Culture and Cognition

Mission Statement

Culture and cognition is now a well-established and nationally recognized program within the Sociology Department.  Those working in this area use a cultural lens to explore the ideas and schematizations, the symbols, artifacts and meanings, the norms and practices, and the institutions and patterns of interactions by which society is constructed, sustained, and transformed.    

Our program emphasizes several different intellectual themes and foci:

• Culture and the Mind

Many of our faculty and students study the social and cultural aspects of thinking.  This includes the social foundations of mental processes such as attending, disattending and denying; classifying and schematization; framing, formatting, mapping and sequencing; perceiving; symbolizing; remembering and forgetting; projecting to the future; and time reckoning.  Many are also concerned with the relationship between cognitive structures and social structures and the intersection of cognitive sociology and cognitive science.

• Culture, Communication, and Deliberation

Those working in these areas study discourse, communication, strategic interaction and politics.  They explore information complexity and decision making as well as knowledge systems, narrative analysis, symbolic codes and symbolic interaction.

• Culture and Knowledge Production

Faculty and students working in this area examine the sociocultural foundations of knowledge production and claims to expertise, whether it be in science, medicine, grassroots movements, or formal organizations.  Research agendas include the construction of epistemic authority, knowledge brokerage, the scientization of politics, citation patterns, public controversies, processes of diagnosis and prognosis, medicalization, uncertainty and risk management, and professional boundary work.                           

• Cultural and Structural Intersections

In examining the relationship between culture and structure, many of our faculty and students study institutions, power relations, cultural change, the discursive framing of relationships, the cultural properties and influences of social networks, the relationship between micro-level cultural practices and macro-level social transformation, and the phenomenology of everyday life.

• Culture and Identity

A number of faculty and students study processes of identity construction at the level of the individual and the collective.  Research agendas focus on areas as varied as class, gender, race, religion and sexuality and attend to the identity of people, groups, objects, places, and events.  Strategies of identity construction addressed by scholars working in this area include consumption, social movement frames and scripts, and the construction of symbolic boundaries.

• Culture and Technology

Faculty and students working in this area address a variety of media including television, the Internet, social networking technologies, and video gaming.  In addition, many address scientific and technological innovation.  Projects address topics as varied as the content and structure of media messages, the framing and formatting of messages, the lived experience of various technologies, the boundaries between politics and science, and the impact of technology on space, place, and community.

• Culture and the Body

Faculty and students working in this area make the body a focus of their analysis, whether they are studying the construction of health and illness, emotions, the experience of stigma, identity, or the embodiment of social and cultural practices. Projects address neurobiology and identity, embodiment and sexual subcultures, embodied social movements, stigma and obesity, and media representations of bodies.

Affiliated Faculty
József Böröcz
Ethel Brooks
Karen A. Cerulo
Lee Clarke
Ira Cohen
Phaedra Daipha
Judith Friedman
Allan Horwitz
Joanna Kempner
Catherine Lee
Paul McLean
Ann Mische
Arlene Stein
Richard Williams
Ben Zablocki
Eviatar Zerubavel

Sample of Graduate Courses Taught in the Core Area

Cognitive Sociology: (Click here for syllabus) Drawing upon a number of major sociological and anthropological traditions (sociology of knowledge, symbolic interactionism, symbolic anthropology, phenomenology, semiotics, cognitive anthropology), this course examines relations between the social and the mental within the specific contexts of perceiving, attending, remembering, reasoning, classifying, framing, time reckoning and assigning meaning. It is designed to prepare students to do theoretically informed empirical studies of the social dimensions of our thinking.

Culture, Cognition, and the Media: (Click here for syllabus) What role do the media play in the development of culture … and vice-versa?  Do media impact contemporary and historical perceptions of reality?  Can media create fields of collective cognition? Do media reflect reality, construct it … or both?  This course explores both classical and contemporary excursions on these very complex issues.  In examining the relationship of media, culture, and cognition, we will anchor our inquiry within the elements of the traditional mass communication model: “Who” (professional sources of message making and their techniques) “Says What” (message content, message structure, framing, schematization, and narrative) “How” (medium as message; technology and perception) “To Whom” (audiences – active or passive) “With What Effect” (emotional, behavioral, and socialization effects).

