Sociology
Michael C. Dreiling, Department Head
541-346-5002
541-346-5026 fax
736 Prince Lucien Campbell Hall
1291 University of Oregon
Eugene OR 97403-1291
sociology@uoregon.edu
Sociology is the systematic study of human social life, groups, and societies. Sociology can reveal how society works, what motivates individuals to behave in certain ways, how particular rules and norms get established, why people obey those rules and norms, how seemingly invisible social forces might govern our behavior, and how the outcome of our lives are frequently determined by forces largely outside of our control. It can even help us understand why we might sometimes act in ways that are contrary to our deeply held beliefs.
Sociologists study how societies form, change, and die out. They study how society affects you and vice versa. The department curriculum focuses on social institutions—the family, work, religion, and the economy; culture—the governing ideas and beliefs of a society; and social interactions—the way people behave as individuals and in groups. Taken together, they make up what sociologists call the social structure: enduring, patterned, orderly relationships among institutions, people, and other elements of a given society. Through a systematic study of society, sociology helps us understand social problems such as inequality, racism, environmental degradation, and poverty, to name a few, and aids in the development of creative solutions to solve them.
Faculty
Michael B. Aguilera, associate professor (economic sociology, social inequality, race and ethnicity). BA, 1995, California, Irvine; MA, 1995, PhD, 1999, State University of New York, Stony Brook. (2004)
Oluwakemi Balogun, assistant professor (gender, race and migration, African Studies). See Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
Michael C. Dreiling, professor (political sociology, environmental sociology, social movements). BA, 1990, California, Irvine; MA, 1993, PhD, 1997, Michigan, Ann Arbor. (1996)
Clare R. Evans, assistant professor (medical sociology, quantitative methods, social networks). BA, 2008, Lewis and Clark College; MPH, 2011, Columbia; ScD, 2015, Harvard. (2015)
Aaron O. Gullickson, associate professor (race and ethnicity, stratification, demography). BA, 1998, Washington (Seattle); MA, 1999, 2001, PhD, 2004, California, Berkeley. (2007)
Jill A. Harrison, associate professor (work, organizations, qualitative methods). BA, 2000, Youngstown State; MA, 2004, PhD, 2009, Ohio State. (2009)
Claire W. Herbert, assistant professor (crime & socio-legal studies, housing, urban sociology, race, poverty & inequality). BS, 2006, University of Oregon; MA, 2014, University of Michigan; PhD, 2016, University of Michigan. (2019)
Jocelyn Hollander, professor (gender, microsociology, gender-based violence). BA, 1987, Stanford; MA, 1991, PhD, 1997, Washington (Seattle). (1997)
Raoul S. Liévanos, assistant professor (environment and health, race and ethnicity, science and technology). BA, 2004, California State, Fresno; MA, 2007, PhD, 2013, California, Davis. (2016)
Ryan Light, associate professor (cultural sociology, inequality, social networks). BA, 2000, Kenyon College; MA, 2004, PhD, 2009, Ohio State. (2009)
Krystale Littlejohn, assistant professor (health and medicine, social cognition, inequality). BA, 2007, Occidental College; MA, 2010, PhD, 2013, Stanford. (2019)
Kari Marie Norgaard, professor (environmental sociology, gender and environment, race and environment, climate change, sociology of culture, social movements and sociology of emotions). BS, 1992, Humboldt State; MA, 1994, Washington State; PhD, 2003, Oregon. (2011)
Matthew Norton, associate professor (political and cultural sociology, theory). BA, 1998, Villanova; MA, 2002, Bradford; PhD, 2012, Yale. (2012)
C. J. Pascoe, associate professor (sexuality and gender, childhood and youth, new media). BA, 1996, Brandeis; MA, 2000, PhD, 2006, California, Berkeley. (2013)
Elaine Replogle, senior instructor I (sociology of medicine and mental health, culture, qualitative methods). BA, 1989, Earlham College; MTS, 1994, Harvard; MA, 2002, PhD, 2005, Rutgers. (2008)
Ellen K. Scott, professor (low-wage work, public policy, gender). BA, 1982, Williams; MA, 1991, New School for Social Research; MA, 1992, PhD, 1997, California, Davis. (2001)
Jiannbin Lee Shiao, associate professor (race and ethnicity, research methods, Asian America). BA, 1991, Brown; MA, 1994, 1996, PhD, 1998, California, Berkeley. (1998)
Jessica Vasquez-Tokos, professor (race and ethnicity, immigration, family). BA, 1998, Princeton; MA, 2002, PhD, 2007, California, Berkeley. (2012)
Richard York, professor (environmental sociology, statistics, research methods). BS, 1994, Southern Oregon; MS, 1997, Bemidji State; PhD, 2002, Washington State. (2002)
Emeriti
Vallon L. Burris, professor emeritus. BA, 1969, Rice; PhD, 1976, Princeton. (1977)
Steven Deutsch, professor emeritus. BA, 1958, Oberlin; MA, 1959, PhD, 1964, Michigan State. (1966)
John B. Foster, professor emeritus (environment, Marxism, political economy). BA, 1975, Evergreen State; MA, 1977, PhD, 1984, York. (1985)
Marion Sherman Goldman, professor emeritus [sic]. AB, 1967, California, Berkeley; MA, 1970, PhD, 1977, Chicago. (1973)
Patricia A. Gwartney, professor emerita. AB, 1973, California, Berkeley; MA, 1979, PhD, 1981, Michigan. (1981)
Benton Johnson, professor emeritus. BA, 1947, North Carolina; MA, 1953, PhD, 1954, Harvard. (1957)
Kenneth B. Liberman, professor emeritus. BA, 1970, State University of New York, Old Westbury; MA, 1976, PhD, 1981, California, San Diego (1983)
Gregory McLauchlan, associate professor (urban sociology; political sociology; science, technology, environment). BA, 1974, MA, 1978, PhD, 1988, California, Berkeley. (1989)
Robert M. O'Brien, professor emeritus. BS, 1967, Pomona; MS, 1970, PhD, 1973, Wisconsin. (1981)
Donald R. Van Houten, professor emeritus. BA, 1958, Oberlin; PhD, 1967, Pittsburgh. (1968)
The date in parentheses at the end of each entry is the first year on the University of Oregon faculty.