Scroll down for a brief overview of my academic work.
Background | Experience | Research Interests | Teaching | Awards & Service
BACKGROUND
I was born in Belgium, where I lived in the town of Stokkem and attended high school at St. Jan Berchmanscollege in Genk. I studied at the Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven, receiving degrees in Sociology (with a specialty in cultural sociology) in 1986 and in Cultural Anthropology in 1987. In 1990, I obtained an MA from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Hull, England. Between 1989 and 1992, I was an assistant in the Criminology program of the Law Department at K.U. Leuven, specializing in criminological sociology. In 1992 I came to the United States and received my PhD in sociology from the University of Colorado in 1996 on a dissertation about international policing. I have since held academic positions at Kenyon College, Purdue University, and the University of South Carolina.
Click here for a copy of my complete academic CV [pdf].
I was born in Belgium, where I lived in the town of Stokkem and attended high school at St. Jan Berchmanscollege in Genk. I studied at the Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven, receiving degrees in Sociology (with a specialty in cultural sociology) in 1986 and in Cultural Anthropology in 1987. In 1990, I obtained an MA from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Hull, England. Between 1989 and 1992, I was an assistant in the Criminology program of the Law Department at K.U. Leuven, specializing in criminological sociology. In 1992 I came to the United States and received my PhD in sociology from the University of Colorado in 1996 on a dissertation about international policing. I have since held academic positions at Kenyon College, Purdue University, and the University of South Carolina.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Education
Ph.D. Sociology, University of Colorado, Boulder, 1996.
Dissertation: “Borders of Police Force: Historical Foundations of International Policing Between Germany and the United States.” Revised for publication as Policing World Society (Oxford University Press 2002).M.A. Sociology of Developing Societies, University of Hull, England, 1990.
Thesis on “Processual Symbolic Analysis in the Writings of Victor W. Turner".Special Diploma Social and Cultural Anthropology, Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven, Belgium, 1987.
Thesis on “The Anthropology of Space” (in Dutch).Licentiate Sociology, Candidate Social Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven, Belgium, 1983, 1986.
Thesis on “The Sociological Concept of Anomie” (in Dutch: Anomie als Sociologisch Probleem).Academic Positions
Professor (since 2010), Associate Professor (2005-2010), Assistant Professor (2002-2005), University of South Carolina, Department of Sociology, Columbia, SC, 2002-present.
Assistant Professor of Sociology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 1997-2002.
Visiting Assistant Professor, Kenyon College, Law and Society Program, Gambier, Ohio, 1996-1997.
Graduate Employment: Assistant/Instructor, Department of Sociology, University of Colorado, Boulder, 1992-1996; Assistant, Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven, Belgium, Department of Criminology, 1989-1992.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
My main specialty areas are sociology of law, popular culture, comparative-historical sociology, and theory.
My work in the area of law and social control follows three lines of inquiry. First, I have analyzed the police dimensions of counter-terrorism. This project has resulted in various articles and is the focal point of my book The Policing of Terrorism: Organizational and Global Perspectives (Routledge 2010) which provides a comprehensive study of the law enforcement dimensions of counterterrorism. I also edited a related volume, Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism: Criminological Perspectives (2004).
Second, in my book Sociology of Law: Visions of a Scholarly Tradition (Cambridge University Press 2008), I analyze the history and systematics of the sociology of law. This book reviews the field's major accomplishments and reveals the value of the multiple ways in which sociologists study the social structures and processes of law.
Third, I have analyzed historical antecedents and contemporary conditions of international police cooperation. This work culminated in a series of articles and a book, Policing World Society (Oxford University Press 2002), that focuses on police cooperation from the middle of the 19th century until World War II on the basis of a theory of bureaucratization.
My most recent teaching and research interests explore contemporary issues of popular culture, especially fame and music, themes which reconnect with my initial specialization in cultural sociology and my background in cultural anthropology. Since the spring of 2011, I organized a course on the sociology of the fame of Lady Gaga (www.gagacourse.net). Besides articles and oral presentations, I currently prepare a book-length study on this topic as well. Relatedly, I have edited a book on Popular Culture, Crime, and Social Control and prepare a new anthology on Music and Law. Other work on culture addresses such topics as music censorship, the movies of Alfred Hitchcock, and the anthropology of Victor Turner.