Culture, Symbols, and Social Interaction: (Click here for syllabus)  Social interaction is made possible, in large measure, by the existence of cultural symbols. During the semester, we will examine a variety of symbol systems, exploring the social foundations of these systems, the character of the symbols themselves, and the various ways in which social actors project and manipulate symbols. We also will explore the differing effects that certain symbols and social interaction styles can have on the structure of social life. At the same time, we will probe the ways in which social structure and technological innovation influence the face of social interaction.  Part one of the course will highlight symbolic communication within micro-level interaction. Lectures and readings will focus our attentions on four specific symbol systems: gestures, smell, touch, and talk. Class discussions will unfold the role these systems play in the establishment of meaning within interpersonal encounters. Part two of the course will focus on institutionalized symbol systems: language, visual arts, music, national symbols, and media narratives. We will examine the different levels of meaning contained in each of these systems. We also will explore the role social structure plays in the production of these systems. We will probe the impact of various symbolic forms with reference to communication effectiveness. And we will examine the ways in which audience responses to these symbols can alter the social setting. In its final phase, the course directs attentions to technologically mediated interaction. Lectures and readings focus on the ways in which technology alters the interaction process, and the ways in which it can blur previously conceived social distinctions: e.g. macro versus micro level interaction, life versus death.

Political Sociology: (click here for syllabus) In this course, we will examine the relationship between political conflict, cultural processes, and institutional change. In much of the literature on political sociology, culture is seen as something distinct from political institutions and processes; when acknowledged, culture tends to play a peripheral or “epiphenomenal” role, subordinate to the dominant effects of political and/or economic forces such as states, governments, political parties, policy-makers, class actors, interest groups, and social movements. Many cultural analysts, on the other hand, give causal primacy to such elements as discourse, symbols, and ideologies, often with the effect of reducing politics to nothing more than arrays of symbolic battles. In contrast to both of these approaches, our premise will be that culture, institutions, and political change are necessarily intertwined, but that this interrelationship takes varied forms, depending on social and historical contexts.

Projectivity in Social Research:  While sociologists have given much attention to collective memory, there has been much less research on how the “future imaginary” shapes social action.   We will begin by examining perceptions of the future in utopian and millenarian thinking, followed by a theoretical discussion of the insights on future orientation developed by pragmatist, phenomenological and hermeneutic theorists. We will then engage in a critical review of approaches to projectivity and the future across several disciplines, including sociology, psychology, economics and political science.  In particular, we will look at the literature on social expectations and aspirations in sociology; on time perspective and future orientations in psychology; on strategic forecasting, risk management, and bounded rationality in economics (especially recent work in behavioral economics); and on political strategy and decision-making in history and political science.  This will allow us to develop a theorization of the future that bridges the divide between rational choice theory, on the one hand, and more static culturalist approaches on the other.  We will examine the implications of future projections for a range of social phenomena, including: social movements and contentious politics; education, family and the life course; class, racial, ethnic and gender divisions; economic and business relations; and political decision-making, governance and institutional change.

Sociology of the Body: (click here for syllabus) In this course, we consider the ways in which the body is at once material and symbolic, an object of regulation and control and a site of contentious political struggle.  It exists at the intersection of multiple discourses (e.g., occupational, reproductive, technoscientific, feminist, leisure, sport, aesthetic, and sexual).  Drawing on an interdisciplinary literature and using a range of theoretical traditions, we will consider how the body is constituted by these discourses.  For example, what is “natural” about the body?  How are distinctions made between the normal and pathological?  Are bodies subordinate to the mind?  How are bodies commodified?  How are bodies categorized and constituted by discourses of race, class, gender, and sexuality?

Sociology of Culture: (click here for syllabus) The course considers selected themes in the sociology of culture -- how symbols, language, conceptual structures, and forms of knowledge construct meanings and constitute forms of power. Four key substantive areas will be the focus: 1) political culture and the moral order; 2) symbolic boundaries and inequality, 3) mass culture and subcultural resistance, and 4) bodies and knowledge. We’ll spend three weeks on each of these themes, asking the following: How do each of these streams of work define the field of cultural sociology? What are their principal objectives and contributions? What methodologies do they use? How does each make sense of the relationship between "culture" and "society"?

