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Born in Pompey of Australian parentage, Bill Thompson discovered that he could learn far more by working at the local street market than at school, before graduating from his local Polytechnic with a B.A. Hons in Historical Studies (1982), while simultaneously gaining a teaching Certificate at Highbury Technical College (1981). Having picked up a M.A. in Historical Sociology, complete with a Dissertation Distinction, from Essex (1983), he won an ESRC award and stayed in Essex's Sociology Department gaining a PhD (1987).

The key themes linking his early studies together were popular culture/beliefs, and Interactionism.

At Portsmouth, Bill played around with recreating empathetic insights into the perception of historical actors (people who did things in the past) while studying popular culture and revolutionary social movements: 1300-1975. For those who like etiologies; Bill was impressed with the early social psychology in William Reich's sexual politics period, the 'humanistic' Marxism of E. P. Thompson, and the historiography of Richard Cobb. Trawling through the sociology shelves one day, he discovered Symbolic Interactionism through the work of Ken Plummer and decided a spell at Essex University might enhance his understanding of the contextual motivations of social actors (people who do things) within the wider structural context. At that time (1983), Essex was experimenting with merging sociological and historical perspectives.

Studying under Leonore Davidoff (whose Family Fortunes exemplifies the Essex perspective), and Ken Plummer (Britain’s Interactionist cheer leader), Bill sought to perfect the fusion of historical data and sociological insights. Demonstrating a healthy distrust for self-referential paradigms, Bill completed an oral history project on the social functions of the Co-operative Women’s Guild (then in its anniversary year) and gained a Distinction for his M.A. Dissertation - a critique of the Foucault fad in general, and the fallacies within the  History of Sexuality in particular. (1983).

Bill then sought to combine his knowledge of history and critique of sociological theory in an ESRC sponsored PhD (1987) which utilized ethnographic methods (participatory observation and content analysis) to chart the activities of the two major organizations behind the 1982 Local Government (Misc. Provisions) Act 1982, which closed some 500 sex shops: the Soho Society and the Portsmouth Community Standards Association. The first is an organic community group and the latter formed part of the contemporary Christian moral crusade against secular humanism.

The PhD offered the first British account of Evangelical motivated political action (then attracting attention following Reagan's election) and major critiques of Cohen’s moral panic theory in the UK and US adaptations of Gusfield’s concept of symbolic politics. Parts of the thesis were published as: 'Moral Crusades and Media Censorship' in Franco-British Studies (Spring 1990); 'Britain's Moral Majority' in Wilson's Religion: Contemporary Issues (1992); 'Charismatic Politics: The Social and Political Impact of Renewal' in Hunt's Charismatic Christianity: Sociological Perspectives; and formed the basis of the book Soft-Core (1994).

While teaching Sociology, and Enlightenment Philosophy at Essex, and Sociology, and Political Science at Cambridge, Bill continued to concentrate upon the sociology of law creation, moral enterprise and conflicts in society, and expanded his ethnographic research into, and the social psychology of, sexual minorities. Between 1984-5, he wrote several critiques of the theories and beliefs about Sadomasochism, eventually publishing them with an essay on English jurisprudence concerning consent as Sadomasochism: Painful Perversion or Pleasurable Play (1994).

In 1987, Bill conducted a city wide Minority Rights Survey for Southampton Council under the guidance of Professor Colin Pritchard. The results were published by the Council (1987) and provided the data behind a later debunking of the AIDS 'back-lash' thesis. Censored at the time, this  critique of backlash theories was published in Plummer’s Modern Homosexualities (1992).

In 1989, Bill was invited to speak on a panel covering new developments in Moral Panic theory at the American Society of Criminology. This and subsequent papers - co-authored with Cecil Greek (then at South Florida University, St. Petersburg) - at further ASC conferences between 1990 and 1994 helped frame the debate amongst contextual constructionists over the value of moral panic theories vis a vis moral crusade theory. One (heavily edited) paper was later published as Anti-Pornography Campaigns: Saving the Family in America and Britain (1992); though the others gained Bill the accolade of 'an exceptional scholar' amongst US constructionists.