Much of my work is of a comparative and historical nature. In this connection I have also merged a global concern with my interest in the sociological profession in the form of an edited volume, Sociologists in a Global Age: Biographical Perspectives (Ashgate 2007), in which sixteen leading international sociologists share their personal and professional experiences of becoming practitioners in the field.
Throughout my work on various substantive interests, I devote much attention to give adequate theoretical expression to the social structures and processes my empirical work is devoted to. Among my publications on sociological theory are two edited volumes: Sociological Theory and Criminological Research (Elsevier 2006) and Habermas, Modernity and Law (Sage 1996). Related theoretical research projects involve several works on classical and contemporary theories, such as studies on Robert Merton's anomie theory and Simmel's influence in the sociology of money.
As to the form in which my research is presented, I have not only published consistently, ever since my first article appeared in 1989, but I have also published very broadly in a number of different outlets, oriented at multiple audiences in sociology, criminology and criminal justice, as well as in theory, history, international studies, and culture. Thus, I seek my work to reach a broad audience. I hope this website also contributes to that goal.
See the Publications page for online copies of my writings.
TEACHING
Among the courses that I presently teach at the University of South Carolina are:
Other courses I have taught in the past include:
- Sociology of Law - SOCY 540. Undergraduate course.
- Sociology of Social Control - SOCY 507. Undergraduate course.
- Society Through the Lens - SOCY 368. Undergraduate topics.
- Sociological Theory - SOCY 3xx. Undergraduate theory.
- Lady Gaga and the Sociology of the Fame - SOCY 398D. Topics course.
- Contemporary Scholars - SOCY 711. Graduate theory seminar.
- Scientific Methods and Sociological Inquiry - SOCY 701.
- Law and Social Control - SOCY 791D. Graduate seminar.
Sociology of Deviant Behavior; Contemporary Sociological Theory (graduate); Criminal Justice; Law and Police in the New Europe (Oxford); Introduction to Legal Studies; Policing the Global Village; Seminar on Abortion Policy; Introduction to Sociological Ideas; Sociological Methods in Criminology.See the Student Pages on this site for further information.
SELECTED AWARDS & SERVICE
Series Editor, Sociology of Crime, Law, and Deviance, since 2004, published by Emerald Group (since 2008), Elsevier Sciences (2004-2008).
Editorial Board member, Policing & Society, since 1998.
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Member of the review panel for Insight Grants, Spring 2012.
Sabbatical leave for research in Québec, Sweden, Scotland, and Germany, funded by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Sociology, University of South Carolina, Spring 2009.
National Science Foundation, Member of the Law and Social Science Advisory Panel for Dissertation Improvement Grant Proposals, Spring 2009.
Deputy Editor, Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 2005-2008.
Co-Director, with Huseyin Durmaz and Georgi Glonti, Advanced Research Workshop on “Understanding and Responding to Terrorism: A Multi-dimensional Approach,” funded by the NATO Programme Security Through Science, Washington, DC, September 8-9, 2006.
Editorial Board member, Policing & Society, since 1998.
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Member of the review panel for Insight Grants, Spring 2012.
Sabbatical leave for research in Québec, Sweden, Scotland, and Germany, funded by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Sociology, University of South Carolina, Spring 2009.
National Science Foundation, Member of the Law and Social Science Advisory Panel for Dissertation Improvement Grant Proposals, Spring 2009.
Deputy Editor, Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 2005-2008.
Co-Director, with Huseyin Durmaz and Georgi Glonti, Advanced Research Workshop on “Understanding and Responding to Terrorism: A Multi-dimensional Approach,” funded by the NATO Programme Security Through Science, Washington, DC, September 8-9, 2006.
Academic Fellowship, The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, program on “Defending Democracy, Defeating Terrorism,” Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, May-June 2004.
Mentor of the Year Award from the American Society of Criminology, November 2000.
Purdue-Hamburg Faculty Exchange, Hamburg University, June 2000.
National Science Foundation, Doctoral Dissertation Grant, Law and Social Sciences Division, #SBR-9411478 (co-PI), September 1994 - August 1995.
Scholarship from the student exchange program of K.U. Leuven, Belgium, for graduate studies at the University of Hull, England, 1987-1988.
