Will Davies

Biography

Will Davies is a political economist with particular interests in neoliberalism, history of economics and economic sociology. His work explores the way in which economics influences our understanding of politics, society and ourselves, themes which he has addressed in two books, The Happiness Industry: How the government & big business sold us wellbeing (Verso, 2015) and The Limits of Neoliberalism: Authority, sovereignty & the logic of competition (Sage, 2014). He is Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Centre, which explores critical, cultural and political perspectives on economic life, and Convener of the BA in Politics Philosophy & Economics. He is currently a Co-Investigator in the ESRC-sponsored Centre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity. Prior to doing his PhD, Will worked in public policy for think tanks including Demos and the Institute for Public Policy Research. He writes regularly for a range of non-academic publications. These have included The Atlantic, The New Statesman, openDemocracy, Prospect and Chronicle Review. Academic qualifications PhD in Sociology – Goldsmiths, University of London – 2009 MA in Modern European Philosophy – University of Essex – 1999 BA in Social & Political Sciences – University of Cambridge - 1998

Research Interest

Dr Will Davies' research explores how we have come to understand and govern economic practices in the way that we do. To explore this, he draws on a combination of history of economics, the work of Michel Foucault, the pragmatist sociology of Luc Boltanski and related traditions of cultural and critical theory. His concern in all of this is the question of how political and philosophical issues have been excluded from everyday economic practices, and how they might be reintroduced, for critical and transformative purposes. He is especially interested in the history of neoliberalism, and more recently in how mental wellbeing has become an economic policy issue. In order to consider how economic institutions can be constructed differently, he has also carried out research on co-operatives and alternative economic practices.