A view of singleton campus including singleton park and the beach, with the sea stretching out to the horizon.

Dr Patrick Cockburn

Senior Lecturer in Political Economy and Philosophy

Politics, Philosophy and International Relations

p.j.l.cockburn@swansea.ac.uk

Office - 006
Ground Floor
James Callaghan
Singleton Campus

Available For Postgraduate Supervision

Research Links

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5246-696X

About

Patrick Cockburn is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Political Economy, having joined the department in 2019 after 11 years at Aarhus University, Denmark. His research focuses on problems of economic power and justice in capitalist societies, and builds bridges between political philosophy and the social sciences of economic life. His book The Politics of Dependence (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018) examined economic dependence in our public and private relationships, and the edited collection Contested Property Claims (Routledge, 2018) examined the role of property in structuring our social and economic relationships. The substantive focus of his most recent work is on political theories of the family. In parallel to this, his methodological work develops a critique of the applied methods characteristic of normative analytical political theory and seeks to develop a new relationship between qualitative social research and political philosophy that is inspired by the central role of normative description in 20^th century moral realism.

He is currently programme director for the degree programmes in Philosophy, PPE and Philosophy and Politics, and welcomes inquiries about supervision in topics concerning social and economic justice.

Areas Of Expertise

Economic justice
Inequality
Normative political economy
Philosophy and sociology of the family

Career Highlights

Teaching Interests

Economic justice

Inequality

Normative political economy

Philosophy and sociology of the family

Publications

Research Highlights

Cockburn, P. (2024). Paths to a world without families: reasons, means, and ends in family abolitionism. Contemporary Political Theory, 0
https://doi.org/10.1057/s41296-024-00729-6, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa67541
Cockburn, P. & Preminger, J. (2023). Migration and Demos in the Democratic Firm: An Extension of the State-Firm Analogy. Political Theory, 51(3), 557-580.
https://doi.org/10.1177/00905917231154422, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa61585
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00905917231154422
Cockburn, P. (2021). Varieties of economic dependence. European Journal of Political Theory, 22(2), 195-216.
https://doi.org/10.1177/14748851211001549, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa56717
https://doi.org/10.1177/14748851211001549
Cockburn, P. (2018). The Politics of Dependence - Economic Parasites and Vulnerable Lives (1st ed.). Palgrave Macmillan.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78908-8, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52087
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78908-8
Cockburn, P. & Thorup, M. (2018). Proprietors and parasites. Philosophy & Social Criticism, 44(2), 179-199.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0191453717723189, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52091
Bruun, M., Cockburn, P., Risager, B., & Thorup, M. (Eds.). (2018). Contested Property Claims: What Disagreement Tells us About Ownership. Routledge.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52089
Cockburn, P., Bruun, M., Risager, B., & Thorup, M. (2018). Introduction: Disagreement as a Window onto Property. Contested Property Claims: What Disagreement Tells us About Ownership (pp. 1-20). Routledge
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52090
Cockburn, P. (2017). Book Review: Just Property: Vol II: Enlightenment, Revolution and History
https://doi.org/10.1177/1478929917712912, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52096
Cockburn, P. (2016). Claims of Need in Property Law and Politics. Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory, 63(146), 56-74.
https://doi.org/10.3167/th.2016.6314604, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52092
https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/theoria/63/146/th6314604.xml
Cockburn, P. (2016). A common sense of property?. Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, 17(1), 78-93.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1600910X.2015.1005111, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52093

All Research

Journal Articles

Cockburn, P. (2024). Paths to a world without families: reasons, means, and ends in family abolitionism. Contemporary Political Theory, 0
https://doi.org/10.1057/s41296-024-00729-6, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa67541
Cockburn, P. & Preminger, J. (2023). Migration and Demos in the Democratic Firm: An Extension of the State-Firm Analogy. Political Theory, 51(3), 557-580.
https://doi.org/10.1177/00905917231154422, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa61585
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00905917231154422
Cockburn, P. (2021). Varieties of economic dependence. European Journal of Political Theory, 22(2), 195-216.
https://doi.org/10.1177/14748851211001549, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa56717
https://doi.org/10.1177/14748851211001549
Cockburn, P. & Thorup, M. (2018). Proprietors and parasites. Philosophy & Social Criticism, 44(2), 179-199.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0191453717723189, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52091
Cockburn, P. (2016). A common sense of property?. Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, 17(1), 78-93.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1600910X.2015.1005111, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52093
Cockburn, P. (2016). Claims of Need in Property Law and Politics. Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory, 63(146), 56-74.
https://doi.org/10.3167/th.2016.6314604, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52092
https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/theoria/63/146/th6314604.xml
Cockburn, P. (2014). Street Papers, Work and Begging: ‘Experimenting’ at the Margins of Economic Legitimacy. Journal of Cultural Economy, 7(2), 145-160.
https://doi.org/10.1080/17530350.2013.837630, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52094
Cockburn, P. (2013). The political chaff from the economic grain? Rhetorical accounts of the embeddedness of begging. Economy and Society, 42(2), 281-303.
https://doi.org/10.1080/03085147.2012.718623, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52095
Cockburn, P. (2011). Att argumentera om ekonomisk legitimitet. Ikaros, 8(4), 9-11.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52099

