Dr Adrian Leguina (BSc Universidad Diego Portales, MSc Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, PhD University of Manchester) joined Loughborough University in 2017.
Adrian is a leading scholar known for cutting-edge research at the intersection of social, cultural, and digital inequalities, using sophisticated methodologies. His research deals with the multiple ways structural inequalities are produced and reproduced in access to arts and culture, media consumption, internet usage, and values. This programme of inquiry is sociological in nature but is in constant dialogue with other disciplines such as media, cultural policy, and education. Adrian’s research has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Centre for Advanced Studies in Education (CONICYT- Universidad de Chile) and the Inter-American Development Bank.
Prior to joining Loughborough, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Understanding Everyday Participation project (5-year AHRC and Creative Scotland-funded project), extending his research to a broader array of cultural domains such as non-artistic and ordinary cultural engagement, and its relationship with social networks, social and geographical mobilities, and changes across the life course.
Over his time at Loughborough, Adrian has served as the School’s Library Liaison Officer and foundation social sciences Link Tutor and has contributed to the School’s EDI committee and as an academic representative on the Data and Surveys Working Group, part of the University's Race Equality Charter (2020-21). He is currently the Programme Director for undergraduate degrees in Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy.
He also maintains research collaborations with numerous institutions, including Tampere University (Finland), the University of Niš (Serbia) and the Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar (Croatia). Adrian currently serves as an executive board member of the European Sociological Association Research Network on Sociology of Consumption (RN5) and was co-convenor of the British Sociological Association Study Group on Consumption (2018-2021). He is also a member of the editorial board of the journals Sociology and Consumption & Society. Adrian has served in advisory roles for research projects founded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the European Union's Horizon 2020 and the Finnish Academy of Finland.
Adrian’s research explores how inequalities in preferences and access to culture and the use of digital technologies reinforce broader social injustices related to social class and other demographics. Using innovative and intuitive methods rooted in statistics, Adrian’s distinctive work transcends disciplinary boundaries and fosters dialogues across sociology, media studies, cultural policy, information sciences, and digital humanities. This research has pushed sociological perspectives on class analysis and stratification, digital divides, and cultural consumption, in novel and insightful directions.
As a (quantitative) methodologist and sociologist, Adrian is motivated by the methodological challenge behind the quantification of the value of culture, everyday practices and identities as an element of social distinction (in the Bourdieusian sense), as well as their defining role on people’s trajectories. Moreover, he is particularly interested in knowing the (reciprocal) impact of methods on social theories and how this affects the way we operationalize social concepts.
In terms of research methods, Adrian is particularly interested in the innovative application of multivariate statistics, particularly under the Geometrical Data Analysis and Combinatorial Inference paradigm (multiple correspondence analysis, multiple factor analysis, classification techniques), as well as more traditional statistical modelling (regression models, log-linear models, structural equation models) and non-parametric techniques (e.g. classification trees) for the analysis of large quantitative and textual data. He is also familiar with statistical techniques for psychometric assessment of surveys.
Recent externally funded research projects
2022-23, Co-Investigator, “Novel perceptions: Towards an inclusive canon”, AHRC.
2020-22 Co-Investigator, “Digital Access to Arts and Culture Beyond COVID-19”, AHRC.
Adrian became a Fellow of the High Education Academy in 2019 and is currently the Programme Director for undergraduate degrees in Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy.
Adrian teaches a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules, covering core research methods and contemporary sociology, as well as specialist modules on consumption and inequalities. Current and recent modules include:
- Global, Social and Cultural Change (SSA002)
- Introduction to Quantitative Research Methods (SSA006)
- Globalisation and its Consequences (SSB026)
- Consumption, Culture and Everyday Lives (SSC035)
- Digital Economies (SSP318)
- Researching Communication 1: Media Users and Cultural Institutions (SSP503)
Adrian currently serves as a Sociology External Examiner (UG) for the University of Bristol.
Dr Leguina would welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds.
- Sociology of consumption and inequalities: Including cultural consumption, and consumption of technological and digital goods, social media, and internet (digital divides).
- The sociology of Pierre Bourdieu: Any topics making use of Bourdieu’s theoretical and/or empirical contributions.
- Advanced quantitative and mixed methods: Particularly geometric data analysis (correspondence analysis, etc), classification, factor and latent variable modelling, regression models, and text mining.
- Social class, mobilities and identities: Particularly when including some of the above.
- Other topics that could make an innovative contribution to any of the above if consistent with Adrian’s expertise (see Publications).
Current postgraduate research students
- Jingrui Hu (2020-) “The consumption of vintage costume jewellery in China and cultural narrative of its manufacturers”
- David Graf (2021-) “Taste and National Identity in Social Practices of Art Evaluation.”
- Li Yan (2021-) “The Formation of Trust in the Sharing Economy in China”
- Xiaobin Zhou (2021-) “More than just a game—A Bourdieusian analysis of player habitus, capital and social inequalities in the field of video games.”
- Rhianna Garret (2022-) “Career trajectories of racialised minority staff and alumni in UK higher education institutions”
- Jiahui Li (2023-) “Digital health literacy and users’ perceptions about food tracking apps”
Competitions
- Aysegul Dilbirligi " Attitudes to parenting in Turkey and the UK."
- Yi Xu "The Formation of National Identity beyond Nations: The Role of Supra-national and National Identity in the Genesis of Chinese Society."
Internal examiner
Rachel Armitage (2023) “Tackling misinformation on social media: limiting the spread of misleading UK political news.”
- Leguina, A, Karademir-Hazir, I, Azpitarte, F (2022) Exploring patterns of children’s cultural participation: parental cultural capitals and their transmission, Consumption and Society, 1(1), pp.170-196, DOI: 10.1332/IOJW2616.
- Cvetičanin, P, Tomić-Koludrović, I, Petrić, M, Zdravković, Ž, Leguina, A (2021) From occupational to existential class: How to analyze class structure in hybrid societies (The case of Serbia), British Journal of Sociology, 72(4), pp.946-973, ISSN: 0007-1315. DOI: 10.1111/1468-4446.12858.
- Leguina, A and Downey, J (2021) Getting things done: Inequalities, Internet use and everyday life, New Media and Society, 23(7), pp.1824-1849, ISSN: 1461-4448. DOI: 10.1177/14614448211015979.
- Heikkilä, R, Leguina, A, Purhonen, S (2020) The stratification of media usage in Finland, 2007–2018: signs of socio-political polarization?, New Media and Society, 24(5), pp.1053-1075, ISSN: 1461-4448. DOI: 10.1177/1461444820971612.
- Mihelj, S., Leguina, A., & Downey, J. (2019). Culture is digital: Cultural participation, diversity and the digital divide. New Media and Society, DOI: 10.1177/1461444818822816.
- Miles, A., & Leguina, A. (2018). Socio-spatial mobilities and narratives of class identity in Britain. British Journal of Sociology, 69(4), 1063-1095. DOI: 10.1111/1468-4446.12624. Leguina, A., Arancibia-Carvajal, S., & Widdop, P. (2017). Musical preferences and technologies: Contemporary material and symbolic distinctions criticized. Journal of Consumer Culture, 17(2), 242-264. DOI: 10.1177/1469540515586870.
- Leguina, A., & Miles, A. (2017). Fields of participation and lifestyle in England: Revealing the regional dimension from a reanalysis of the taking part survey using multiple factor analysis. Cultural Trends, 26(1), 4-17. DOI: 10.1080/09548963.2017.1274356.