Teaching
Undergraduate Courses
At the University of Exeter, Stephen Mennell was responsible chiefly for teaching sociological theory at all levels, as well as a course on political sociology taught jointly with members of the Department of Politics. For a time in the 1980s he also taught a course on Italian society.
At Exeter and at Monash University he taught courses in history and sociology, in collaboration with members of the two Departments of History.
At Monash University, and subsequently at University College Dublin, he taught less theory, but took on the ‘mass class’ first-year Introduction to Sociology, together with courses on the development of human society, and on the sociology of food and eating.
Postgraduate courses
At UCD: Thesis preparation; Civilising and decivilising processes
PhD Theses Supervised
John F.P. Halsey, ‘Sociology as a Profession and as a University Discipline: a consideration of some of the issues central to sociology’s rule with an examination of British sociologists’ attitudes to them’, PhD, University of Exeter, 1978
Richard Holden: ‘Democracy in British Student Politics: the National Union of Students’, PhD, University of Exeter, 1980.
Julian Petley: ‘Film, Finance, Fascism: the German Cinema, 1933–1945’, PhD, University of Exeter, 1984.
Paul Monaghan, ‘The Problem of Idealism and Natural Realism in G.H. Mead’s Social Pragmatism’, PhD, University of Exeter, 1990.
Katherine Simons, ‘Food Preferences and Compliance with Dietary Advice’, PhD, University of Exeter, 1990.
Steven Russell, ‘Manners of Oppression’, PhD, Monash University, Australia, 1994 (published as Jewish Identity and Civilising Processes. London, Macmillan, 1996)
Barry Ellem, ‘The Future of Australian Prisons’. PhD, Monash University, Australia, 1995.
Kenneth Bishop, ‘The Northern Irish: Power Struggles and the Development of Habitus’, PhD, Queen’s University Belfast, 1999.
Margaret O’Keeffe (Government of Ireland Senior Scholarship), ‘Technological Capital: A Conceptual and Empirical Investigation’, PhD, UCD, 2003 (Associate Supervisor)
Ellen Gallagher (Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship) ‘Joking Apart: Processes of National Identification in Wartime Ireland: Dublin Opinion, 1922–3 and 1936–46, PhD, UCD, 2004.
Marjorie Fitzpatrick, ‘Music and Power in Eighteenth-century Court Society’ PhD, UCD, 2004
Ciaran Smyth (Government of Ireland Senior Scholarship), ‘Institutionalised Madness: Three Levels of Explanation and Six Domains of Ignorance’, PhD, UCD, 2004 (Associate Supervisor).
Katie Liston, ‘Playing the “Masculine/Feminine” Game … so he plays harder and she plays softer’ PhD, UCD, 2005 (Associate Supervisor)
Tom Healy, ‘In each other’s shadow: Providing for the future well being of families and communities in Ireland’. PhD, UCD, 2005 (Joint Supervisor with Professor Colm Harmon, Economics)
Anne Cleary (Government of Ireland Senior Scholarship), ‘A Study of Suicidal Behaviour in Ireland’, PhD, UCD, 2006
Sandra Stewart, ‘Why are Blood Donors Different?’ (Government of Ireland Scholarship, 2002-5), PhD, UCD 2011.
Barbara Górnicka, ‘Nakedness and embarrassment: a long-term perspective on nudity, naturism and attitudes towards the naked body’. PhD, UCD, 2015.
Masters Theses Supervised
Brian M. Cleary, ‘The 1994 Road Traffic Act and the Irish Pub Culture of North Dublin’, MSocSc, UCD 1995.
Eoin O’Mahony, ‘Modernity and the Holocaust: A Critique of Rationality’, MSocSc by research, UCD, 1996.
Aoife Rickard, ‘Why do so few mothers in Ireland Breast-feed?’ MSocSc, UCD 1997.
Nicola Williams, ‘Silent Conversations: A Sociological Investigation of Gender-Specific Non-Verbal Communication’, MSocSc, UCD, 1997.
Elizabeth Dolan, ‘Identities in Transition: Tracing the Evolution of Bosnianness’, MSocSc, UCD, 1997
Jane Kenny, ‘How has the Figure of the Witch, already known in Pagan Antiquity, taken on New Characteristics in Modern-Day Society?’, MSocSc, UCD, 1998.
Aoife Ní Chinéide, ‘“One-Eyed Seers”: The Holocaust Writings of Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel, MA (European Studies) UCD 1999
Sandra Stewart, ‘The Elective Caesarean: The Ultimate Civilising Process?: An Exploration into the Caesearean Birth Rate in Ireland’, MSocSc, UCD, 2000
Claire Kenny, ‘The New Molly Malones: A Sociological Analysis of Illegal Street Trading’, MSocSc, UCD, 2000.
Sarah Murphy, ‘Stalking: Spectatorship or Exaggerated Courtship? An Examination of Stalking in the Light of the Civilising Process’, MSocSc, UCD, 2001.
Sarah Watters, ‘Motor Vehicle Deaths in Developing versus Developed Countries’, MSocSc, UCD, 2002.
Elin Karlsson, ‘The Commercialisation of Dieting’, MSocSc, UCD, 2002
Fíona Creaven, ‘Obesity and the Future of Fat’, MSocSc, UCD, 2003.
Laura Corish, ‘Wasting Away on the Web: The Use of Pro-Ana (Pro-Anorexia) Websites’, MSocSc, UCD, 2005.
Siobhan Kenny ‘The Gendering of Food and its Influence on Food Choice’, MSocSc, UCD, 2006.
Guilherme Oliveira Curi, ‘The Music from the Sea: Social and Cultural Aspects of the Creation of Jazz and Samba’, MSocSc, UCD, 2006.
Alicja Marciniak, ‘Contemporary Love and Intimate Relationships’, MSocSc, UCD 2009.