I was born and brought up in Ebbw Vale when it was a thriving coal and steel town on the north eastern rim of the South Welsh coalfield. That place, and the ways that is has changed over the years since, made a great impression upon me. I have held posts at the Universities of Bristol, Durham, Manchester and Cardiff and I have always written about the people and places near to where I have lived and worked.

When I was in Durham, I helped to set up a community publishing group called Strong Words and was involved in the production of a number of books, pamphlets and exhibitions based on the words and experiences of local people.

I have written or edited 20 books and received a succession of grants from the Economic and Social Research Council. I was elected to the Academy for the Social Sciences in 2000 and in 2010 was one of the founding Fellows of the Learned Society of Wales. I was awarded the degree of Doctor of Social Sciences from Manchester University in 1999  and an  Honorary Doctor of Letters by Durham University in 2013

I was made an Honorary member of the National Union of Mineworkers in 1985.