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Associate Professor
B.A., Cleveland State
University, 1986
M.A., Cleveland State University,
1987
Ph.D., City University of New York,
1996
Areas: Sociological Theory, Sociology of Culture (reputations and
creativity), Sociology of Knowledge/Intellectuals (an organizational and sociology of professions perspective), History/Sociology of Sociology.
To send E-mail to Dr. McLaughlin click on Neil
McLaughlin
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Research Interests
As a sociologist of culture and a sociological theorist, my
major research interests fall into five broad categories. One
stream is concerned with developing a sociological theory and
empirical research agenda on what has often been called the
"public intellectual." Secondly, I have an interest in studying
intellectual "reputations." Third, drawing from the sociology of
science and culture as well as from classical and contemporary
sociological theories, I am studying the sociology of creativity
and its relationship to marginality. Finally, I research the
sociology of sociology itself, in historical/comparative context
and as well as studying and publishing in sociological theory
proper.
The Public Intellectual
Intellectuals who write about social and political matters
outside narrow professional networks have sometimes been called
"public intellectuals." What is meant by this is a complicated
matter, but clearly there is widespread interest (both inside and
outside the contemporary university) in making knowledge relevant
in an increasingly global "knowledge society." Drawing on
sociological literature on professions, organizations, education
and culture, as well as a rich history of writings on
intellectuals within sociology, I am studying the public
intellectual in two major projects. First, as part of a three year
SSHRC funded grant called "Academy and Society," I am working with
Lisa Kowalchuk (Sociology, Guelph University) and Jeffrey Cormier
(Sociology, King's College, University of Western Ontario) on a
study of the sociological and institutional factors that
facilitate and/or inhibit the efforts of Canadian professors who
attempt to take their knowledge outside the ivory tower. Secondly,
as part of a SSHRC funded large scale international
interdisciplinary research team based here at McMaster University,
I am exploring the theme of "Globalization and Autonomy" through
an examination of the work, life and reputational reception after
his death of Edward Said, the prominent post-colonial theorist and
social critic. Said is arguably a "global public intellectual," a
new type of intellectual that provides a theoretical and empirical
challenge to the traditional nation based approach in the
sociology of intellectuals. Both these projects flow from
theoretical concerns developed first in my earlier writings on
William Julius Wilson, Erich Fromm and David Riesman, examples of
prominent public intellectuals.
The Sociology of Reputations
Reputations are inherently sociological in nature, and I have
been studying the creation, diffusion and destruction of
intellectual reputations in a series of studies on "how to become
a forgotten intellectual," "why schools of thought fail" and
related topics. I study "difficult reputations" as Gary Alan Fine
once put it, with an empirical focus on intellectuals who take
controversial political positions addressed to a public beyond the
university, such as Fromm, Said and Chomsky. This research agenda
on the social construction of reputations has wide potential
applicability to the study of Canadian politics, social movements,
journalism, sports and intellectual life more generally.
The Sociology of Creativity
There is a long tradition in sociological analysis that argues
that insights come from the margins of power and privilege.
Strangers and nomads, from this perspective, can see society more
clearly than those deeply imbedded in existing power relations and
social structures. Contrary to this view on the social origins of
creativity, there is another sociological tradition that
emphasizes the creative potential that comes from links to core
societal and institutional resources. I have argued in print that
this longstanding debate is stale and irresolvable and have
offered the concept of "optimal marginality" to suggest that there
may be some forms and combinations of social marginality which
lead to insight, and others which lead to marginal ideas. Drawing
on Michael Farrell's innovative theory of collaborative circles, I
have a research agenda for studying the creation of intellectual
innovations in the Frankfurt School for Social Research, in the
work of Erving Goffman, among Freudian theorists, among networks
of radical intellectuals and similar networks of relatively
marginalized but creative thinkers. I am starting this work with a
case study on "The Frankfurt School as a Collaborative Circle" but
believe there is enourmous potential for studying creativity and
innovation in networks of innovators outside academic and public
intellectual circles (for example, in health, science, music or
sports, for example).
