research
The Department of Sociology at UCSB maintains a multi-level and multi-method approach to social inquiry within the department. UCSB Sociology focuses on seven areas of research: Conversation Analysis; Culture; Global Studies; Feminist Studies; Justice, Law and Inequality; Race, Ethnicity, and Nation; and Social Movements, Revolutions and Social Change. Our department has international visibility and strength in each of these areas. Santa Barbara Sociology is ranked among the top five programs (according to US News and World Report) in three of our main areas of research concentrations: culture, feminist studies, and global studies. These areas of research organize, rather than constrain, the extensive research conducted at UCSB.
New Faculty Research
Kevin B. Anderson is a Professor of Sociology. He has worked in social and political theory, especially Marx, Hegel, the Frankfurt School, Foucault, and the Orientalism debate. His most recent books are Foucault and the Iranian Revolution (with Janet Afary, 2005) and Marx at the Margins (2010), both published by University of Chicago Press. His current projects include a book on Theoretical Wars over the Middle East and a volume of the Marx-Engels Gesamtausgabe, an international project to publish the whole of the writings of Marx and Engels.
Recent Research Grants
Geoff Raymond and Nikki Jones have received a $592,699 three-year grant from the U.S. Army Research Office to fund their research project "identifying Good Strangers: A Micro-Interactional Approach". The project will fund the training of 4-5 graduate students.
Victor Rios has received a $305,000 two-year award from the William T Grant Foundation to support his project "Understanding Processes of Crime and Desistance Among Gang Associated Delinquent Youths."
Maria Charles Russell Sage Foundation Presidential Authority Research Grant for "The Local Joneses: Household Consumption and Income Inequality in Large Metropolitan Areas." $22,843.
Maria Charles National Science Foundation Grant for "Who Likes Math? International Trends Among Eight-Grade Boys and Girls." $132,335.
Social Movements
For 30 years, the Sociology Department at UCSB has been at the forefront of research and graduate training in social movements and collective action. Richard Flacks’ foundational work on student, New Left, and labor movements established the department as a magnet for scholars and students interested in social movements and political protest.