Authored Books

Cockburn, P. (2018). The Politics of Dependence - Economic Parasites and Vulnerable Lives (1st ed.). Palgrave Macmillan.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78908-8, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52087
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78908-8

Book Chapters

Cockburn, P., Bruun, M., Risager, B., & Thorup, M. (2018). Introduction: Disagreement as a Window onto Property. Contested Property Claims: What Disagreement Tells us About Ownership (pp. 1-20). Routledge
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52090
Cockburn, P. (2012). Rhetorics of Work: The Value of Work in Different Contexts of Argument. The Value of Work: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (pp. 3-17). Interdisciplinary Pres
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52101
Cockburn, P. (2010). The World of Work and its Anomalies. Decent Work and Unemployment (pp. 15-26). LIT Verlag
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52102

Edited Books

Bruun, M., Cockburn, P., Risager, B., & Thorup, M. (Eds.). (2018). Contested Property Claims: What Disagreement Tells us About Ownership. Routledge.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52089

Other Research Outputs

Cockburn, P. (2017). Book Review: Just Property: Vol II: Enlightenment, Revolution and History
https://doi.org/10.1177/1478929917712912, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52096
Cockburn, P. (2014). The Road to Market Society: Book Review of: What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets
https://doi.org/10.1177/1368431013520385, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52097
Cockburn, P. (2014). Økonomiske Parasitter
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52103
Cockburn, P. (2013). Kolde Systemer og Varme Praksisser: Kritik af en Kunstig Modstilling
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52098
Cockburn, P. (2011). What are the Rules of Ties?
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52100

Supervision

The dynamics of territorial and national identity in Wales and Cornwall. (current)

PhD

Other supervisor: Prof Jonathan Bradbury
Environmental activism within Türkiye: An analysis of state and civil society power relations; a necropolitical approach. (current)

PhD

Other supervisor: Dr Gideon Calder

Other supervisor: Dr Caner Sayan

Taught Modules

HUP104 Living Well and Doing Good - An Introduction to Ethics

This module introduces students to key issues and theories within ethics. It examines some important moral thinkers, including Aristotle, Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill, along with Buddhist and Confucian ethics. It also explores the nature of well-being and what it means to live well. Finally, it considers concepts such as egoism and altruism, emotivism, relativism and objectivism. Underpinning this module is a focus on how we should live our lives and what our relationships with other people should be like.
HUP132 Reading Great Works of Philosophy

¿This module consists in a detailed examination of three influential philosophical texts. The module offers students the opportunity to engage in a thorough, carefully-paced reading of the works of important philosophers, developing an appreciation of both their core ideas and the context in which they were writing. This allows students to learn about influential philosophers and to cultivate their ability to read primary texts, understand philosophical ideas and analyse arguments. The texts studied can change each year. Recent texts include Lucius Annaeus Seneca¿s Epistles (Letters), Jean-Paul Sartre¿s Existentialism is a Humanism, and Mary Midgley¿s The Ethical Primate.¿
PHQ300 Study Group: PPE (Year 3)

2 hour weekly Study Group for PPE students (Year 3)
PO-3325 Capitalism and Justice

This module unpacks the fundamental political dilemmas that underpin capitalist economies today. These include questions like: should states control the production of money? Do markets deliver social justice? Is the ownership of property a form of power over others? And is economic inequality the inevitable price for prosperity? The module draws on work in political philosophy, economic sociology, and political economy, in order to examine, and debate the political problems at the centre of our economic practices and institutions. While drawing on a range of empirical studies, the focus of the module is on developing the conceptual and theoretical competences needed for informed normative (ethical and political) analysis of contemporary capitalist practices and institutions. The aim is to give students the resources to develop strong arguments for their own political conclusions on these topics.
PO-3325A Capitalism and Justice

This module unpacks the fundamental political dilemmas that underpin capitalist economies today. These include questions like: should states control the production of money? Do markets deliver social justice? Is the ownership of property a form of power over others? And is economic inequality the inevitable price for prosperity? The module draws on work in political philosophy, economic sociology, and political economy, in order to examine, and debate the political problems at the centre of our economic practices and institutions. While drawing on a range of empirical studies, the focus of the module is on developing the conceptual and theoretical competences needed for informed normative (ethical and political) analysis of contemporary capitalist practices and institutions. The aim is to give students the resources to develop strong arguments for their own political conclusions on these topics.

Dr Patrick Cockburn

Email address

Research Links

About

Areas Of Expertise

Career Highlights

Research Highlights

All Research

The dynamics of territorial and national identity in Wales and Cornwall. (current)

Environmental activism within Türkiye: An analysis of state and civil society power relations; a necropolitical approach. (current)

HUP104 Living Well and Doing Good - An Introduction to Ethics

HUP132 Reading Great Works of Philosophy

PHQ300 Study Group: PPE (Year 3)

PO-3325 Capitalism and Justice

PO-3325A Capitalism and Justice