The Sociology of Sociology
While I am strongly committed to interdisciplinary work, I also
believe that the discipline of sociology is a space where public
intellectual work and intellectual creativity can find a
particular secure and strong home. This is despite the fact (or
perhaps because of the fact!) that sociology's reputation is not
as secure as it could be in modern universities dominated
increasingly by the natural sciences, applied programs and
interdisciplinary institutes. Using the intellectual tools
developed in my earlier research, I am presently studying the
sociological and historical factors that sustain or inhibit the
secure institutionalization of the sociological imagination in the
modern research university. My essay "Canada's Impossible Science:
Historical and Institutional Origins of the Coming Crisis of
Anglo-Canadian Sociology" will be published soon in The Canadian
Journal of Sociology. I am embarking on a research agenda on the
sociological "field" in a comparative perspective (in Quebec,
English Canada, the United States, Great Britain and France)
inspired by the work of Bourdieu and Randall Collins and informed
by recent debates on the globalization of knowledge. This research
is part of my normative commitment to strengthen Canadian
sociology, as well as being linked to my interest in developing a
"Public Sociology" along the lines being discussed in The American
Sociological Association.
Sociological Theory
These various empirical research agendas are inspired by my
interest in sociological theory. But I also teach (both at the
undergraduate and graduate levels) and write on sociological
theory proper. My major interests in sociological theory are in
the work of the critical theory of the Frankfurt School,
psychoanalytic social theory, the work of Erving Goffman, Randall
Collin's sociology of philosophy, the critical sociology of Mills
and Gouldner, the history of sociological theory in the US, Canada
and Britain and broad attempts to combine theory and empirical
research in a multi-method sociological imagination.
Potential Graduate Students
I am interested in working with graduate students in any of
these broad categories. I am particularly interested in
supervising dissertations on public intellectuals in Canada and
globally, the contemporary Canadian university, the reputations of
cultural producers (in sports, the arts, professions, health,
social services, science or politics), case studies on creativity
and innovation, the institutional and professional basis of
knowledge creation/diffusion and the globalization of
knowledge
Scholarly Publications
Representative Publication:
Neil McLaughlin (1999) Origin
Myths in the Social Sciences: Fromm, the Frankfurt School and the
Emergence of Critical Theory. Canadian Journal of
Sociology 24, 1 (1999): 109-39
CURRICULUM VITAE
EDUCATION
Ph.D (Sociology), Graduate Center of the City University
of New York, New York, New York 1996.
M.A. (History), Cleveland State University, Cleveland,
Ohio 1987.
B.A. (International Relations), First College, Cleveland
State University, Cleveland Ohio, 1986.
CURRENT STATUS AT McMASTER
Tenured Associate Professor
PUBLICATIONS (PEER REVIEWED)
Review of Philip Smith, Cultural Theory: An Introduction in The Canadian Journal of Sociology
(27:2:2002:284)
“Critical Theory
Meets America: Riesman, Fromm and The Lonely Crowd,” The American Sociologist,
(2:1:2001:5-26).
AOptimal
Marginality: Innovation and Orthodoxy in Fromm’s Revision of Psychoanalysis,@ The Sociological Quarterly (42:2:2001:271-288).
“Revision from the Margins,” International
Forum of Psychoanalysis,” (9:3-4:241-247).
AOrigin Myths in Social Science: Erich Fromm, the Frankfurt
School and the Emergence of Critical Theory,@ The Canadian Journal of Sociology, (24:1:1999:109-139).
"How to Become a Forgotten Intellectual: Intellectual
Movements and the Rise and Fall of Erich Fromm," Sociological Forum
(13:2:1998:215-246).
AWhy Do Schools of Thought Fail? Neo-Freudianism as a
Case Study in the Sociology of Knowledge,@ Journal of the History of the Behavioural Sciences,
(34:2:1998:113-134).
"Nazism, Nationalism and the Sociology of Emotions:
Escape from Freedom Revisited," Sociological Theory, (14:3:1996:241-261).
PUBLICATIONS (NON PEER REVIEWED)
BOOK
Cyril Levitt, Scott Davies and Neil McLaughlin editors,
Mistaken Identities: The Second Wave Over Political Correctness ( Peter
Lang 2000)
NON-PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES/ESSAYS
“Bob Alford’s Sociological Imagination: Intellectual
Craftmanship and Political Commitment (1929-2003).” The Canadian Journal
of Sociology, On-Line, March-April 2003 http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/cjscopy/pdf/alforddpnm.pdf.
