Faculty

Lauren Langman, PhD

About

Lauren Langman received his PhD in Human Development from the University of Chicago. Although he had planned a career in psychology, as a result of participation in civil rights and anti war movements, his interest shifted to sociology as a way of understanding how social conflict was based on group membership and interests rather than individual personality. As a result, his work as a sociologist has always had an interdisciplinary focus largely concerned with the relations of the historically instantiated social structure and culture to the individual.

Degrees

PhD University of Chicago, 1969

BS University of Illinois, 1961

Research Interests

Dr. Langman is primarily a social theorist writing in the tradition of the Frankfurt School-especially their early concerns with character and culture, which currently inform questions of identity and hegemony in a global age. His theoretical writing examines the nature of self, subjectivity and modernity dealing with questions such as agency, or its lack, as alienation. His substantive research interests concern the dialects of political economy, culture and identity in such varied forms as Islamic fundamentalism, alternative globalization movements and the carnivalization of culture. Dr. Langman has widely published in these areas and has a forthcoming book on the Carnivalization of America. He is President of RC 36, Alienation Research and Theory of International Sociological Association; he is on the editorial boards of Social Theory, Current Perspectives in Social Theory, and Critical Sociology.

Professional & Community Affiliations

Organized Conference Sessions

• The Carnivalization of the World I and II, Midwest Sociological Association, Milwaukee, WI, April 2002
• Research Committee on Alienation Research and Theory, Program Organizer, International Sociological Association, Brisbane, Australia, July 2002
• Globalization and Social Movements, American Sociological Association, Chicago, IL, August 2002
• Critical Approaches to Globalization, American Sociological Association, Chicago, IL, August 2002
• Marxist Feminism, American Sociological Association, Chicago, IL, August 2002
• Marxist Roundtables, American Sociological Association, Chicago, IL, August 2002
• The Electronic Mediation of Alternative Globalization Movements, World Social Forum, January 24, 2003
• The Internet and Social Movements, Association of Internet Researchers-Toronto, October 2003
• Globalization and Social Movements Rethinking Marxism, Amherst, MA, November 2003
• Carnivalization of the World, Rethinking Marxism, Amherst, MA, November 2003
• Healing and Reconciliation in the Middle East, Loyola University, March 21, 2004
• Empire and Resistance, (Co-organizer) Global Studies Association, Brandeis, April 23–25, 2004
• Alienation Theory, Beijing, July 7–11, 2004

Selected Publications

2002

With Douglas Morris, "Islamic Terrorism: From Retrenchment to Ressentiment and Beyond," in Essential Readings in Political Terrorism, Harvey Kushner Ed. New York: Gordian Knot Press (University of Nebraska) 2002

"The Moral Foundations of Critical Theory," Book Review, Contemporary Sociology, 2002

"The Transnational Capitalist Class," Book Review, Theory and Society, volume 31, number 4, Dec. 2002

"Globalization, Cyberspace and Identity," in Information Technology Education and Society, vol 3(2) 2002 (December issue)

2003

"The Ludic Body: Ritual, Desire, and Cultural Identity in the American Super Bowl and the Carnival of Rio," in The Politics of Selfhood: Bodies and Identities in Global Capitalism, ed by Richard Harvey Brown, pp 64–86. University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis, 2003

"From Subject to Citizen to Consumer: Embodiment and the Mediation of Hegemony," in The Politics of Selfhood: Bodies and Identities in Global Capitalism, ed by Richard Harvey Brown, pp 167–188. University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis, 2003

With Douglas Morris and Jackie Zalewski, "Cyberactivism and Alternative Globalization Movements," in Wilma A,. Dunaway, ed. Emerging Issues in the 21st Century World-System. pp. 218–35. Westport: CN, Greenwood Press, 2003

"The Presidency in an Age of Virtual Reproduction," Editor of Special Issue of American Behavioral Scientist, December 2003

"Suppose they gave a Culture War and No One Came: Clinton and The Carnivalization of Political Culture," in Lauren Langman, ED. "The Presidency in an Age of Virtual Reproduction," American Behavioral Scientist, December 2003

"Culture, Identity and Hegemony: The Body in a Global Age," in Current Sociology, May/July 2003, Vol 51(3/4): 223–247.

"Phillip Reiff's Mission," in Journal of the History of Social Theory, 2003 (3): 279–295.

"Alienation, Modernity and Community," in Encyclopedia of Community, Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage, 2003

"The Power of the Powerless," in Encyclopedia of Leadership, Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage, 2003

"The Roots of Terror," in Michael Thompson; Islam, the West and Modernity: Critical Perspectives, Roman and Littlefield, 2003

"Marx," in Encyclopedia of Leaders, ed by Karen Christensen and David Levinson. Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, 2003.

"Alienation," in Encyclopedia of Community, Ed by Karen Christensen and David Levinson. Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, 2003.

