Staff profile

I am a social theorist with an interest in aspects of knowledge, ranging from formal epistemology to social practices, politics, and policies. My work draws on philosophy, sociology, and political economy to study how ideas, institutions, and practices of knowledge production interact with the social world. 

I have a PhD in sociology (Cambridge, 2019) and a PhD in anthropology (Belgrade, 2008). I joined the Department of Sociology at Durham in 2020, having previously worked at the University of Cambridge, University of Aarhus, Central European University in Budapest, Singidunum University and the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Belgrade. I have also held visiting fellowships at Bard College, the University of Bristol, University of Auckland, Central European University, and the University of Oxford.

My recent publications address topics such as academic freedom and the politics of 'free' speech; epistemic injustice and epistemic positoning; scientific evidence and expertise in managing pandemics; relationship between knowledge, prediction, and social interventions; and the politics and policies of valuing, measuring, and distributing knowledge. I am particularly interested in the relationships between knowledge, power, and forms of community, identity and justice. 

At Durham, I convene Public Sociology: Theory and Practice (PGT) and Social Theory and the Politics of Knowledge (UG). 

• relational sociology
• social theory
• sociology of knowledge
• philosophy of (social) science
• political philosophy
• political sociology
• political economy
• inequalities and social justice
• anthropology of Empire
• sociology of science

• 2023: Associate Fellow, Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities, Bard College:
• 2022:

  Invited lecture: School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds

  : Invited lecture: School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds
• 2022:

  Keynote speaker, Anthropology of the Future/Future of Anthropology, Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences, Viminacium 2022

  : Keynote speaker, Anthropology of the Future/Future of Anthropology, Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences, Viminacium 2022
• 2022:

  Keynote speaker, Political Epistemology Network, Amsterdam, 2022

  : Keynote speaker, Political Epistemology Network, Amsterdam, 2022
• 2022: Contributing editor, The Philosopher, UK's oldest public philosophy journal: Member of editorial board, The Philosopher, UK's oldest public philosophy journal
• 2021:

  Invited lecture: Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge

  : Invited lecture: Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge
• 2021:

  Keynote speaker, Theory Summmer School, Leibniz Center for Science and Society, September 2021

  : Keynote speaker, Theory Summmer School, Leibniz Center for Science and Society, September 2021
• 2000:

  Editorial board member, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour (SAGE)

  : Editorial board member, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour (SAGE)
• 2000:

  Keynote speaker, Praxis Symposium IV: Post-pandemic higher education, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, May 2022 

  : Keynote speaker, Praxis Symposium IV: Post-pandemic higher education, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, May 2022

Authored book

• Bacevic, J. (2014). From class to identity: The politics of education reforms in former Yugoslavia. Central European University

Chapter in book

• Bacevic, J. University under Attack?: Politics, Contestation and Agency beyond the ‘Neoliberal University’. In R. Barnett, & M. Peters (Eds.), The Idea of the University: Contemporary Perspectives (21-39). Peter Lang. https://doi.org/10.3726/b11839
• Bacevic, J. Beyond the Third Mission: Toward an Actor-Based Account of Universities’ Relationship with Society. In H. Egul, & S. Cosar (Eds.), Universities in the Neoliberal Era: Academic Cultures and Critical Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan
• Mackay, F., & Bacevic, J. (2023). The politics of gender and identity. In A. Morgan (Ed.), What Matters Most: Conversations on the Art of Living (3-12). Agenda Publishing. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.1357297.5
• Bacevic, J. (2022). Why do we fail to predict social crises?. In S. Jasanoff (Ed.), Un/certainty. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press
• Bacevic, J. (2016). Education, conflict and class reproduction in socialist Yugoslavia. In R. Archer, I. Duda, & P. Stubbs (Eds.), Social Inequalities and Discontent in Yugoslav Socialism (77 - 94). Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315609461
• Bacevic, J. (2016). What kind of university for what kind of society? Nation-states, post-national constellations, and higher education in the post-Yugoslav space. In P. Zgaga, U. Teichler, & J. Brennan (Eds.), The Globalisation Challenge for European Higher Education (287-308). Peter Lang AG. https://doi.org/10.3726/978-3-653-06508-4
• Bacevic, J. (2015). They had sex, drugs and rock’n’roll; we’ll have mini-jobs and loans to pay: Transition, social change and student movements in the post-Yugoslav region. In S. Horvat, & I. Štiks (Eds.), Welcome to the Desert of Post-Socialism! Radical Politics After Yugoslavia (223-242). Verso Books

Journal Article

• Bacevic, J. (2024). No such thing as free speech? Performativity, free speech, and academic freedom in the UK. Law and Critique, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10978-023-09373-2
• Bacevic, J., & McGoey, L. (2024). Liberal fatalism, COVID 19 and the politics of impossibility. Economy and Society, 53(1), 163-182. https://doi.org/10.1080/03085147.2024.2312710
• Bacevic, J. (2023). Epistemic injustice and epistemic positioning: towards an intersectional political economy. Current Sociology, 71(6), 1122-1140. https://doi.org/10.1177/00113921211057609
• Anderson, B., Aitken, S., Bacevic, J., Callard, F., Chung, K. D. (., Coleman, K. S., Hayden, R. F., Healy, S., Irwin, R. L., Jellis, T., Jukes, J., Khan, S., Marotta, S., Seitz, D. K., Snepvangers, K., Staples, A., Turner, C., Tse, J., Watson, M., & Wilkinson, E. (2023). Encountering Berlant part 1: Concepts otherwise. The Geographical Journal, 189(1), 117-142. https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12494
• Bacevic, J. (2021). No such thing as sociological excuses? Performativity, rationality and social scientific expertise in late liberalism. European Journal of Social Theory, 24(3), 394-410. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684310211018939
• Bacevic, J. (2021). Unthinking knowledge production: from post-Covid to post-carbon futures. Globalizations, 18(7), 1206-1218. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2020.1807855
• Bacevic, J. (2019). Knowing Neoliberalism. Social Epistemology, 33(4), 380-392. https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2019.1638990
• Bacevic, J. (2019). With or without U? Assemblage theory and (de)territorialising the university. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 17(1), 78-91. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2018.1498323
• Bacevic, J., & Muellerleile, C. (2018). The moral economy of open access. European Journal of Social Theory, 21(2), 169-188. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368431017717368
• Bacevic, J. (2014). (Education for) work sets you free: ‘employability’ and higher education in former Yugoslavia and its successor states. European Journal of Higher Education, 4(3), 281-296. https://doi.org/10.1080/21568235.2014.916534
• Nokkala, T., & Bacevic, J. (2014). University autonomy, agenda setting and the construction of agency: The case of the European university association in the European higher education area. European Educational Research Journal, 13(6), 699-714. https://doi.org/10.2304/eerj.2014.13.6.699
• Bacevic, J. (2010). Masters or servants? Power and discourse in Serbian higher education reform. Social Anthropology, 18(1), 43-56. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8676.2009.00097.x

Other (Print)

• Bacevic, J. (2021). Epistemic autonomy and the 'Free Nose Guy' problem