Craig Calhoun
Encyclopedia
Craig Calhoun is an American sociologist and an advocate of using social science to address issues of public concern. He is president
of the Social Science Research Council
, University Professor of the Social Sciences at New York University
and Director of NYU's Institute for Public Knowledge. With Richard Sennett
he co-founded NYLON, an interdisciplinary working seminar for graduate students in New York and London who bring ethnographic and historical research to bear on politics, culture, and society. He is the appointed future Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science from September 2012 on.
, (BA, 1972), anthropology and sociology at Columbia University
(MA, 1974), and social anthropology at Manchester University (MA, (Econ.), 1975).He received his doctorate
in sociology
and modern social and economic history from Oxford University in 1980, a student of J.C. Mitchell, Angus MacIntyre, and R.M. Hartwell. He taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
from 1977 to 1996. There he was also Dean of the Graduate School and founding Director of the University Center for International Studies. He moved to NYU in 1996 as Chair of the Department of Sociology in a period of major rebuilding. He left for Columbia in 2006 but returned to NYU as Director of the Institute for Public Knowledge (IPK). which promotes collaborations among academics from diverse disciplinary backgrounds atnd between academics and working professionals. Calhoun has also taught at the Beijing Foreign Studies University
, the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
, University of Asmara
, University of Khartoum
, University of Oslo
, and Oxford itself. He was Benjamin Meaker Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Bristol in 2000 and received an honorary doctorate from La Trobe University in Melbourne in 2005.
Dr. Calhoun is married to Pamela DeLargy who is Chief of the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) Humanitarian Response Unit (HRU).
, culture and communication; humanitarianism
, social movement
s, the impact of technological change; tort law, risk, and business organizations; education; religion; community, nationalism, and other forms of social solidarity; and problems in contemporary globalization and internationalization of social processes. He has worked in China
, the Horn of Africa
, and Europe
.
Since 1999 Calhoun has been President of the Social Science Research Council. At the SSRC Calhoun has emphasized the public contributions of social science. His views are explained in his essay “Towards a More Public Social Science” which first appeared in the SSRC's 2004 "President's Report" and has been translated, reprinted and widely circulated on the web. After September 11th, 2001 he launched an initiative on "Real Time Social Science" which included an essay forum that attracted more than one million readers. This continued with work on the Privatization of Risk, Understanding Katrina: Perspectives from the Social Sciences Program, and now Haiti, Now and Next (examining the impact of the 2010 earthquake on Haiti's social and political future). His conversations with Paul Price
have received wide circulation, podcast as Societas.
Calhoun has written more than 100 scholarly articles and chapters as well as books, among which his most famous is a study of the Tiananmen Square protests
of 1989, Neither Gods Nor Emperors: Students and the Struggle for Democracy in China (California, 1994). Calhoun's work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. Thesis Eleven (2006, Vol. 84, No. 1) devoted a special issue to his work, "Craig Calhoun: Critical Social Sciences and the Public Sphere." He was also editor in chief of the Oxford Dictionary of the Social Sciences.
Calhoun has been honored as both an undergraduate and graduate teacher. At NYU he teaches an undergraduate class on social thought in the ancient and modern worlds and graduate classes on historical sociology and social, cultural, and political theory.
Edited Volumes
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
of the Social Science Research Council
Social Science Research Council
The Social Science Research Council is a U.S.-based independent nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing research in the social sciences and related disciplines...
, University Professor of the Social Sciences at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
and Director of NYU's Institute for Public Knowledge. With Richard Sennett
Richard Sennett
Richard Sennett is the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and University Professor of the Humanities at New York University...
he co-founded NYLON, an interdisciplinary working seminar for graduate students in New York and London who bring ethnographic and historical research to bear on politics, culture, and society. He is the appointed future Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science from September 2012 on.
Biography
Calhoun was raised in the American South and Midwest. He studied anthropology and cinema at the University of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, (BA, 1972), anthropology and sociology at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
(MA, 1974), and social anthropology at Manchester University (MA, (Econ.), 1975).He received his doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
in sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
and modern social and economic history from Oxford University in 1980, a student of J.C. Mitchell, Angus MacIntyre, and R.M. Hartwell. He taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
from 1977 to 1996. There he was also Dean of the Graduate School and founding Director of the University Center for International Studies. He moved to NYU in 1996 as Chair of the Department of Sociology in a period of major rebuilding. He left for Columbia in 2006 but returned to NYU as Director of the Institute for Public Knowledge (IPK). which promotes collaborations among academics from diverse disciplinary backgrounds atnd between academics and working professionals. Calhoun has also taught at the Beijing Foreign Studies University
Beijing Foreign Studies University
Beijing Foreign Studies University is the best foreign language and international studies university in China, often named "the cradle of diplomats" in the country.It is located in Weigongcun, Beijing, People's Republic of China...
, the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
The École des hautes études en sciences sociales is a leading French institution for research and higher education, a Grand Établissement. Its mission is research and research training in the social sciences, including the relationship these latter maintain with the natural and life sciences...
, University of Asmara
University of Asmara
The University of Asmara was Eritrea's first university and is located in the capital city, Asmara. It was created by the Piae Madres Nigritiae...
, University of Khartoum
University of Khartoum
The University of Khartoum ia a multi-campus, co-educational university located in Khartoum. It is the largest and oldest university in Sudan. UofK was founded as Gordon Memorial College in 1902 and established in 1956 when Sudan gained independence...
, University of Oslo
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...