"The Power of the Powerless," in Encyclopedia of Community, Ed by Karen Christensen and David Levinson. Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, 2003.

"The Roots of Terror," in Islam and the West: Critical Perspectives in Modernity, Ed by Michael J. Thompson. Rowan & Littlefield Publishers, Inc: Lantham, 2003.

2004

"Globalization, Carnivalization and Degradation," in Net, Sex and Gender, Dennis Waskul, ED, New York: Peter Lang Publishers, 2004

"Globalization and the Liminal: Transgression, Identity and the Urban Primitive," in Terry Clark Ed., The City as Entertainment Machine, Vol. 9 of Research in Urban Policy. New York: JAI Press/Elsevier, 2004

"Globalization, Carnivalization and Degradation," in Net, Sex and Gender, Dennis Waskul, ED, New York: Peter Lang Publishers, 2004

"Cyberactivism," Book Review in New Media and Society, 2004

"Hegemony Lost" in Tom Riefert Ed, Globalization, Hegemony & Power: Antisystemic Movements and the Global System. Boulder, Paradigm Press, 2004

"Virtual Public Spheres and Globalized Social Movements." Social Theory, 2004

"Le Conception Alienation," in Alain Touraine Ed. Dictionaire de Histoire de Pensee Sociologique, Paris: Gallimard, 2004

"The Dialect of Un-enlightenment," Critical Sociology, 2004

With Mahruq Khan, "Islamism, Modernity and Feminism," In Current Trends in Religious Life, George Luskow, ED. 2004

"Globalization and the Grotesque" in Bill Robinson and Richard Applepbaun, Eds. Critical Globalization Studies, New York: Routledge, 2004

Trauma, Promise and the Millennium: "The Evolution of Alienation" with Devorah Kalekin, Boulder: Rowman and Littlefield. 2004

2005

"The Social Psychology of Nationalism." in G. Delanty ED, Handbook of Nations and Nationalism, London: Sage, 2004/5

"Carnivalization of the World," Thousand Oaks, Sage, 2005

2002

Globalization and Terror, Plenary Address, Globalization Conference, University of Maryland, College Park, MA, May 2002

The Net and The Self, International Sociological Association, Brisbane, Australia 2002

Globalization and Carnivalization, International Sociological Association, Brisbane, Australia 2002

Globalization Past, Present and Future, International Sociological Association, Brisbane, Australia 2002

Networks of Dissent: Social Movements in a Global Age, International Sociological Association, Brisbane, Australia 2002

Phillip Reiff's Mission, American Sociological Association, Chicago, August 2002

2003

Transgression as Identity, Invited Address, Pennsylvania State University, Abington, PA, Feb 12, 2003

Shock Rock, Southern Sociological Society, New Orleans, LA, March 27–30, 2003

Vile, Vulgar and Grotesque: Carnivalization and Communities of Transgression, Midwest Sociological Society, Chicago, April 12, 2003

A Better World is Possible, Midwest Sociological Society, Chicago, April 12, 2003

Internetworked Social Movements, Political Economy of World System, Georgetown, April 25, 2003

Globalization and the Grotesque, Toward a Critical Global Studies, Santa Barbara, CA, May 1, 2003

The Dialect of Un-Enlightenment, International Social Theory Consortium, Tampa, FL, May 17–18, 2003

Toward a Critical Theory of Islam, Association for Study of Religion, Atlanta, August 15, 2003

The Power of the Powerless, Sociological Imagination Group, Atlanta, August 16, 2003

The Dialectics of Identity, American Sociological Association, Atlanta, GA, August 2003

Alienation and Identity: Critical Theory and Identity in a Global Age, American Sociological Association, August 16–19, 2003

Virtual Public Spheres and Globalized Social Movements, American Sociological Association, August 16–19, 2003

Islamic Fundamentalism, Modernity and Feminism (with Mahruq Khan), American Sociological Association, July 2003

Un Otro Mundo Es Possival, Rethinking Marxism, Amherst, MA, November 5–9, 2003

Capitalism, Globalization and the Grotesque, Rethinking Marxism, Amherst, MA, November 5–9, 2003

The Challenge of the World Social Forum, Global Studies Association-North America, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, April 22–5, 2003

2004

Globalization and its Cybertopias, Midwest Sociological Society, Kansas City, MO, April 15–18, 2004

Alienation in the New Millennium, International Sociological Association, Research Council Conference, Conflict, Competition, Cooperation: Contemporary Sociological Theory, and Research in the XXIst Century, May 28–29, 2004

Carnival Culture as Hegemony in a Global Era, Crossroads in Consumer Culture, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL, June 2004

From Seattle to Mumbai: The People Strike Back, International Institute of Sociology, Beijing, July 2004

The Politics of the Grotesque, American Sociological Association, San Francisco, August 2004

Towards a Critical Theory of Islam, American Sociological Association, San Francisco, August 2004