Sociology of Identity: (Click here for syllabus)  This course is orientated around four concepts. IDENTITY, NARRATIVE, DISCOURSE COMMUNITY and, COMMUNITY OF SOCIAL ACTORS. IDENTITY is clearly the central concept, for the semester, but as it will become quickly apparent, that concept is usefully seen as a site of contention rather than as an ontological reality which can be easily seen or defined. Despite the competition around identity, however, it is possible to locate those characteristics which are common to those competiting for control. A fair amount of the class lectures will be spent attempting to isolate those common characteristics. NARRATIVE is an important concept for this class because it conveys the sense that identity is a social construct rather than an objective reality. From the narrative perspective, identity is subjectively, conceptually, carved out of a mass of interacting entities. As such, an identity is one out of a wide range of unfulfilled possibilities. DISCOURSE COMMUNITY is an important concept for us in three respects. Like narrative, discourse community calls our attention to the conceptual aspect of identity. It is also the case that discourse community broadens the insights we will gain from the concept narrative by concentrating upon the significance of symbols in facilitating stable interactions among social actors. The assertion from this perspective therefore is that to understand IDENTITY, however defined, requires an understanding of the central concepts with which social actors consistenty structure their relations. Lastly, discourse community is important to us because it orientates us towards thinking about our relationship to the discourse community which I call Identity scholars. The focus here, therefore is on the concepts connected to the identity community which we are about to embrace. Much of your efforts during the semester will be spent locating a concept across the literature.

Sociology of Religion: (Click here for syllabus) In this seminar, we will explore religion as it is seen and studied by sociologists. Sociology of religion is a term that includes three distinct but interrelated areas of investigation: (1) the way specific societies and cultures shape and influence specific religions and religious behaviors; (2) the way religion (and specific religions) influence all aspects of secular society; and (3) the complex relationships between the spiritual lives of human beings and the institutionalized forms of representing the sacred that are found in all known religions.

Sociology of Science: (Click here for syllabus) This seminar serves as an advanced introduction to the sociological analysis of the nature and practice of modern science and, by extension, other systems of expertise. As such, it offers an overview of central themes and debates in the field of science studies by drawing out the epistemic, material, cultural, and institutional parameters underlying scientific knowledge production. We will be covering a lot of ground, starting from the everyday reality of science making and the embodiment of expertise, to the management of uncertainty and credibility, all the way to science in the public sphere. I have selected these topics for their analytic significance, their empirical appeal, and their broader sociological relevance. Obviously, however, this list can only hope to be expository rather than comprehensive. The aim, ultimately, is to whet your appetite for further research in this burgeoning field of study.

Sociology of Symbolic Boundaries: (Click here for syllabus)  This course is designed to explore theories of boundaries and to bring awareness of boundaries into our work.  We will examine in depth the making and unmaking of boundaries, as well as the operation of boundaries.

Technology and Society: (click here for syllabus) This course sets itself the challenge of taking the 'and' in its title seriously. Fully endorsing the premise that technology and society are co-constituted -that we cannot understand one without understanding the other- does not necessarily imply abandoning all forms of technological determinism or rejecting social constructivism. But it does entail striving to keep both technology and society in focus when analyzing their ongoing, open-ended entanglements. The challenge, then, is to figure out how exactly they matter to each other under the diverse scenarios we will examine. We will consider multiple types of technology, and we will extrapolate on many more during class discussion. Particular emphasis, however, will be given to information technologies- because of their contemporary relevance and the urgent political, moral, and cultural questions they pose, but also because of their material fluidity and the associated extraordinary level of interpretative potential that confronts users as well as analysts.

Temporality in Social Analysis: (click here for syllabus) In this course we will examine the orientations to temporality that undergird different analytical approaches in sociology. We will start by looking at general conceptions of temporality as expressed by major theorists such as Durkheim, Mead, Schutz, Whitehead, Luhmann, and Elias, as well as at how these theorists are contributing to (or being invoked in) the recently bubbling critique that most standard techniques in sociology are static and atemporal. We will then examine the array of recent theoretical and methodological approaches that attempt, in very different ways, to “bring time back in.” These will include approaches focusing on the personal and social experience of temporality – including time perspective, narrative, and interactionist approaches – as well as those focusing on the use of temporality in social and historical explanation. Among these we will look at historical/comparative approaches; statistical techniques such as time series and event history analysis, sequence analysis and formal approaches to narrative analysis. We will discuss both the theoretical underpinnings of these approaches as well as their practical implications (possibilities and limitations) for the conduct of sociological research.

Time, History and Memory: (Click here for syllabus) This course offers a sociological perspective on the intricate relations between present and past with a particular emphasis on the ways in which our present social, cultural, and political environments affect how we collectively remember our common past. The course begins by examining such themes as the presence of the past in the present, the relations between memory and identity, and the social organization of memory. We then address the social structure of the past, specifically examining both the form and content of history as a narrative and the social construction of both historical continuity and discontinuity.