“Sociology’s Public Intellectual: Obituary of David
Riesman,” The Canadian Journal of Sociology, On-Line May-June 2002,
http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/cjscopy/pdf/riesman.pdf.
"Beyond Race Versus Class: The Politics of William
Julius Wilson,"
Dissent, (Summer 1993:362-367). Reprinted in Hugh Lena (Editor)
Readings in Sociology, Primis (McGraw-Hill, 1995).
"Wilson's Economic Common Ground," New
Politics, (2:4:1990:25-30).
"Glasnost American Style: Gus Hall Hits up Against
Reality," Dissent, (Spring 1990:258-259).
BOOK REVIEWS
Review of Randall Collins, The Sociology of Philosophies
in The Journal of the History of the Behavioural Sciences (36:2:2000:171-175)
Review of Jeffrey Goldfarb, Civility and Subversion:
The Intellectual Dynamic in Democratic Society in American Journal
of Sociology (November 1999: 849-851).
Online review of Routledge M. Dennis, Editor, Research
in Race and Ethnic Relations Volume 10: The Black Intellectuals, Greenwich
Connecticut, JAI Press, 1997. Canadian Journal of sociology Website at:
http://www.ualberta.ca/~cjscopy/reviews/intellectuals.html.
Review of Niilo Kauppi French Intellectual Nobility:
Institutions and Symbolic Transformations in the Post-Sartrian Era, in
Contemporary Sociology (27:1:1998:73-74).
Review of Daniel Burston, The Legacy of Erich Fromm,
Society, (29:5:1992:92-94).
"Still Tory, Still Whig," review of Seymour
Martin Lipset, Continental Divide: The Values and Institutions of the United
States and Canada, Democratic Left, (28:6:1990:21-22).
"Where Sociology Meets Politics," review of
Alan Wolfe, Whose Keeper? Social Science and Moral Obligation, Democratic
Left, (28:2:1990:21-23).
"The Politics of Family Policy Reform," (with
Elizabeth Cagan), review of Sylvia Ann Hewlett, A Lesser Life: The Myth
of Women's Liberation in America, Socialist Review, (18:1:1988:154-161).
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
American Sociological Association
Culture Section of American Sociological Association
Theory Section of American Sociological Association
History of Sociology Section of American Sociological Association
Canadian Association of Sociology and Anthropology
Cheiron
SCHOLARLY AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
PEER REVIEWS
Peer Reviews for American Sociological Review,
Sociological Forum, Sociological Theory,
Sociological Inquiry, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences,
The Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, Theoretical Criminology
as well as Pine Forge Press, Oxford University Press Canada and McGraw-Hill
Organizer, Regular Sessions on “Critical Theory” and
“The Sociology of Culture: Creativity, Innovation and Ideas” ASA annual meetings
HONOURS
Certificate of Excellence, McMaster Students Union Teaching
Awards Committee, March 1998.
