Mark McCormack

Mark McCormack is a Professor of Sociology at Aston University, having previously worked at Durham University, Brunel University at the University of Roehampton. His research examines how social trends related to gender and sexuality map onto everyday experiences of individuals in society. A core focus has been documenting how the decrease in homophobia in Britain and the United States influences the experiences of young people, including an expansion of socially acceptable gendered behaviours for male youth and improvement in life experiences of gay and bisexual youth. His current research examines the intersection of sexuality, gender, leisure, social deviance and their regulation through the law and public policy. This research includes focus on sexuality (identities, subcultures, sexual practices), transgressive leisure (drug use, pornography consumption, festivals), harm reduction (drug checking services) and the law and social policy that governs them (Psychoactive Substances Act, Online Safety Act).

He has published on these areas in leading international journals including Sociology, British Journal of Sociology and Archives of Sexual Behavior. His first book, The Declining Significance of Homophobia, was published with Oxford University Press in 2012, and The Changing Dynamics of Bisexual Men's Lives was published with Springer in 2016. He is lead author of an introductory textbook, Discovering Sociology, the second edition of which was published 2021