
Neil Gross
Title
Charles A. Dana Professor of Sociology; Chair of Social Sciences Division
Department
Sociology
Information
- (207) 859-4712
- [email protected]
- (207) 859-5369
- Diamond 203
Office Hours
M: 2:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.
Current Courses
CRS | Title | Sec |
---|---|---|
SO131 | Introduction to Sociology | A |
SO131 | Introduction to Sociology | B |
SO215 | Classical Sociological Theory | A |
SO297 | Sociology of Hate | A |
SO364 | Policing the American City | A |
Education
- Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2002
- B.A., University of California-Berkeley, 1992
Areas of Expertise
- Sociological theory
- Sociology of intellectuals
- Sociology of higher education
- Politics
- Police
Personal Information
Neil Gross joined the Colby faculty in 2015. He taught previously at Princeton, the University of British Columbia, Harvard, and the University of Southern California.
Gross works primarily on policing, politics, sociological theory, and the sociology of intellectual life. He is the author of Walk the Walk: How Three Police Chiefs Defied the Odds and Changed Cop Culture (Metropolitan/Holt, 2023), Why Are Professors Liberal and Why Do Conservatives Care? (Harvard University Press, 2013) and Richard Rorty: The Making of an American Philosopher (University of Chicago Press, 2008). He co-edited The New Pragmatist Sociology: Inquiry, Agency, and Democracy (with Isaac Reed and Chris Winship, Columbia University Press, 2022), Professors and Their Politics (with Solon Simmons, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014), Social Knowledge in the Making (with Charles Camic and Michele Lamont, University of Chicago Press, 2011), and Durkheim’s Philosophy Lectures: Notes from the Lycée de Sens Course, 1883-4 (with Robert Alun Jones, Cambridge University Press, 2004).
Gross’s articles have been published in the American Sociological Review, Annual Review of Sociology, Sociological Theory, Theory and Society, and elsewhere. From 2009 to 2015 he edited Sociological Theory, and he is currently a senior editor at Theory and Society.
In the New York Times:
- Is Fear of Crime a Self-Fulfilling Prophesy? (8/1/23)
- It Is Possible to Reform the Police (9/8/20)
- Want to Abolish the Police? Consider Becoming an Officer Instead (7/13/20)
- Why Do the Democrats Keep Saying "Structural?" (7/31/19)
- Justice Is Blind. Sometimes, So Is Prejudice. (4/26/19)
- Is Environmentalism Just for Rich People? (12/14/18)
- Is Your Culture 'Tight' or 'Loose'? The Answer Could Explain Everything (9/16/18)
- Is the United States Too Big to Govern? (5/13/18)
- Why Is Hollywood So Liberal? (1/27/18)
- Professors Behaving Badly (10/1/17)
- Is Trump's Turmoil Slowing Economic Growth? (8/5/17)
- Does Trump Embarrass You? (6/16/17)
- How To Do Social Science Without Data (2/9/17)
- Are Americans Experiencing Collective Trauma? (12/16/16)
- Is There a Ferguson Effect? (10/2/16)
- The Decline of Unions and the Rise of Trump (8/14/16)
- Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal? (5/15/16)
- The Indoctrination Myth (3/3/12)
Other Non-Academic Writing:
- The Police Can Be Reformed. These Two Books Lay Out How. (The Atlantic, 2/1/23)
- Three Years After George Floyd's Murder, Cop Culture Still Hasn't Changed (TIME, 5/25/23)