Contact

Paul Dean, PhD
Assistant Professor
Sociology/Anthropology Dept
Elliott Hall 210
79 S. Sandusky St.
Ohio Wesleyan University
Delaware, OH 43015-2370

Email:
psdean <at> owu.edu


See my CV

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Bio

In addition to being co-creator and co-editor of The Sociological Cinema, I am an Assistant Professor of Sociology/Anthropology at Ohio Wesleyan University. At Ohio Wesleyan, I teach Social Inequality, Economy and Society, Race and Ethnicity, Social Movements, and Social Problems in The Wire.

I completed my PhD in Sociology at the University of Maryland in May 2012. At UMD, I taught courses in Sociological Theory, Social Problems, and Social Stratification. I was also awarded a Teaching Excellence Award from the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences and I was a CTE-Lilly Graduate Teaching Fellow with the University's Center for Teaching Excellence.

My dissertation research focused on movements promoting social and environmental responsibility (or, sustainability). I examined socially responsible investing and social certifications (e.g. Fair Trade) to better understand how global social movements address inequality and environmental problems through market-based mechanisms. I show that while these social movement fields offer opportunities to influence economic activity outside of failed state regulation, standards are constrained by institutional regulations, market-based logics, and other social and cultural processes. I have also conducted research on stratification across race and class, civic engagement, and even Jack Kerouac's On the Road. The common theme throughout all of my work is the study of inequality, including how it is produced, reproduced, and mitigated.

In what limited free time academia affords, I like to hike, brew my own beer, cook, and see live music as much as possible.