Craig Calhoun

Craig Calhoun
Craig Jackson Calhoun (born 1952) is an American sociologist who currently serves as the University Professor of Social Sciences at Arizona State University. He is a strong advocate for applying social science to address issues of public concerns. Calhoun served as the Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) from September 2012 until September 2016 and continues to hold the title of Centennial Professor of Sociology at LSE.
Before this tenure at LSE, Calhoun led the Social Science Research Council, and held the position of University Professor of the Social Sciences at New York University (NYU). He was also the Director of NYU's Institute for Public Knowledge. After LSE, he became the first president of the Berggruen Institute, where he now serves as a senior advisor.
Biography
Calhoun was born in Watseka, Illinois, on June 16, 1952. He studied anthropology and cinema at the University of Southern California (B.A., 1972), anthropology and sociology at Columbia University (M.A., 1974), and social anthropology at Manchester University (M.A., 1975). He received his D.Phil. in sociology and modern social and economic history from University of Oxford in 1980, where he was a student of J.Clyde Mitchell, Angus MacIntyre, and Ronald Max Hartwell.
Academic Tenures
He taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1977 to 1996. There he was also Dean of the Graduate School and founding Director of the University Center for International Studies. He moved to NYU in 1996 as Chair of the Department of Sociology in a period of major rebuilding. He left for Columbia in 2006 but returned to NYU as Director of the Institute for Public Knowledge (IPK), which promotes collaborations among academics from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and between academics and working professionals. With Richard Sennett he co-founded NYLON, an interdisciplinary working seminar for graduate students in New York and London who bring ethnographic and historical research to bear on politics, culture, and society. In September 2012 he became the Director and President of the London School of Economics.
International Teaching and Honors
Calhoun has also taught at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, University of Asmara, University of Khartoum, University of Oslo, and Oxford. He was the Benjamin Meaker Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Bristol in 2000 , received an honorary doctorate from La Trobe University in Melbourne in 2005, and also received an honorary doctorate from Erasmus University Rotterdam, in 2013.
Personal life
Calhoun spent portions of his early years in states like Kentucky and Illinois due to his father's role as a Protestant minister. This exposure to various communities and settings provided him with diverse experiences. Discussions during this time touched upon Western history, religion, and the Bible. His father, who held views on church unity, frequently discussed the differences between religious denominations.
Calhoun's formative years coincided with significant societal events, including the Civil Rights Movement. In his academic pursuits, Calhoun attended institutions including the University of Southern California, Princeton, Manchester University, and Oxford. His studies covered anthropology, sociology, political philosophy, and modern social and economic history. While he primarily focused on sociology, his research spanned various topics, from democracy and social movements to the evolution of capitalism. His research took him to different parts of the world, and he showed particular interest in the workers' movements of 18th and 19th-century England.
Calhoun is married to Pam F. DeLargy, a specialist in public health and population studies, who transitioned back to academia after two decades in international development and humanitarian aid. DeLargy encompasses areas like migration, gender relations, and reproductive health. At UNFPA, DeLargy played a role in emphasizing the needs of women and young individuals during emergencies. For served for the U.N. in Eritrea, Sudan, and Ethiopia heading humanitarian response programmes of UNFPA. Before her tenure at Arizona State University, she was the Senior Advisor to Peter Sutherland, the U.N. Special Representative for Migration.
Work
Presidency at the Social Science Research Council (1999-2012)
From 1999 to 2012 Calhoun was President of the Social Science Research Council. At the SSRC Calhoun emphasized the public contributions of social science. His views are explained in his essay "Towards a More Public Social Science", which first appeared in the SSRC's 2004 "President's Report" and has been translated, reprinted and widely circulated on the web. After September 11, 2001 he launched an initiative on "Real Time Social Science" which included an essay forum that attracted more than one million readers. This continued with work on the Privatization of Risk, Understanding Katrina: Perspectives from the Social Sciences Program, and now Haiti, Now and Next (examining the impact of the 2010 earthquake on Haiti's social and political future). His conversations with Paul Price have received wide circulation, podcast as Societas.
Directorship at the London School of Economics (2012-2016)
As the Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science Calhoun was in the academic year 2012-13 the beneficiary of "one of the biggest increases in overall pay and benefits" in the British higher education sector. As Director, Calhoun was very successful in raising funds for the LSE, including millions from the Marshall Foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies, and many other donors. Also during his tenure, LSE begun work on a new Global Centre for Social Sciences, and rose significantly in global university rankings, rising from 71st to 35th best university in the world between 2014 and 2015 in QS World University Rankings.
Centennial Professor
At the conclusion of his term as Director, Calhoun transitioned to the role of Centennial Professor in the Department of Sociology at LSE.
BBC in North Korea
In 2013, the BBC faced criticism for an undercover documentary filmed in North Korea, which involved students from the London School of Economics (LSE). Craig Calhoun, the Director of the LSE at the time, expressed concerns about the potential risks posed to the students. He clarified that the trip was not officially sanctioned by LSE. The BBC defended its actions, stating the documentary aimed to provide insights into life inside North Korea. The BBC later apologized. Calhoun later commented on the incident, suggesting that the documentary might not have provided new information and only showcased what North Korea intended for tourists to see
Berggruen Institute Leadership
In December 2015 it was announced he would not seek a further term at LSE, instead choosing to step down and return to the United States in 2016 as President of the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles. In August 2017, British media published critical reports that Calhoun had been paid £1.7 million over four years and a London apartment with a market rent of £120,000 a year, despite LSE being criticised for its low teaching standards. As president of the Berggruen Institute, Calhoun launched the million-dollar Berggruen Philosophy Prize, and oversaw the development of its Los Angeles and Beijing campuses.
