Wayne Baker
Encyclopedia
Dr. Wayne E. Baker is an American author and sociologist on the senior faculty of the University of Michigan
Ross School of Business
. His teaching and research interests are in the fields of values, American society, social capital
, social networks and economic sociology
. Baker is best known both for his research in economic sociology
, where he demonstrated that financial markets operate as social networks, and his survey research on values, where he documented Americans’ core values. His data show Americans share more core values than news media and political campaigns will admit. These core values include patriotism
, belief in God
, individualism
, success
, equal opportunities, freedom and liberty
, respect
and the free market
. He writes in both academic and popular media on this theme and is often invited to present his findings across the U.S
and a B.S. in finance
, summa cum laude, from Northern Illinois University
. From there he earned his doctorate in sociology from Northwestern University
and held a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University
.
Prior to joining the University of Michigan faculty in 1995, he was on the faculty at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. He also worked as a partner and senior manager of TSG, Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based management consulting firm.
In 2000, Baker led and organized the movement to create the Section on Economic Sociology of the American Sociological Association. Baker was the first director of the Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship http://www.bus.umich.edu/positive at the Ross School of Business. He was Principal Investigator and Team leader for the Detroit Arab American Study, funded by the Russell Sage Foundation
, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
, and the University of Michigan. He was also Principal Investigator of the 2003 Detroit Area Study, funded by the Russell Sage Foundation and the University of Michigan.
. Dr. Baker teaches in the Ph.D., MBA, BBA, and Executive Education programs. Baker is frequently a guest panelist at conferences and university forums, and has spoken on both NPR and C-Span.
Baker leads the Americans’ Evolving Values project at the Institute for Social Research. The purpose of this project is to create a barometer of American values. This initiative has conducted several national surveys of the values of Americans. His daily online magazine OurValues.org promotes civil conversation on American ethics and values. Founded in May 2008, the blog addresses the day’s most pressing issues
, belief in God
, individualism
, desire to succeed, equality of opportunities and freedom of expression.
America's Crisis of Values: Reality and Perception. New Jersey: Princeton University Press
, 2005. ISBN 978-0691117942
Citizenship and Crisis: Arab Detroit After 9/11. New York: Russell Sage Foundation
Press, 2009. (with Sally Howell, Ann Chih Lin, Andrew Shryock, Amaney Jamal and Ron Stockton) ISBN 978-0871540522
Achieving Success Through Social Capital: Tapping the Hidden Resources in Your Personal and Business Networks. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000. ISBN 978-0787953096
Networking Smart: How to Build Relationships for Personal and Organizational Success. 1994. New York: McGraw-Hill
. ISBN 978-0595007868
Modernization, Cultural Change and the Persistence of Traditional Values. (with Ronald Inglehart) American Sociological Review
: Vol 65: 19-51, 2000.
The Duality of American Moral Culture. The Handbook of the Sociology of Morality, Springer-Science, 2010.
Hazards of the Market: The Continuity and Dissolution of Interorganizational Market Relationships. (with Robert R. Faulkner and Gene A. Fisher). American Sociological Review 63:147-177, 1998.
The Social Organization of Conspiracy: Illegal Networks in the Heavy Electrical Equipment Industry. (with Robert R. Faulkner). American Sociological Review, 58:837-860, 1993.
Information Networks and Market Behavior. (with Ananth Iyer). Journal of Mathematical Sociology, 16:305-332. 1992.
The Social Structure of a National Securities Market. American Journal of Sociology
89:775‑811. 1984.
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
Ross School of Business
Ross School of Business
The Stephen M. Ross School of Business is the business school of the University of Michigan. Numerous publications have ranked the Ross School of Business' Bachelor of Business Administration , Master of Business Administration and Executive Education programs among the top in the country and the...
. His teaching and research interests are in the fields of values, American society, social capital
Social capital
Social capital is a sociological concept, which refers to connections within and between social networks. The concept of social capital highlights the value of social relations and the role of cooperation and confidence to get collective or economic results. The term social capital is frequently...
, social networks and economic sociology
Economic sociology
Economic sociology studies both the social effects and the social causes of various economic phenomena. The field can be broadly divided into a classical period and a contemporary one. The classical period was concerned particularly with modernity and its constituent aspects...
. Baker is best known both for his research in economic 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...
, where he demonstrated that financial markets operate as social networks, and his survey research on values, where he documented Americans’ core values. His data show Americans share more core values than news media and political campaigns will admit. These core values include patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
, belief in God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, individualism
Individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses "the moral worth of the individual". Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and so value independence and self-reliance while opposing most external interference upon one's own...
, success
Success
Success may refer to:* a level of social status* achievement of an objective * the opposite of failure- Places :* Success, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth, Australia* Success, Arkansas, United States* Success, Missouri, United States...
, equal opportunities, freedom and liberty
Liberty
Liberty is a moral and political principle, or Right, that identifies the condition in which human beings are able to govern themselves, to behave according to their own free will, and take responsibility for their actions...
, respect
Respect
Respect denotes both a positive feeling of esteem for a person or other entity , and also specific actions and conduct representative of that esteem. Respect can be a specific feeling of regard for the actual qualities of the one respected...
and the free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
. He writes in both academic and popular media on this theme and is often invited to present his findings across the U.S
Biography
Baker earned his M.A. in sociologySociology
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 a B.S. in finance
Finance
"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...
