If the Shoe Fits:
Footwear Identity and Transition

‘If The Shoe Fits’ was a research project led by Professor Jenny Hockey in the Department of Sociological Studies at the University of Sheffield (2010 -2013). Funded by the Economic Social Research Council, the project used shoes as a lens to investigate processes of identity, identification and transition.

Research Team:

Principal Investigator: Professor Jenny Hockey
Co-investigator: Dr. Victoria Robinson
Research Associate: Dr. Rachel Dilley
Postgraduate Researcher: Alexandra Sherlock

A short film documenting the research project. Filmed and produced by Sheffield Vision, 2013.

Research Publications:

  • Hockey, Jenny; Dilley, Rachel; Robinson, Victoria; Sherlock, Alexandra, 2015. 'There's not just trainers and non-trainers, there's like degrees of trainers': Commoditisation, Singularisation and Identity. Journal of Material Culture, 20 (1), pp 21-42. Available here (open access)

  • Dilley, Rachel; Hockey, Jenny; Robinson, Victoria; Sherlock, Alexandra, 2015. Occasions and non-occasions: Identity, femininity and high-heeled shoesEuropean Journal of Women's Studies. 22 (2), pp. 143-158. Available here (open access)

  • Hockey, Jenny; Dilley, Rachel; Robinson, Victoria; Sherlock, Alexandra, 2014. The temporal landscape of shoes: a life course perspective. The Sociological Review, 62 (2), pp. 255-275. Available here (open access)

  • Hockey, Jenny; Dilley, Rachel; Robinson, Victoria; Sherlock, Alexandra, 2013, Worn Shoes: Identity, Memory and FootwearSociological Research Online, Vol. 18, Issue 1, Available here (open access)