Sara R Farris
Staff details
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
Featured publications
Goldsmiths Research Centres/Groups
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”
