Alan Finlayson, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences

• Deputy Associate Dean of Research in the Faculty of Arts & Humanities

Professor Alan Finlayson's research combines three things: the study of political rhetoric; the theoretical and historical analysis and interpretation of political ideas and ideologies; contributions to the development of democratic political and cultural theory.

He is particularly associated with Rhetorical Political Analysis, and with the interdisciplinary study of Digital Poltical Culture. 

In 2024 he was made a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. 

Prof. Finlayson was PI on the AHRC funded research project Political Ideology, Rhetoric and Aesthetics in the Twenty-First Century: The Case of the 'Alt-Right' from 2018-2021. This three-year research project examined how digital platform technologies are transforming the ways in which political ideas are formed and circulated and how this affects our relationship with our political beliefs and with their argumentative expression.

He was Co-I on the AHRC funded research project Our Subversive Voice? The history and politics of English protest music. This is an investigation into the long history of songs as a means of political expression, and of their rhetorical style and form. 

Alan is Chair of the Editorial Board of Renewal: A Journal of Social Democracy; co-editor of the Palgrave book series Rhetoric, Politics and Society; co-founder and Treasurer of the Rhetoric and Politics Group of the UK Political Studies Association and on the board of the Rhetoric Society of Europe. He has contributed political commentary and analysis for print, broadcast and online media including The Guardian, Open Democracy and The London Review of Books.  

2012 - Present:       Professor of Political and Social Theory, UEA

2000 - 2011:           Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Reader, Department of Politics and International   

                              Relations, Swansea University

1992 - 1999:           Teaching Fellow and Lecturer, School of Politics, The Queen’s University of Belfast

Honorary Appointments:

2003:                       Visiting Professor, Department of Speech Communication, University of Southern

                                Illinois, USA

2008:                       Visiting Lecturer, Centre for Theoretical Studies, Essex University

2008:                       Visiting and Guest lecturer , University of Jyväskylä, POLITU Doctoral Course:   

                                Rhetoric of Governments, Parliaments and Movements

2011:                       Visiting Fellow, Institute of Advanced Study, University of Warwick

Alan’s research is particulalry concerned with the theory, history and practice of political rhetoric. Combining this with theories and methods of discourse analysis he studies the form, content, organisation, technologies, governance, effects and significance of political speech and communication practices. He also works in 'the political theory of ideologies', studying the historical and contemporary ways in which ideas shape the politics, culture and ideologies of British Politics. In addition to these areas he also works on wider issues in contemporary social and political theory, particularly theories of radical, pluralist or agonistic democracy.

Prof. Finlayson is Deputy Associated Dean for Research in the Faculty of Arts & Humanities.

Professor Finlayson teaches on a range of undergraduate courses including those concerned with classical and contemporary social and political theory and with political communication.

Political Ideas and Ideologies, Rhetoric, Political Discourse, Language and Politics, Interpretive Methods, Political Sociology, Digital Media and Politics, British Politics, Parliament, Labour Party (ideas and ideology), Conservative Party (ideas and ideology), Far-Right Politics, Protest Song, Popular Culture and Politics, Media and Politics, Political Economy,  Socialism, Conservatism, Marxism, Fascism, Cultural Studies.