Sara R Farris

Staff details

Position Reader
Department Sociology
Email s.farris (@gold.ac.uk)
Phone +44 (0)20 7717 3108
Sara R Farris

Sara R. Farris is a sociologist with expertise in migration, gender and the political economy of care and social reproduction. Her research is particularly concerned to address: the role that migrant and racialised workers play within economies of care and social reproduction; the financialisation and corporatisation of care and the racialisation of sexism. She is well known internationally for her research on “femonationalism”, or the mobilisation of feminist themes by nationalist parties within anti-immigration campaigns.

Her research has been funded by the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, the European Commission, the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust among others.

She is the author of 'In the Name of Women’s Rights. The Rise of Femonationalism' (Duke University Press, 2017) and 'Max Weber’s Theory of Personality. Individuation, Politics and Orientalism in the Sociology of Religion' (Brill 2013), alongside numerous articles in leading journals.

Academic qualifications

  • PhD in Sociology, University of Rome "La Sapienza" 2007

Teaching and Supervision

Sara Farris currently teaches the following UG and MA courses: Central Issues in Sociological Analysis; Social Change and Political Action; Migration, Gender and Social Reproduction; Thinking Sociologically and Culture, Media and Sexuality.

She is interested in supervising students' projects that fall under her areas of expertise

Research interests

Sara R. Farris’s is the Co-Director of the PhD Programme and Chair of the Anti-Racism committee in the Department of Sociology. Her work explores: the relationship between migration and gender; the contemporary financialisation and corporatisation of care homes and childcare and the ways these processes rely upon (and inform) migrant labour mobility and low-wage economies; the cultural and economic representations of migrant populations and the racialisation of sexism. She is the author of Max Weber’s theory of personality. Individuation, politics and orientalism in the sociology of religion (Brill 2013) and In the name of women’s rights. The rise of femonationalism (Duke University Press, 2017). The latter has been positively reviewed in numerous leading peer-reviewed journals, and has been translated into seven languages. She has published in a range of journals, including: Gender, Work and Organisation; Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society; Ethnic and Racial Studies and The Sociological Review.
She is currently a member of the Editorial Board of Work, Employment and Society and serves as member of the Advisory Board of five international scientific bodies based at the LSE, Columbia University, University of Venice, University of Lausanne and University of Padua.
Sara’s research has received funding from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, the European Commission (through the Marie Curie and the Daphne III programmes), the Leverhulme Trust, and the British Academy, among others.She is currently the PI of 'CorporateCARE in London. The corporatisation of care homes and childcare in the UK capital' (Goldsmiths Strategic Research Fund) and is writing a book on theories of care and social reproduction.

Publications and research outputs

Book

Farris, Sara R.. 2017. In the Name of Women's Rights: The Rise of Femonationalism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822369608

Farris, Sara R.. 2016. Returns of Marxism. Marxist Theory in a Time of Crisis (edited by Sara R. Farris). Chicago: Haymarket Books. ISBN 9781608465743

Farris, Sara R.. 2013. Max Weber’s Theory of Personality: Individuation, Politics and Orientalism in the Sociology of Religion. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9789004254084

Edited Book

Skeggs, Beverley; Farris, Sara R.; Toscano, Alberto and Bromberg, Svenja, eds. 2021. The SAGE Handbook of Marxism. London: SAGE Publications. ISBN 9781473974234

Diefenbach, Katja; Farris, Sara R.; Kirn, Gal and Thomas, Peter D., eds. 2013. Encountering Althusser. Politics and Materialism in Contemporary Radical Thought. New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781441152138

Book Section

Farris, Sara R.. 2021. Gender. In: Beverley Skeggs; Sara R. Farris; Alberto Toscano and Svenja Bromberg, eds. The SAGE Handbook of Marxism. London: SAGE Publications, pp. 268-295. ISBN 9781473974234

Farris, Sara R.. 2019. Social reproduction and racialized surplus populations. In: Peter Osborne; Éric Alliez and Eric-John Russell, eds. Capitalism: Concept, Idea, Image – Aspects of Marx's Capital Today. Kingston upon Thames: CRMEP Books, pp. 121-134. ISBN 9781999333706

Farris, Sara R. and Scrinzi, Francesca. 2018. “'Subaltern Victims’ or ‘Useful Resources”? Migrant Women in the Lega Nord Ideology and Politics". In: Jon Mulholland; Nicola Montagna and Erin Sanders-McDonagh, eds. Gendering Nationalism: Intersections of Nation, Gender and Sexuality in the 21st Century. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 241-257. ISBN 9783319766997

Webber, Jeffery R.. 2016. ‘The Last Day of Oppression, and the First Day of the Same’: Popular Forces Regroup against Rafael Correa in Ecuador. In: Sara R. Farris, ed. Returns of Marxism: Marxist Theory in a Time of Crisis. Chicago: Haymarket Books. ISBN 9781608465743

