Norman Birnbaum is an American sociologist. He is an emeritus

Emeritus

Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...

 professor at the Georgetown University Law Center

Georgetown University Law Center

Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law...

, and a member of the editorial board of The Nation

The Nation

The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...

. He was educated in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

's public schools, at Williams College

Williams College

Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...

, and has a doctorate in sociology from Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

. He has taught at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Oxford University, the University of Strasbourg

University of Strasbourg

The University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is the largest university in France, with about 43,000 students and over 4,000 researchers....

, Amherst College

Amherst College

Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...

, and served on the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research.

Birnbaum's academic work included the introduction of sociology to the undergraduate curricula

Curriculum

See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...

 at Amherst and Oxford. A member of the founding editorial board of New Left Review

New Left Review

New Left Review is a 160-page journal, published every two months from London, devoted to world politics, economy and culture. Often compared to the French-language Les Temps modernes, it is associated with Verso Books , and regularly features the essays of authorities on contemporary social...

, he has been active in politics on both sides of the Atlantic

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

. He has been an advisor to American trade unions and members of Congress, as well as to a number of social movements and political parties in Europe. He contributes regularly to a number of publications, including Open Democracy, El Pais in Spain, and the German daily Tageszeitung. He is currently writing a memoir

Memoir

A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...

.

Books

• The crisis of industrial society, 1969
• (With Gertrud Lenzer), Sociology and Religion, 1969.
• Toward a critical sociology, 1971
• (Edited) Beyond The Crisis, 1976.
• Social Structure and The German Reformation, 1980.
• The Radical Renewal: The Politics Of Ideas In Modern America, 1988.
• Searching For The Light: Essays On Thought And Culture, 1993.
• After Progress: American Social Reform And European Socialism In The Twentieth Century, 2001.

Letters to the editor

• "'Did the Revolution Have to Fail?': An Exchange" The New York Review of Books
  The New York Review of Books
  The New York Review of Books is a fortnightly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs. Published in New York City, it takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity...
  
   54/11 (28 June 2007) : 71, 74

External links

• The Nation profile
• Contributions to The New York Review of Books
  The New York Review of Books
  The New York Review of Books is a fortnightly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs. Published in New York City, it takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity...