Professor Geoff Dench (14 August 1940 – 24 June 2018) was a British social scientist whose work related particularly to the lives of working class men. He did extensive research using opinion surveys and arrived at conclusions relating to

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

meritocracy Meritocracy (''merit'', from Latin , and ''-cracy'', from Ancient Greek 'strength, power') is the notion of a political system in which economic goods and/or political power are vested in individual people based on talent, effort, and achiev ...

and

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

that were out of keeping with prevailing attitudes in British academia in the later twentieth century.

Early life and education

Geoff Dench was born in Brighton on 14 August 1940 to Herbert, a dental technician, and Edna, who had trained as an accountant. He did not see his father until he was five years old due to the Second World War. His parents divorced when he was 18. He was educated at Varndean Grammar School for Boys, Brighton, and then at

Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Fitzwilliam College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college traces its origins back to 1869 and the foundation of the Non-Collegiate Students Board, a venture intended to offer academically excellent students of all ...

, where he did not excel, gaining a lower-second class degree in the Archaeology and Anthropology Tripos in 1962. There he met Michael Young, later author of ''

The Rise of the Meritocracy ''The Rise of the Meritocracy'' is a book by British sociologist and politician Michael Young, Baron Young of Dartington, Michael Dunlop Young which was first published in 1958. It describes a dystopian society in a future United Kingdom in whic ...

'' (1958), and together they established the Cambridge Sociology Society. He completed his PhD at the London School of Economics on the Maltese community in Soho in the 1950s.

Career

Dench helped to create the Department of Social Policy and Sociology at the

University of Middlesex Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated MDX) is a public research university in Hendon, northwest London, England. The name of the university is taken from its location within the historic county boundaries of ...

and subsequently became professor there. His work related particularly to the lives of working class men. He did extensive research using opinion surveys and arrived at conclusions relating to immigration, meritocracy and feminism that were out of keeping with prevailing attitudes in British academia in the later twentieth century.Professor Geoff Dench obituary.
''The Times'', 23 August 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2018. Dench's 1994 book ''The Frog, The Prince, and the Problem of Men'' argued that

patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical anthropological term for families or clans controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males a ...

'guarantees that men will be fitted in the society' and questioned feminist assumptions. In ''The New East End'' (2006) he explored, with co-authors Kate Gavron and Michael Young (died 2002), the attitudes of the white working class to Bangladeshi immigrants in the London area of

Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough covering much of the traditional East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar, and Bethnal Green. 'Tower Hamlets' was originally ...

and particularly the tensions between the two over the allocation of

social housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

. The book was an updating of Young's ''East End, Family and Kinship'' (1957). The authors concluded that the alienation of the white community in the area was partly an unintended consequence of policies designed to help the poorest in society but which ignored the legitimate expectations of other communities such as the white working class.Ignored, angry and anxious: the world of the white working class.
Madeleine Bunting, ''The Guardian'', 13 February 2006. Retrieved 26 September 2018.

Personal life

Dench married Fanny Peterson, twice, and they had three daughters. He later married Belinda Brown and they also had a daughter. Late in life he converted from

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's br ...

Anglo-Catholicism Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches. The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglica ...

Death

Dench died on 24 June 2018 from the effects of

progressive supranuclear palsy Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a late-onset degenerative disease involving the gradual deterioration and death of specific volumes of the brain. The condition leads to symptoms including loss of balance, slowing of movement, difficulty ...

Selected publications

* ''Maltese in London: A Case-study in the Erosion of Ethnic Consciousness''. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1975. * ''Minorities in the Open Society: Prisoners of Ambivalence''. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1986. * ''Transforming Men: Changing Patterns of Dependency and Dominance in Gender Relations''. Transaction Publishers, 1996. * ''The New East End: Kinship, Race and Conflict''. Profile, London, 2006. (With Kate Gavron and Michael Young) * ''What Women Want. Evidence from British Social Attitudes'' * ''Rewriting the Sexual Contract'' (Ed.) * ''Grandparenting in Britain: A Baseline Study'' * ''The Place of Men in Changing Family Cultures'' * ''Rediscovering Family'' * ''Grandmothers of the Revolution'' * ''The Family Strikes Back: Changing Attitudes to Work and Family'' * ''The Frog, the Prince & the Problem of Men'', London, 1994. * ''Grandmothers: The Changing Culture'' * ''The Moral Economy of Grandparenting'' * ''Valuing Informal Care'' * ''From extended family to state dependency: report on study into African-Caribbean family structure : carried out with Institute of Community Studies, for Hilden Trust''

References

External links

Geoff Dench 1940 – 2018Tribute to Prof Geoff Dench RIP, author of ‘Transforming Men’ – Male Psychology Network
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dench, Geoff 1940 births 2018 deaths Academics of Middlesex University Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge People from Brighton British Anglo-Catholics