Farris, Sara R.. 2015. Femonationalismus und Staatsfeminismus. In: , ed. Geschlecht in Gesellschaftlichen Transformationsprozessen. Berlin & Toronti: Barbara Budrich, pp. 75-89. ISBN 3847406191

Farris, Sara R.. 2013. Althusser and Tronti: the Primacy of Politics versus the Autonomy of the Political. In: Katja Diefenbach; Sara R. Farris; Gal Kirn and Peter Thomas, eds. Encountering Althusser. Politics and Materialism in Contemporary Radical Thought,. New York: Bloomsbury, pp. 185-203. ISBN 9781441152138

Article

Farris, Sara R.. 2022. Weber: Religion, Nation and Empire. Journal of Classical Sociology, 22(4), pp. 410-415. ISSN 1468-795X

Farris, Sara R.. 2022. Low-skill no more! essential workers, social reproduction and the legitimacy-crisis of the division of labour. Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, 23(2-3), pp. 342-358. ISSN 2159-9149

Farris, Sara R.; Yuval-Davis, Nira and Rottenberg, Catherine. 2021. The Frontline as Performative Frame: An Analysis of the UK COVID Crisis. State Crime Journal, 10(2), pp. 284-303. ISSN 2046-6056

Farris, Sara R.. 2020. The business of care: Private placement agencies and female migrant workers in London. Gender, Work & Organization, 27(6), pp. 1450-1467. ISSN 0968-6673

Farris, Sara R.. 2017. Introduction: Righting Feminism. New Formations: A Journal of Culture, Theory, Politics, 91(3), pp. 5-15. ISSN 0950-2378

Farris, Sara R. and Marchetti, Sabrina. 2017. From the Commodification to the Corporatization of Care: European Perspectives and Debates. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 24(2), pp. 109-131. ISSN 1072-4745

Farris, Sara R.. 2016. The Cold War of Women and Islam. Syndicate Theology,

Farris, Sara R.. 2016. Dispossessing the Private Sphere? Civic Integration Policies and Colonial Legacies. Darkmatter, 14(14), ISSN 2041-3254

Farris, Sara R.. 2016. Introduction to "Special Issue on Social Reproduction Feminism". Historical Materialism, 24(2), pp. 25-37. ISSN 1465-4466

Farris, Sara R.. 2015. Féministes de tous les pays, qui lave vos chaussettes? Comment s'en sortir?, 01(01), pp. 203-235.

Farris, Sara R.. 2015. Migrants’ regular army of labour: gender dimensions of the impact of the global economic crisis on migrant labor in Western Europe. The Sociological Review, 63(1), pp. 121-143. ISSN 0038-0261

Farris, Sara R.. 2014. From the Jewish Question to the Muslim Question. Republican Rigorism, Culturalist Differentialism and Antinomiesof Enforced Emancipation. Constellations. An International Journal of Critical and Democratic Theory, 21(2), pp. 296-307. ISSN 1351-0487

Farris, Sara R.. 2013. Neoliberalism, Migrant Women and the Commodification of Care. The Scholar & Feminist Online, 11(1&2), ISSN 1558-9404

Farris, Sara R. and de Jong, Sara. 2013. Discontinuous Intersections: Second-generation Immigrant Girls in Transition from School to Work. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 37(9), pp. 1505-1525. ISSN 0141-9870

Farris, Sara R.. 2012. Religion as the Source of the Self. Max Weber’s Hypothesis. Social Compass, 59(1), pp. 34-51. ISSN 0037-7686

Farris, Sara R.. 2012. Femonationalism and the 'Regular' Army of Labor called Migrant Women. History of the Present, 2(2), pp. 184-199. ISSN 2159-9785

Farris, Sara R.. 2011. Die politische Ökonomie des Femonationalismus. Feministische Studien, 2, pp. 321-334. ISSN 0723-5186

Farris, Sara R.. 2011. Workerism’s Inimical Incursions: On Mario Tronti’s Weberianism. Historical Materialism, 19(3), pp. 29-62. ISSN 1465-4466

Farris, Sara R.. 2010. An 'Ideal Type' Called Orientalism: Selective Affinities between Edward Said and Max Weber. Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, 12(2), pp. 265-284. ISSN 1369-801X

Farris, Sara R.. 2010. Interregional Migration and the Challenge for Gender and Development. Development. Society for International Development Journal, 53(1), pp. 98-104. ISSN 1011-6370

Further profile content

Research projects

2023-2023: CorporateCARE in London. The corporatisation of care homes and childcare in the UK capital
Goldsmiths Strategic Research Fund

2022-2022: Feminism from the kitchen floor. On domestic and care workers' organisations.
British Academy/Leverhulme Small Grants

2017-2018: Corporate care and migrant workers in times of crisis and austerity.
Leverhulme Trust Fellowship

Grants and awards

2007: Award for the Best Study of Empirical Research on the Theme of Immigration in Italy – “Gianni Statera Foundation”