, and Oxford itself. He was Benjamin Meaker Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Bristol in 2000 and received an honorary doctorate from La Trobe University in Melbourne in 2005.
Dr. Calhoun is married to Pamela DeLargy who is Chief of the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) Humanitarian Response Unit (HRU).
Work
Dr. Calhoun is probably best known for broadening the tradition of critical theory and connecting it more closely to empirical social and historical research. His work has ranged widely across cosmopolitanismCosmopolitanism
Cosmopolitanism is the ideology that all human ethnic groups belong to a single community based on a shared morality. This is contrasted with communitarian and particularistic theories, especially the ideas of patriotism and nationalism...
, culture and communication; humanitarianism
Humanitarianism
In its most general form, humanitarianism is an ethic of kindness, benevolence and sympathy extended universally and impartially to all human beings. Humanitarianism has been an evolving concept historically but universality is a common element in its evolution...
, social movement
Social movement
Social movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals or organizations focused on specific political or social issues, in other words, on carrying out, resisting or undoing a social change....
s, the impact of technological change; tort law, risk, and business organizations; education; religion; community, nationalism, and other forms of social solidarity; and problems in contemporary globalization and internationalization of social processes. He has worked in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, the Horn of Africa
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in East Africa that juts hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent...
, and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
Since 1999 Calhoun has been President of the Social Science Research Council. At the SSRC Calhoun has emphasized the public contributions of social science. His views are explained in his essay “Towards a More Public Social Science” which first appeared in the SSRC's 2004 "President's Report" and has been translated, reprinted and widely circulated on the web. After September 11th, 2001 he launched an initiative on "Real Time Social Science" which included an essay forum that attracted more than one million readers. This continued with work on the Privatization of Risk, Understanding Katrina: Perspectives from the Social Sciences Program, and now Haiti, Now and Next (examining the impact of the 2010 earthquake on Haiti's social and political future). His conversations with Paul Price
Paul Price
Paul Price is a squash player from Australia. He finished runner-up at the British Open in 2000, and reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 4 in August 2001.- External links :* * *...
have received wide circulation, podcast as Societas.
Calhoun has written more than 100 scholarly articles and chapters as well as books, among which his most famous is a study of the Tiananmen Square protests
Tiananmen Square protests
Tiananmen Square in Beijing has been the central point for several major historical protests, with their most commonly referred to Chinese name in parentheses....
of 1989, Neither Gods Nor Emperors: Students and the Struggle for Democracy in China (California, 1994). Calhoun's work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. Thesis Eleven (2006, Vol. 84, No. 1) devoted a special issue to his work, "Craig Calhoun: Critical Social Sciences and the Public Sphere." He was also editor in chief of the Oxford Dictionary of the Social Sciences.
Calhoun has been honored as both an undergraduate and graduate teacher. At NYU he teaches an undergraduate class on social thought in the ancient and modern worlds and graduate classes on historical sociology and social, cultural, and political theory.
Publications
Monographs- Calhoun, Craig. (2007) Nations Matter: Culture, History, and the Cosmopolitan Dream. Routledge.
- Calhoun, Craig. (2001) Nationalism. Open University Press and University of Minnesota Press.
- Calhoun, Craig. (1995) Critical Social Theory. Basil Blackwell.
- Calhoun, Craig. (1994) Neither Gods Nor Emperors: Students and the Struggle for Democracy in China. University of California Press.
- Calhoun, Craig. (1989; 7th ed., 1996) Sociology. McGraw-Hill Companies.
- Calhoun, Craig. (1982) The Question of Class Struggle: Social Foundations of Popular Radicalism During the Industrial Revolution. University of Chicago Press and Basil Blackwell.
Edited Volumes
- Calhoun, Craig and Sennett, Richard. (2007) Practicing Culture. Routledge.
- Calhoun, Craig; Gerteis, Joseph; Moody, James; Pfaff, Steven; and Indermohan Virk. (2007) Contemporary Sociological Theory, 2nd. ed. Blackwell.
- Calhoun, Craig; Gerteis, Joseph; Moody, James; Pfaff, Steven; and Indermohan Virk. (2007) Classical Sociological Theory, 2nd. ed. Blackwell.
- Calhoun, Craig. (2007) Sociology in America: A History. University of Chicago Press.
- Calhoun, Craig; Rojek, Chris; and Turner, Bryan. (2006) Sage Handbook of Sociology. Sage Publications.
- Calhoun, Craig. (2005) Lessons of Empire: Imperial Histories and American Power. New Press.
- Calhoun, Craig; Price, Paul; and Timmer; Ashley. (2002) Understanding September 11. The New Press.
- Calhoun, Craig. (1995) Dictionary of the Social Science. Oxford University Press.
- Calhoun, Craig, and McGowan John. (1997) Hannah Arendt and the Meaning of Politics. University of Minnesota Press.
- Calhoun, Craig. (1994) Social Theory and the Politics of Identity. Wiley Blackwell.
- Calhoun, Craig; LiPuma, E.; and Postone; M. (1993) Bourdieu: Critical Perspectives. Cambridge: Polity Press and Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Calhoun, Craig. (1993) Habermas and the Public Sphere. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Calhoun, Craig; Scott, W.R.; and Meyer, M. (1990) Structures of Power and Constraint: Essays in Honor of Peter M. Blau. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Calhoun, Craig and Ianni, F. A. J. (1976) The Anthropological Study of Education. The Hague: Mouton, and Chicago: Aldine.