Department of Sociology

Professor Roland Robertson

Chair in Sociology & Global Society

MA

 

Personal Details

Telephone: +44 (0)1224 273429
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Biography

One of the world's pioneers in the study of globalization, Roland Robertson was appointed to a chair at the University in 1999. He taught at the Universities of Leeds, Essex and Pittsburgh, USA before being appointed, as Head of the Department of Sociology, to a chair at the University of York in 1970. He returned to Pittsburgh in 1973, subsequently achieving the rank of Distinguished Service Professor.

During a long and distinguished career, he has thus far held visiting positions at universities in Sweden, Japan, Hong Kong, the Czech Republic and Brazil. He has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Mathematical Sociology, the Review of Religious Research, Sociological Analysis (recently renamed The Sociology of Religion), Theory, Culture and Society, the Journal of International Communication, and Citizenship Studies.

In addition to globalization he has published extensively in the sociology of religion and culture, as well as social theory. His work has been translated into German, Spanish, Danish, Japanese, Chinese, Turkish, Italian, Polish and Portuguese. He has been the recipient of a number of awards and honours for his writing on religion.

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Current Research

Current Research Projects

  1. The Theory of Globalization
    Continuing long-standing work on globalization as a long historical and multi-dimensional process. Three books are in progress on various aspects of this theme.
  2.  Nationalism, National Identity and the Future of the Nation-State
    Linked to the work on globalization this cluster of topics is specifically concerned with issues of nationality and post-national citizenship in various parts of the world – in particular, Latin America, Europe, North America and East Asia.
  3. Religion and Globalization
    A further extension of the theory of globalization and partly related to a project at Princeton Theological Seminary, this programme is concerned, among other issues, with ecumenicism, the idea of a global ethic, the fate of traditional religions, and anti-global movements.

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Selected Publications

Books (Authored)
 
Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture ( Rio de Janeiro : Editoria Vozes, 1999).
Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture (London : Sage, 1992).
The Sociological Interpretation of Religion (Tokyo : Kawashima-Shoten, 1983).
 
Books (Edited)
 
(with  M. Featherstone, S. Lash ) Global Modernities (London : Sage,  1995).
(with  B. S. Turner ) Theory of Modernity: Parsons' Perspective (Tokyo : Koseisha Koseikaku,  1995).
(with  W. R. Garrett ) Religion and Global Order (New York : Paragon House,  1991).
(with  B. S. Turner ) Talcott Parsons: Theorist of Modernity ( London : Sage,  1991).
(with T. Robbins ) Church-State Relations: Tensions and Transitions (New Brunswick, New Jersey : Transaction Books,  1986).
(with  B. Holzner ) Identity and Authority: Explorations in the Theory of Society (Oxford and New York :  Blackwell and St. Martin's Press,  1980).
 
Chapters in Books
 
(with K.White) 'Globalization: Sociology and Cross Disciplinarity', in C.Calhoun, C. Rojek, B. Turner (ed), The Sage Handbook of Sociology (- : Sage, 2004), pp 345-366.
'Pivotal Issues in the Globalization Debate', in M. Lechner, D. Seiler (ed), Globalization in Contemporary History (Innsbruck, Austria : Studienverlag, 1999), pp -.
'Identidade Nacional e Globalizacao : Falacias Contemporroneas', in J. R. Barroso (ed), Globalizacao e Identidade Nacional (Sao Paulo : Atlas, 1999), pp -.
'Introduction: Globality and Transnationality', in A. Giri (ed), Global Transformations: Postmodernity and Beyond (New Delhi : Rawat, 1998), pp 16-24.
'Major Issues in the Analysis of Religion', in W. Piawowarski (ed), Sociology of Religion (Krakow, Poland : Nomos, 1998), pp -.
(with  V. Roudometof) 'The Space Between the Boundaries: Globalization and Americanization', in M. Frank, G. Epitropoulos, V. Roudometof (ed), American Culture in Europe: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Westport, Connecticu : Praeger, 1998), pp 181-199.
'Values and Globalization: Communitarianism and Globality', in L. E. Soares (ed), Identity, Culture and Globalization (Rio de Janeiro : UNESCO, 1997), pp 73-97.
'Comments on the 'Global Triad' and 'Glocalization'', in N. Inoue (ed), Globalization and Indigenous Culture, Institute for Japanese Culture and Classics (Tokyo : Kokugakuin University, 1997), pp 217-225.
'Sects and Cults', in A. Kuper, J. Kuper (ed), The Social Science Encyclopedia (second edition) (London and Boston : Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1995), pp 735-737.
'Theory, Specificity, Change: Emulation, Selective Incorporation and Modernization', in B. Grancelli (ed), Social Change and Modernization: Lessons from Eastern Europe (Berlin : W. de Gruyter, 1995), pp 213-231.
'The Search for Fundamentals in Global Perspective', in L. van Vucht Tijsson, J. Berting, F. Lechner (ed), The Search for Fundamentals and Modernization: The Process of Modernisation and the Quest for Meaning (Dordrecht : Kluwer, 1995), pp 239-262.
'Glocalization: Time-Space and Homogeneity-Heterogeneity', in M. Featherstone, S. Lash, R. Robertson (ed), Global Modernities (London : Sage, 1995), pp 25-44.
(with  V. Roudometof ) 'Globalization, World-System Theory, and the Comparative Study of Civilization: Issues of Theoretical Logic in World-Historical Sociology', in S. K. Sanderson (ed), Civilizations and World Systems: Studying World-Historical Change (Walnut Creek, California : Altamira Press, 1995), pp 273-300.
'Globalization and Sociological Theory', in H. Martins (ed), Knowledge and Passion: Essays in Honour of John Rex (New York and London : I.B. Tauris, 1993), pp 174-196.
'Community, Society, Globality and the Category of Religion', in E. Barker et al (ed), Secularization, Rationalism and Sectarisanism: Essays in Honour of Bryan R Wilson (Oxford : Clarendon University Press, 1993), pp 1-17.
'Social Theory and Cultural Relativity: Werner Stark's Sociology of Knowledge Revisited', in H. Strasser et al (ed), The Search for Community: Essays in Memory of Werner Stark, 1909-85 ( New York : Fordham University Press, 1993), pp 84-96.
'Globality, Global Culture and Images of World Order', in H. Haferkamp, N. Smelser (ed), Social Change and Modernity (Berkeley : University of California Press, 1992), pp 395-411.
(with  W. R. Garratt ) 'Introduction: Religion and Global Order', in R. Robertson, W. R. Garrett (ed), Religion and Global Order (New York : Paragon, 1991), pp ix-xxiii.
'Globalization, Modernization and Postmodernization: The Ambiguous Position of Religion', in R. Robertson, W. R. Garrett (ed), Religion and Global Order (New York : Paragon House, 1991), pp 281-291.
'The Globalization Paradigm: Thinking Globally', in D. Bromley (ed), Religion and the Social Order, Vol. I: New Developments in Theory and Research (Greenwich, CT : JAI Press, 1991), pp 1-10.
'Social Theory, Cultural Relativity and the Problem of Globality', in A. King (ed), Culture, Globalization and the World-System (New York and London : State University of New York at Binghamton, 1991), pp 69-90.
'Preface', in P. Hegy (ed), Myth as Foundation for Society and Values (Lewiston, New York : Edwin Mellon Press, 1991), pp i-iii.
(with  B. S. Turner) 'Talcott Parsons: An Introduction', in R. Roberston, B. S. Turner (ed), Talcott Parsons: Theorist of Modernity (London : Sage, 1991), pp 1-21.
'The Central Significance of 'Religion' in Social Theory: Talcott Parsons as an Epical Theorist', in R. Robertson, B. S. Turner (ed), Talcott Parsons: Theorist of Modernity (London : Sage, 1991), pp 250-259.
(with  B. S. Turner) 'Conclusion : Revisiting Parsons', in R. Robertson, B. S. Turner (ed), Talcott Parsons: Theorist of Modernity (London : Sage, 1991), pp 250-259.
'After Nostalgia? Wilful Nostalgia and the Phases of Globalization', in B. S. Turner (ed), Theories of Modernity and Postmodernity (London : Sage, 1990), pp 45-61.
'Japan and the USA: The Interpenetration of National Identities and the Debate about Orientalism', in N. Abercrombie, S. Hill, B. S. Turner (ed), Dominant Ideologies (London : Unwin Hyman, 1990), pp 182-198.
 