Co-winner, Joseph Bensman Dissertation Proposal Award,
The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, Department of Sociology,
1994-1995
UNDERGRADUATE COURSES TAUGHT
2S06 Introduction to Sociological Theory, McMaster
University,
4KO3 Critiques of Sociological Theory, McMaster University,
3P03 American Sociological Theory, McMaster University
3D03 European Sociological Theory, McMaster
Honors Introduction to Sociology, Ohio State University
Sociology of the 60s, Queens College, CUNY
Race and Ethnic Relations, Queens College CUNY
Sociology of Education, Queens College CUNY
GRADUATE COURSES TAUGHT
751 Sociological Theory II: Selected Authors, McMaster University
757 History of Sociological Theory, McMaster University
6D03 Critiques of Sociological Theory, McMaster University,
Sociological Theory, MA, Queens College, CUNY
GRADUATE SUPERVISION in McMASTER UNIVERSITY SOCIOLOGY
Supervisor Kerry Turcotte, Department of Sociology,
ABD
Supervisor, Tony Puddephatt, Department of Sociology,
PhD student and SSHRC Doctoral Fellow
Supervisor Kyle Siler, Department of Sociology, PhD
student and SSHRC Doctoral Fellow
Committee Member, Linda Boos, PhD student
Committee Member, Janice Aurini, PhD student and SSHRC Doctoral Fellow
Supervisor, MA thesis for On Lam, Department of Sociology
(completed)
Supervisor, MA thesis for Kerry Turcotte, Department
of Sociology (completed)
Supervisory committee member, MA thesis for Ruth Frater,
Department of Sociology (completed)
External Research Funding
Global and Autonomy MCRI, “Edward Said as Global Public
Intellectual,” ($26,000.00 for three years), 2002-2005
“Canadian Professors as Public Intellectuals,” ($96,000
for three years ) SSHRC
Standard Research Grant 2004-2007
PEER REVIEWED SUBMITTED FOR PUBLICATION
“Canada’s Impossible Science: Historical and Institutional
Origins of the Coming Crisis of Anglo-Canadian Sociology,” Forthcoming, The
Canadian Journal of Sociology
AMarxism=s
Nightmare@
WORKS IN PROGRESS
AHeroes, Villains and the Intellectual Elite: The Case
of Orwell and Fromm,@
“The Frankfurt School as a Collaborative Circle,”
“Edward Said as a Global Public Intellectual”
“The Three Voices of Goffman”
“Beware of what you wish For: A Canadian Perspective
on American Sociology”
PEER REVIEWED PRESENTATIONS AT MEETINGS
“The Frankfurt School as a Collaborative Circle,” Eastern
Sociological Association meetings, Feb 17-22 2004.
“Theorizing Goffman’s Method,”
(with Robert Alford as second author) paper presented at the annual meetings
American Sociological Association, Chicago, August 16-19, 2002.
“Collaborative Circles and Their
Discontents: Fromm, Marcuse and Critical Theory in America,” invited paper
at Bard College’s conference “Contested Legacies: The German Speaking Intellectual
and (3 Cultural Emigration to the United States and the United Kingdom, 1933-45,”
Bard College, August 13-15, 2002.
ADavid Riesman and the Sociologist as Public Intellectual@ (with Linda Wallace), annual meetings of
the Canadian Association of Sociology and Anthropology, Edmonton, April 2000.
AOptimal Marginality: Innovation and Orthodoxy in Psychoanalysis,@ annual meetings of The Eastern Sociological
Association, Baltimore, March 2000.
ACritical Theory Meets America: Riesman, Fromm and The
Lonely Crowd,@ annual meetings of American Sociological
Association, Chicago, August 1999.
Invited Discussant, ASociology of Intellectuals: Globalization and Diffusion,@ annual meetings of the American Sociological
Association, San Francisco, August 1998.
AEscape from Orthodoxy: The Rise and Fall of Erich Fromm,@ paper presented at the annual meetings of
Cheiron The International Society for the History of the Behavioural
and Social Sciences, Richmond, Virginia, July 1997.
AOrigin Myths in the Schools of Thought: Fromm and the
Frankfurt School,@ paper presented at the annual meetings of
the American Sociological Association, Toronto, Canada, August 1997.
AErich Fromm and the Frankfurt School,@ paper presented at the second annual meeting
of The Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society, Washington,
D.C., November 1996.
AThe Humanist Sociology of Erich Fromm," paper presented
at the annual meetings of the Humanist Sociology Association, Columbus Ohio,
November 1995.
"How to Become a Forgotten Intellectual: The Case
of Erich Fromm," paper presented at the annual meetings of the American
Sociological Association, Washington D.C., August 1995.
ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES AT MCMASTER UNIVERSITY
Management Team, Junior Associate, Globalization and
Autonomy, MCRI SSHRC McMaster University
Member, Sociology Selection Committee, 2003-2004, McMaster
Sociology
Responsible for Department of Sociology Speakers
Series, September 1999 to April 2000 and September 1997 to April 1998.
Member, Chair Selection Committee, Sociology 1998-1999.
Member, Undergraduate Committee, Sociology September
1998 to April 1999.
Responsible for Undergraduate Awards, Sociology September
April 1999 to April 2000.
Member, Faculty Council, Faculty of Social Sciences,
September 1997 to April 1998.