, summa cum laude, from Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University is a state university and research institution located in DeKalb, Illinois, with satellite centers in Hoffman Estates, Naperville, Rockford, and Oregon. It was originally founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895 by Illinois Governor John P...
. From there he earned his doctorate in sociology from Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
and held a post-doctoral fellowship at 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...
.
Prior to joining the University of Michigan faculty in 1995, he was on the faculty at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. He also worked as a partner and senior manager of TSG, Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based management consulting firm.
In 2000, Baker led and organized the movement to create the Section on Economic Sociology of the American Sociological Association. Baker was the first director of the Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship http://www.bus.umich.edu/positive at the Ross School of Business. He was Principal Investigator and Team leader for the Detroit Arab American Study, funded by the Russell Sage Foundation
Russell Sage Foundation
The Russell Sage Foundation is the principal American foundation devoted exclusively to research in the social sciences. Founded in 1907 and headquartered in New York City, the foundation is a research center, a funding source for studies by scholars at other institutions, and a key member of the...
, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City and Princeton, New Jersey in the United States, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, endowed with wealth accumulated by the late Andrew W. Mellon of the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the product of the 1969...
, and the University of Michigan. He was also Principal Investigator of the 2003 Detroit Area Study, funded by the Russell Sage Foundation and the University of Michigan.
Current Work
Baker is currently the Robert P. Thome Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Management & Organizations at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He is also Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan and Faculty Associate at the Institute for Social ResearchInstitute for Social Research
The Institute for Social Research is a research organization for sociology and continental philosophy, best known as the institutional home of the Frankfurt School and critical theory....
. Dr. Baker teaches in the Ph.D., MBA, BBA, and Executive Education programs. Baker is frequently a guest panelist at conferences and university forums, and has spoken on both NPR and C-Span.
Baker leads the Americans’ Evolving Values project at the Institute for Social Research. The purpose of this project is to create a barometer of American values. This initiative has conducted several national surveys of the values of Americans. His daily online magazine OurValues.org promotes civil conversation on American ethics and values. Founded in May 2008, the blog addresses the day’s most pressing issues
Research on Core Values
Baker began researching values in 1996, and in 1998 discovered the core aspects of them. His major findings appeared in 2005 in the book America's Crisis of Values: Reality and Perception. Baker defines a core value as strongly and widely held, stable over time, and shared across demographic and political lines. Among the core values his research shows are widely held by American adults are: patriotismPatriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
, belief in God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, individualism
Individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses "the moral worth of the individual". Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and so value independence and self-reliance while opposing most external interference upon one's own...
, desire to succeed, equality of opportunities and freedom of expression.
Selected Publications
Baker has published four books, two of which were bestsellers, and over sixty articles.America's Crisis of Values: Reality and Perception. New Jersey: Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press
-Further reading:* "". Artforum International, 2005.-External links:* * * * *...
, 2005. ISBN 978-0691117942
Citizenship and Crisis: Arab Detroit After 9/11. New York: Russell Sage Foundation
Russell Sage Foundation
The Russell Sage Foundation is the principal American foundation devoted exclusively to research in the social sciences. Founded in 1907 and headquartered in New York City, the foundation is a research center, a funding source for studies by scholars at other institutions, and a key member of the...
Press, 2009. (with Sally Howell, Ann Chih Lin, Andrew Shryock, Amaney Jamal and Ron Stockton) ISBN 978-0871540522
Achieving Success Through Social Capital: Tapping the Hidden Resources in Your Personal and Business Networks. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000. ISBN 978-0787953096
Networking Smart: How to Build Relationships for Personal and Organizational Success. 1994. New York: McGraw-Hill
McGraw-Hill
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., is a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Rockefeller Center in New York City. Its primary areas of business are financial, education, publishing, broadcasting, and business services...
. ISBN 978-0595007868
Modernization, Cultural Change and the Persistence of Traditional Values. (with Ronald Inglehart) American Sociological Review
American Sociological Review
The American Sociological Review is a bimonthly, peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of sociology, including new theoretical developments, results of research that advance the understanding of fundamental social processes, and methodological innovations. It is published by SAGE...
: Vol 65: 19-51, 2000.
The Duality of American Moral Culture. The Handbook of the Sociology of Morality, Springer-Science, 2010.
Hazards of the Market: The Continuity and Dissolution of Interorganizational Market Relationships. (with Robert R. Faulkner and Gene A. Fisher). American Sociological Review 63:147-177, 1998.
The Social Organization of Conspiracy: Illegal Networks in the Heavy Electrical Equipment Industry. (with Robert R. Faulkner). American Sociological Review, 58:837-860, 1993.
Information Networks and Market Behavior. (with Ananth Iyer). Journal of Mathematical Sociology, 16:305-332. 1992.
The Social Structure of a National Securities Market. American Journal of Sociology
American Journal of Sociology
The American Journal of Sociology was established in 1895 by Albion Small and is the oldest academic journal of sociology in the United States. The journal is attached to the University of Chicago's sociology department and it is published bimonthly by The University of Chicago Press. Its...
89:775‑811. 1984.