Recent Dissertations in Culture and Cognition

Ph.D. Degrees Awarded

2011

Ivana Brown:  “A Sociological Analysis of Maternal Ambivalence: Class and Race Differences Among New Mothers”

Frederick O. Rasmussen: “Cultural Definitions of Emotional Problems: Impact on Problem Experience, Care Seeking, Sources of Car, and Satisfaction with Care Among Latino Community Members Living in the United States”

Dena T. Smith: “Meaning-Making in a Medical World: The Art of Talk Therapy, the Science of the Biological Model and The Boundaries In Between.”

2010

Asia Friedman: “Blind to Sameness: The Socio-Optical Construction of Male and Female Bodies” (Eviatar Zerubavel, Karen A. Cerulo, Judith Gerson, Arlene Stein)

2009

Karen Danna-Lynch:  “Role Switching: A Social/Cognitive Approach to Multiple Role Enactment.” (Karen A. Cerulo, Allan Horwitz, Sarah Rosenfield, Eviatar Zerubavel)

Thomas DeGloma:  “Awakenings: Autobiography, Memory, and the Social Geometry of Personal Discovery.” (Eviatar Zerubavel, Allan Horwitz, Ann Mische, Arlene Stein)

Chantelle Marlor:  “The Cultural Construction of Ecological Knowledge: How does the Construction Process Affect the Conclusions?”  (John L. Martin, Eviatar Zerubavel, Thomas Rudel)

2008

Stephen Joseph Fichter:  “Shepherding in "Greener" Pastures:  Causes and Consequences of the Dual Transition of Celibate Catholic Priests into Married Protestant Ministry.”  (Ellen Idler, Benjamin Zablocki, Eviatar Zerubavel)

Jenna Howard:  “Recovery from Recovery: The Temporal Organization of Identity.” (Eviatar Zerubavel, Allan Horwitz, Sarah Rosenfield)

Karen Jaffe: “Forming Fat Identities.”  (Deborah Carr, Allan Horwitz, Eviatar Zerubavel)

2007

John Lang:  “Acceptable Trust? The Public Perception of Organizations Involved in Genetically Modified Food.” (Lee Clarke, Paul Mclean, Patricia Roos)

Vanina Leschziner:  “Cultural Creation: The Creation of Culture and the Culture of Creation. A Sociological Analysis in the Culinary Sphere.” (Karen A. Cerulo, John L. Martin, Paul McLean, Ann Mische)

King-to Yeung: “Suppressing Rebels, Managing Bureaucrats: State Building During the Taiping Rebellion, 1850-1864.”  (John L. Martin, Lee Clarke, Paul McLean, Ann Mische)

2006

Kevin Keogan:  “The Contemporary Politics of Immigration Within the United States: An Historical-Comparative Analysis of Southern California and the New York Metro Area.” (Karen A. Cerulo, Thomas Rudel, Ann Mische, Rubén G. Rumbaut)

Ruth E. Simpson:  “Changing Conceptions of Air and Social Space: Miasmatic Theories, Microscopic Worlds, and Myopic Vision.” (Eviatar Zerubavel, Ira Cohen, Allan Horwitz, József Böröcz, Richard Williams)

2005

Anna Looney:  “New Perspectives on Past Commitments:  Midlife Reflections on Cult Experience in Young Adulthood.” (Benjamin Zablocki, Sarah Rosenfield, Deborah Carr, John L. Martin)

Jamie McLennan:  “Solitude and Sociability: The Social World of Long Distance Hikers on the Appalacian Trail.” (Thomas Rudel, D. Randall Smith, Deborah Carr)

Takiko Mori-Saunders:  “Media Discourse For Japanese Middle-Aged Women: Between Docile Body and Silent Resistance.” (Ellen Idler, Judith Friedman, Ethel Brooks)

Keumjae Park:  “Immigrant Identities: The Case of Korean-Americans.” (Karen A. Cerulo, Richard Williams, Vilna Bashi, Kyeyoung Park)

Ian Watson:  “Cognitive Design.” (Eviatar Zerubavel, Paul McLean, Allan Horwitz)

2004

Julie McLaughlin:  “It's In the Timing: The Relationship Between the Temporal Composition of Family Transitions and Psychological Well-Being.” (Allan Horwitz, Sarah Rosenfield, Ellen Idler, Deborah Carr)