Arizona State University (2018-Present)
In May 2018, it was announced that Calhoun would be stepping down from the Berggruen Institute in order to become University Professor of Social Sciences at Arizona State University, effective July 1, 2018.
Melikian Center Interim Directorship (2021-22)
In 2021, Calhoun was appointed as the interim director of the Melikian Center for Eurasian and East European Studies at ASU.
Honours
Calhoun has held academic positions at various institutions globally. He served as the Stanley Kelly, Jr. Visiting Professor for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton University. From 2011 to 2021, he was as an Honorary Professor at the College d’Etudes Mondiales of the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme and held the distinguished "Cosmopolitisme et Solidarité" chair. He has been a Faculty Fellow at Yale University's Center for Cultural Sociology since 2004. Other affiliations include the Technical University of Munich, Humboldt University in Berlin, and the University of Oslo.
2012: Elected an member of the American Philosophical Society.
2014: Honorary doctorate from the Erasmus University Rotterdam, for being "one of today's foremost social scientists".
2015: Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS)
2015: Fellow of the British Academy (FBA)
He is a Fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities.
Publications
Calhoun has written more than 100 scholarly articles and chapters as well as books, among which his most famous is a study of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, Neither Gods Nor Emperors: Students and the Struggle for Democracy in China (California, 1994). Calhoun's work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. Thesis Eleven (2006, Vol. 84, No. 1) devoted a special issue to his work, "Craig Calhoun: Critical Social Sciences and the Public Sphere." He was also editor in chief of the Oxford Dictionary of the Social Sciences. His recent work has focused on the future of capitalism and on humanitarianism. He has also written on Brexit and the rise of populism.
Books
with Donald Light and Suzanne Keller
Edited Volumes
Calhoun, Craig; and Benjamin Fong. (2013) The Green New Deal and the Transformation of Work . Columbia University Press.
Calhoun, Craig; Eduardo Mendieta, and Jonathan VanAntwerpen. (2013) Habermas and Religion. Polity Press.
Wallerstein, Immanuel; Randall Collins, Michael Mann, Georgi Derluguian, and Craig Calhoun. (2013). Does Capitalism Have a Future? Oxford University Press.
Calhoun, Craig, Mark Juergensmeyer, and Jonathan VanAntwerpen. (2011) Rethinking Secularism. Oxford University Press.
Michael Warner, Jonathan VanAntwerpen, and Craig Calhoun. (2010) Varieties of Secularism in a Secular Age. Harvard University Press.
Calhoun, Craig and Sennett, Richard. (2007) Practicing Culture. Routledge.
Calhoun, Craig; Gerteis, Joseph; Moody, James; Pfaff, Steven; and Indermohan Virk. (2007) Contemporary Sociological Theory, 2nd. ed. Blackwell.
Calhoun, Craig; Gerteis, Joseph; Moody, James; Pfaff, Steven; and Indermohan Virk. (2007) Classical Sociological Theory, 2nd. ed. Blackwell.
Calhoun, Craig. (2007) Sociology in America: A History. University of Chicago Press.
Calhoun, Craig; Rojek, Chris; and Turner, Bryan. (2006) Sage Handbook of Sociology. Sage Publications.
Calhoun, Craig. (2005) Lessons of Empire: Imperial Histories and American Power. New Press.
Calhoun, Craig; Price, Paul; and Timmer; Ashley. (2002) Understanding September 11. The New Press.
Calhoun, Craig. (2002) Dictionary of the Social Sciences. Oxford University Press.
Calhoun, Craig, and McGowan John. (1997) Hannah Arendt and the Meaning of Politics. University of Minnesota Press.
Calhoun, Craig. (1994) Social Theory and the Politics of Identity. Wiley Blackwell.
Calhoun, Craig; LiPuma, E.; and Postone; M. (1993) Bourdieu: Critical Perspectives. Cambridge: Polity Press and Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Calhoun, Craig. (1992) Habermas and the Public Sphere. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Calhoun, Craig; Scott, W.R.; and Meyer, M. (1990) Structures of Power and Constraint: Essays in Honor of Peter M. Blau. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
Calhoun, Craig and Ianni, F. A. J. (1976) The Anthropological Study of Education. The Hague: Mouton, and Chicago: Aldine.
References
External links
ASU profile page
American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Personal website
Profile The British Academy
Calhoun's bio, Institute for Public Knowledge
Social Science Research Council (USA)
International Science Council
American sociologists
Living people
Scholars of nationalism
1952 births
New York University faculty
People associated with the London School of Economics
Academic staff of the University of Khartoum
University of Southern California alumni
Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Alumni of the University of Manchester
Academic staff of the University of Asmara
Fellows of the British Academy
Alumni of St Antony's College, Oxford
Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences
Social Science Research Council
Columbia University faculty