83. 1-13-877967-9. 978-1-13-877967-9

McGoey, L., (2014). Strategic unknowns: towards a sociology of ignorance. In: An introduction to the sociology of ignorance: essays on the limits of knowing. Editors: McGoey, L., . Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. 1- 16. 1-13-877967-9. 978-1-13-877967-9

McCoy, D. and McGoey, L., (2011). Global Health and the Gates Foundation - In Perspective. In: Partnerships and Foundations in Global Health Governance. Editors: Rushton, S. and Williams, OD., . Palgrave Macmillan. 9780230238763

McGoey, L., (2011). Police reinforcement: the anti-politics of organizational life. In: Reading Rancière: Critical Dissensus. Editors: Bowman, P. and Stamp, R., . Continuum. 148- 162. 9781441137814

Reports and Papers (1)

Bacevic, J. and McGoey, L., (2021). Surfing ignorance: Covid-19 and the rise of fatalistic liberalism

Grants and funding

2013

Evidence in interdisciplinary contextx: the value and ethics of randomised controlled trials

Economic & Social Research Council

Contact

lmcgoey@essex.ac.uk
+44 (0) 1206 873544

Location:

5A.321, Colchester Campus

Academic support hours:

Please email me for an appointment.

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