2003

Eric K. Shaw:  “What Goes Around Comes Around: A Social Psychological Examinatio of Helping Behavior Among Haitian Immigrants, Christian Fundamentalists, and Gang Members.” (Richard Williams, Benjamin Zablocki, Vilna Bashi, Philip Kasinitz)

Jamie Mullaney:  “Everyone's Not Doing It: An Exploration of Abstinence as Chosen Pursuit.” (Eviatar Zerubavel, Richard Williams, Benjamin Zablocki)

Marla Perez-Lugo:  “Vulnerability to Natural Disasters and the Mass Media.” (Tom Rudel, Karen O'Neill, Karen A. Cerulo)

2002

Brian Hall: “Chinese Americans at the Border of Christian Faith.” (Benjamin Zablocki, Cathy Greenblat, Chaim Waxman)

Sherril Schuster:  “Princess for a Day: Perpetuating the "White Wedding" as a Traditional Ritual.” (Ann Parelius, Judith Gerson, Chaim Waxman)

2001

Shawna Hudson:  “Watching Sex on TV: Reinterpreting Content Using A Sociological Gaze.” (Cathy Greenblat, Karen A. Cerulo, Richard Williams, John Gagnon)

Nicole Isaacson:  “’The Unfinished Infant"\’: An Analysis Of The Cultural Representations And Practices To Finish The Premature Baby.” (Eviatar Zerubavel, Judith Gerson, Karen A. Cerulo, Cathy Greenblat, John Gagnon)

Marla Perez-Lugo:  “Vulnerability to Natural Disasters and the Mass Media.” (Thomas Rudel, Karen A. Cerulo, Karen O’Neill)

Kristen Purcell:  “Leveling the Playing Field: Constructing Parity In The Modern World.”  (Eviatar Zerubavel, Jozsef Borocz, Allan Horwitz, Viviana Zelizer)

Rick Phillips:  “Saints in ‘Zion’; Saints in "Babylon": Mormonism, Pluralism and the Transformation of Religious Vitality in the United States.” (Benjamin Zablocki, Chaim Waxman, John Martin, Daniel V.A. Olsen)

William Smith:  “Christian Psychotherapists: Being in the World, But Not of It.” (Benjamin Zablocki, John Martin, Chaim Waxman)

2000

Johanna Foster:  “Feminist Theory and the Politics of Ambiguity: A Comparative Analysis of the Multiracial Movement, the Intersex Movement and the Disability Rights Movement as Contemporary Struggles Over Social Classification in the United States.” (Judith Gerson, Richard Williams, Eviatar Zerubavel)

Mary L. Gatta:  “Juggling Food and Feelings: Emotional Balance in the Workplace.” (Ira Cohen, Patricia Roos, Benjamin Zablocki)

1999

Wayne Brekhus:  “Lifestylers, Commuters, and Integrators: The Grammar and Micro-Ecology of Social Identity.” (Cathy Greenblat, Eviatar Zerubavel, Judith Gerson, John Gagnon)

Mary Chayko:  “Technology and Togetherness: How We Create and Live in a World of Mental Connections.” (Eviatar Zerubavel, Karen A. Cerulo, Ira Cohen)

Kimberly Wittenstrom:  “From Stay-At-Home Mothers to Professional Family Day Care Providers: Explaining Women's Transformations Using a Multi-Analytic Approach.” (Karen A. Cerulo, Judith Gerson, Eviatar Zerubavel, Hartmut B. Mokros)

1998

Katharine Jones:  “Accent on Privilege: Negotiating English Identities in an American Context.” (Judith Gerson, Richard Williams, Roberto Franzosi)

Dissertations in Progress

Andrea Barra:  “A Cultural Diamond Analysis of the Romance Novel Industry, (Karen A. Cerulo, Patrick Carr, Arlene Stein)

Angela Butts:  “The Tradition–Innovation Dilemma: Authenticity, Transformation, and the Subcultural Economy of Goth.”  (Arlene Stein, Patrick Carr, Paul McLean)

Shruti Devgan:  “Through the Crevices of Memory: Commemoration Practices Among the Sikh Diaspora in the United States.”  (Arlene Stein, Ethel Brooks, Zakia Salime)

Audrey Devine-Eller: “Mixed Messages: How Students in a Diverse High School Engage Post-Secondary Planning in Their Everyday Lives.” (Patrick Carr, Karen A. Cerulo, Phaedra Daipha, Arlene Stein)

Jeffrey Dowd: "Racism" and The Political Blogosphere.” (Paul McLean, Karen A. Cerulo, Ann Mische)

Rachelle Germana:  “Hyphenators and Hyphen-Haters:  Social Identities and the Practice of Hyphenating,”  (Eviatar Zerubavel, Ira Cohen, Karen A. Cerulo, Richard Williams)

Neha Gondal:  “Do People with Small Families Sociate Differently? (Paul McLean, Deborah Carr, Ann Mische, Eviatar Zerubavel).

