Contemporary Sociologists
These are a few well-known scholars in the sociological study of culture. Many refer to themselves as cultural sociologists or scholars of cultural sociology.
Jeffrey Alexander, Sadan Professor of Sociology, Yale University
Research Interests: Culture/Knowledge, Political Sociology, Social Movements and Theory
Timothy J. Dowd, Professor, Emory University
Research Interests: Music, Media, Culture, Formal Organizations, Work & Industry
Liah Greenfeld, Professor of Sociology, Political Science and Anthropology Boston University
Research Interests: Art, Economics, Language and Literature, Philosophy, Politics, Religion and Science, Cultural Studies
Wendy Griswold, Professor, Northwestern University
Research Interests: Culture, Sociology of Literature, and Urban Representations
Sharon Hays, Professor, University of Southern California
Research Interests: Gender, Culture, Social Inequality, Social Theory
Michele Lamont, Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies: Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Harvard
Research Interests: Inequality, Race & Ethnicity, Knowledge, Higher Education, Theory and Comparative and Qualitative Sociology
Omar Lizardo, Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame
Research Interests: Theory, Culture, Organizations, Network Theory, Microsociology, World-Systems Analysis, and the Philosophy of Social Science
Michael Schudson, Professor, Columbia University (Journalism appointment)
Research Interest: Journalism, History of Communications, Politics/Journalism
Steven Seidman, Professor, University of Albany
Research Interest: Social Theory, Middle East, Nationalism and Intimate Life
Ann Swidler, Professor, University of California at Berkeley
Research Interests: Culture, Theory, Institutionalization, African responses to HIV/AIDS
Stephen Vaisey, Associate Professor, Duke University
Research Interests: Culture, Morality, Ethics
Jeffrey Alexander, Sadan Professor of Sociology, Yale University
Research Interests: Culture/Knowledge, Political Sociology, Social Movements and Theory
Timothy J. Dowd, Professor, Emory University
Research Interests: Music, Media, Culture, Formal Organizations, Work & Industry
Liah Greenfeld, Professor of Sociology, Political Science and Anthropology Boston University
Research Interests: Art, Economics, Language and Literature, Philosophy, Politics, Religion and Science, Cultural Studies
Wendy Griswold, Professor, Northwestern University
Research Interests: Culture, Sociology of Literature, and Urban Representations
Sharon Hays, Professor, University of Southern California
Research Interests: Gender, Culture, Social Inequality, Social Theory
Michele Lamont, Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies: Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Harvard
Research Interests: Inequality, Race & Ethnicity, Knowledge, Higher Education, Theory and Comparative and Qualitative Sociology
Omar Lizardo, Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame
Research Interests: Theory, Culture, Organizations, Network Theory, Microsociology, World-Systems Analysis, and the Philosophy of Social Science
Michael Schudson, Professor, Columbia University (Journalism appointment)
Research Interest: Journalism, History of Communications, Politics/Journalism
Steven Seidman, Professor, University of Albany
Research Interest: Social Theory, Middle East, Nationalism and Intimate Life
Ann Swidler, Professor, University of California at Berkeley
Research Interests: Culture, Theory, Institutionalization, African responses to HIV/AIDS
Stephen Vaisey, Associate Professor, Duke University
Research Interests: Culture, Morality, Ethics
Classical Sociologists
Although many recognize the "cultural turn" in sociology to have occurred in the 1980s in the U.S., several prominent scholars from earlier in the century theorized about what culture is, how it works, and what it does in the social world. These include, but are not limited to, Jean Baudrillard, Pierre Bourdieu, Emile Durkheim, and Michel Foucault.