Journal Articles
 
(with  H. H. Khondker) 'Discourses of Globalization: Preliminary Considerations', International Sociology, 13 (1) (1998) : 25-40.
'Identidad Nacional y Globalizacion: Falacias Contemporaneas', Revista Mexicana de Sociologia, 1 (enero-marzo) (1998) : 3-19.
'The New Global History: History in a Global Age', Cultural Values, 2 (2 & 3) (1998) : 368-384.
(with  V. Roudometof) 'Nationalism and Globalization in Southeastern Europe', Soziale Welt, - (1997) : =.
'A Historia Mundial e a Globalizacao: Por Uma Nova Historia Global', Jornal da Tarde (Caderno de Sabado), Sao Paulo, - (1996) : 4-5.
'Globality, Globalization and Transdisciplinarity', Theory, Culture & Society, 13 (4) (1996) : 127-132.
'The Theory and the Discourses of Globalization', Kyoto Journal of Sociology, 4 (1996) : 233-250.
'Global or International?', West Virginia Sociological Review, 1 (1) (1995) : 48-49.
'Religion and the Global Field', Social Compass, 41 (1) (1994) : 121-135.
'Globalisation or Glocalisation', Journal of International Communication, 1 (1) (1994) : 33-52.
'Globalization Theory', Theory: The Newletter of the Research Committee on Social Theory, - (1993) : 1-2.
'Globaliseringens Problems', GRUS, - (1993) : 6-31.
'Globalization: A Brief Response', Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 31 (3) (1992) : 319-320.
'"Globality and Modernity," Essay on The Consequences of Modernity by Anthony Giddens', Theory, Culture & Society, 9 (1) (1992) : 153-161.
''Civilization' and the Civilizing Process: Elias, Globalization and Analytic Synthesis', Theory, Culture & Society, 9 (1) (1992) : 211-227.
'The Economization of Religion? Reflections on the Promise and Limitations of the Economic Approach', Social Compass, 39 (1) (1992) : 147-157.
(with  T. Robbins) 'The Problem of Objectivity in the Study of Controversial Religion', Religion, 21 (1991) : 319-337.
'Mapping the Global Conditions: Globalization as the Central Concept', Theory, Culture & Society, 7 (2-3) (1990) : 15-30.
(with  F. Lechner) 'Modernization, Globalization and the Problem of Culture in World-Systems Theory', Theory, Culture & Society, II (3) (1985) : 103-118.
(with  F. Lechner) 'Modernization, Globalization and the Problem of Culture in World-Systems Theory', Theory, Culture & Society, 2 (3) (1985) : 103-118.
(with  J. Chirico ) 'Humanity, Globalization and Worldwide Religious Resurgence: A Theoretical Exploration', Sociological Analysis, 46 (3) (1985) : 219-242.

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This page was last updated on 16-Mar-2009 16:14:23 GMT