Daina Harvey:  “ Moving on From Hurricane Katrina, (Karen A. Cerulo, Patrick Carr, Ann Mische, Arlene Stein).

Anna Harewood:  “When the Word Meets the World:  An Inquiry into Concept
Use in Sociological Epistemology.” (Judith Gerson, Patricia Roos, Kristen Springer)

Jennifer Hemler:  “Cognitions of Cancer: How Breast Cancer Survivors Think about and Live with Chronic Illness.” (Karen A. Cerulo, Deborah Carr, Allan Horwitz)

Yu-Sheng Lin:  “Every Decision You Make Matters: Dilemma-Solving and the Life Course of Social Movements.”  (Ann Mische, Lee Clarke, Catherine Lee, Paul McLean).

Maria Islas-Lopez:  “The Future in the Present:  Projectivity in a Transnational Migrant Community.” (Ann Mische, Karen A. Cerulo, Robyn Rodriguez)

Janet Lorenzen:  “Restricting Consumption:  Creating and Maintaining Contrary Lifestyle Practices in the American Consumer Economy.” (Paul McLean, Thomas Rudel, Karen A. Cerulo)

Maria V. Malyk:  “Condescending Compliments and Backhanded Euphemisms: Exploring Social, Semiotic and Cognitive Dimensions of Cryptosemic Interaction.”   (Eviatar Zerubavel, Ira Cohen, Paul McLean, Sarah Rosenfield)

Bijita Majumdar:  “Imperial Connections, Difference and Identity:  Indians in South Africa 1860-1920.”  (Ethel Brooks, Joseph Borocz, Paul McLean, Robyn Rodriguez)

Monique Porow:  “Biracial Inside and Out? Are 21st Century Shifts in "Biracial" Self Understanding Congruent With Society's Understanding of "Biracialness"? (Richard Williams, Karen A. Cerulo, Arlene Stein)

Eiko Saeki:  “Boundary of Personhood: Medicalization of Reproduction and the Conceptualization of Beginning of Life in Japan.”  (Eviatar Zerubavel, Karen A. Cerulo, Phaedra, Daipha, Joanna Kempner)

Vikash Singh:  “Ethics, Politics, and Subjectivity in an Indian Pilgrimage.” (Arlene Stein, Karen A. Cerulo, Ethel Brooks)

Kirsten Younghee Song:  “Everyday Border Crossings of Young Koreans in the U.S.; Time, Space, and Identity Construction in a Transnational Community.” (Arlene Stein, Phaedra Daipha, Ann Mische)

Karen Stein:  “Vacations:  The Social Organization of Temporary Identity.”
(Eviatar Zerubavel, Deborah Carr, Karen A. Cerulo, Richard Williams)

Jason Torkelson:  “Life and Identity After Subculture.”  (Patrick Carr, Karen Cerulo, Arlene Stein)

Elizabeth Williamson:  “The Mobilization of Emotions, Power Dynamics, Frames and Framing Processes and Their Effect on Commitment to a Social Movement.” (Benjamin Zablocki, Karen A. Cerulo, Ann Mische)

Tracie Witte:  “Creating Morality:  Competing for Medical Marijuana Legislation.” (Karen A. Cerulo, Allan Horwitz, Julie Phillips)

Culture and Cognition Students' National and Regional Awards

2012

Asia Friedman, Winner, “New Faculty Fellows Postdoctoral Award,” American Council of Learned Societies. 

Neha Gondal, Winner, Fellowship from the Rutgers Center for Cultural Analysis.

2011

Neha Gondal, Honorable mention, Student Paper Award of the annual Sunbelt Conference of the International Network of Social Network Analysts. 

Neha Gondal, Winner, Policy Communication Fellowship, Population Reference Bureau.