Shortly after taking up his permanent post at Reading, Bill and a group of his undergraduate students demonstrated how easy it is for social scientists to objectify the subjective while avoiding naïve relativist criticisms of positivism by testing the truth claims of anti-pornography groups in their campaign to outlaw nudity in magazines. The result's and subsequent publications - including Alison King's Mystery and Imagination (1993) - had a dramatic effect on the public debate, and significantly changed the way the feminist movement critiqued pornography. A similar review of the legal issues surrounding sadomasochism during the Spanner trial not only led to an invitation to proffer evidence to the Criminal Law Revision Committee, Bill's two publications placed him in the camp of contextual Constructionism.

Soft core: Moral Crusades Against Pornography in Britain and America clearly undermines the claim that social scientists can not avoid subjectivity and biases in their work, by testing social movement 'truth claims' against their own criteria.

Sadomasochism: Painful Perversion or Pleasurable Play revealed the way the Law Lord's ignored legal precedents in their attempt to criminalise consensual aggression and exposed the fallacy that sadomasochism is sexualized violence.

If his work on sexually explicit material and sexual minorities won Bill few friends amongst ideologically committed sociologists or theologically motivated college administrators, his third project at Reading placed him in the center of a national controversy. Bill's major new research area at Reading was miscarriages of Justice, especially those emanating from interview techniques involving children.

At first Bill explored the role of pathologists' 'evidence' in providing an illusionary certainty in murder trials; and was involved in the original case review on behalf of Patrick Nichols, who spent 23 years behind bars for a murder that never happened! But Bill's simultaneous work on interviews and knowledge of US Satanic Abuse allegations quickly catapulted him into the media debate, following his public denunciation of social services' claims about Satanism on Channel Four’s cult debate forum After Dark. He was interviewed by over 500 news services, publications, and broadcasters world wide in the following year, while publishing his earlier experiences in the pornography controversy as 'Taking On the Media' in Barker and Petley's Ill Effects: The Media Violence Debate (1997).

Bill had to drop his work on murder trials as the demand for his research on interview methods grew and he put his studies to practical effect primarily with an extensive six year ethnographic study of the Orkney case (where he acted as advisor for the accused parents and care damaged children in the Clyde Inquiry) and by helping various journalists expose numerous fraudulent allegations. His sexual assault interview analysis was used successfully in Ayr (reopened after 5 years with all accused parties found innocent), Bishop Auckland (all charges dropped), and numerous 'ordinary' cases and gained him recognition as a Practicing Associate of the British Academy of Experts (1997). He continues to appear as an expert witness in cases involving sexual assault, sexually orientated publications in print and on the Internet, and sexual minority behaviour. His advice is constantly sought by barristers, solicitors and Guardian Ad. Litum; and during 1990-1994 he wrote and presented several teaching monographs for social workers on a post qualifying course in child protection validated by Portsmouth University, including a full scale simulated of a 'multiple' case for training purposes. He was also invited to present a paper at the British Society For The Advancement of Science at Leeds (1998).

Bill remains an extremely popular lecturer, and his courses on the Sociology of the Mass Media, and Human Sexualities are heavily subscribed. He now also offers courses on Popular Culture, and Internet Studies.

His eclectic background makes Bill a sought after dissertation supervisor. Former students have gone on to conduct important research into moral panics, HIV, youth crime, and suicide.

You have probably seen Bill on TV or heard him on the radio. He is one of most popular media sociologists, because he makes the subject relevant to every day situations. His work on urban legends, bogus social workers, and lying has also been featured in the academic, regional, and national press.

Bill's philosophy and aim is to produce research and publications with an immediate practical pay off. Apart from constant media consultations and advice, his research has been submitted to the Law Commission and the Home Office, lead to a place on the Advisory Board of the British False Memory Foundation, helped alter the law, secured and informed Public Inquires, and helped many individuals who have nowhere else to turn.

PUBLICATIONS 

Conference Papers

Books

Court Reports

Official Reports

Teaching Monographs

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