Shatima Jones, Winner, Student Paper Award, Racial and Ethnic Minorities division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. 

Janet Lorenzen, Winner, dissertation fellowship from the American Association of University Women. 

Vikas Singh, Winner, Fellowship from the Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis. 

Kirsten Song, Winner, Best Graduate Student paper award from the American Sociological Association’s Sociology of Emotions section.   

Andrew Stroffolino, Winner, fellowship from the Rutgers Center for Cultural Analysis.

Elizabeth Williamson, Winner, Honorable Mention for the Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Award of the ASA Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements. 

Elizabeth Williamson, selected as one of 12 participants in the “Young Scholars in Social Movements Mini-Conference” to be hosted by The Center for the Study of Social Movements at the University of Notre Dame.  (April 2011).

2010

Asia Friedman: Winner, two-year postdoctoral fellowship by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

Neha Gondal: Winner, two-year dissertation fellowship by the Hewlett Foundation/Institute of International Education in Population, Reproductive Health, and Economic Development.

Daina Cheyenne Harvey: Winner,  Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy.

Daina Cheyenne Harvey: Winner, PERISHIP Fellow in Hazards, Risk, and Disasters.

Janet Lorenzen, Winner, dissertation grant from the Rutgers Initiative on Climate Change and Social Policy.

Étienne Meunier, Winner, Social Science Doctorate Degree Bursary from Fondation Desjardins, Québec, Canada.

Manjusha Nair, Honorable Mention, American Sociological Association Labor and Labor Movements/ Critical Sociology Distinguished Graduate Student Article.

Eiko Saeki: Winner, one-year dissertation fellowship from the Japan Foundation Doctoral Fellowship Program. 

Kirsten Younghee Song: Winner, SSSP Youth, Aging, and the Life Course Section’s Best Student Paper Award.

2009

Audrey Devine-Eller: Winner, NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant.

Neha Gondal: Winner, ASA Mathematical Sociology Section’s Best Student Paper Award.  

Eric Kushins: Winner, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

Etienne Meunier: Winner, three-year fellowship by Canada's Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC). 

2008

Daina Harvey: Winner, Presidential Fellow from the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Elizabeth Williamson: Winner, NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant.

Thomas DeGloma:  Second Prize in the SSSP Conflict, Social Action, and Change Division’s Graduate Student Paper Award Competition.

Thomas DeGloma:  Second Prize in the SSSP Theory Division’s Student Paper Award Competition.

Shruti Devgan: Winner, Center for South Asia Studies at UC Berkeley's Amrit Kaur Ahluwalia Memorial Oustanding Paper Prize.

Jenna Howard: Winner, ASA Social Psychology Section’s Best Student Paper Award.

2007

Thomas DeGloma: Winner, Presidential Fellow, Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Thomas DeGloma:  Co-winner, ASA Peace, War, and Social Conflict Section’s Elise M. Boulding Award for the Student Paper of the Year.

Thomas DeGloma:  First Prize in the SSSP Theory Division Paper Award Competition.

Thomas DeGloma: Winner, SSSP Mental Health Divion’s Student Paper Award Competition.

Asia Friedman: Winner, ESS's Candace Rogers Student Paper Competition.

1995-2006

Karen Danna-Lynch:  Winner, ASA Culture Section’s Suzanne Langer Award for the Best Student Paper, 2003.

Karen Danna-Lynch:  Honorable Mention for the ASA Theory Section’s Shils-Coleman Memorial Award for the Best Student Paper, 2002.

Jamie Mullaney:  Co-Winner, ASA Culture Section’s Suzanne Langer Award for the Best Student Paper, 2001.

C. Lynn Carr:  Winner, ASA Social Psychology Section’s Best Student Paper Award, 1999.

Wayne Brekhus – Winner, ASA Theory Section’s Shils-Coleman Memorial Award for the Best Student Paper, 1998.

Kristen Purcell – Winner, ASA Culture Section’s Suzanne Langer Award for the Best Student Paper, 1998.

Wayne Brekhus – Winner, ASA Culture Section’s Suzanne Langer Award for the Best Student Paper, 1997.

Geoffrey Curran - Honorable Mention for the ASA Organizations, Occupations, and Work Section’s Thompson Prize for the Best Student Paper, 1995.

Culture and Cognition Links
Culture and Cognition Network
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Culture Section of the ASA
Rutgers information and communication school (SCILS)
Rutgers Center for the Critical Analysis (CCA)
Visual Sociology