This is the website of Mathieu Deflem, Professor of Sociology at the University of South Carolina. Click on the tabs above or links below for more info, including online copies of publications.
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Mathieu Deflem studied sociology and anthropology in Belgium, England,
and the United States, obtaining his Ph.D. in sociology in 1996. He held positions at Kenyon College, Purdue University, and the University of South Carolina, where he has been since 2002. His interests include social control, law, popular culture, and sociological theory. On social control, most of his research concerns police institutions, including books on international cooperation (Policing World Society) and counterterrorism (The Policing of Terrorism). These interests are also connected with theoretical issues, such as in the book Sociology of Law: Visions of a Scholarly Tradition. In the area of popular culture, central interests are celebrity and fame, including a book, Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame, and other writings following a rather famous course, as well as work on music censorship, heavy metal, the cinema of Alfred Hitchcock, and ritual. Theoretical research includes discourse theory, systems theory, and sociological structuralism.
Ongoing and recent research:
- ASPIRE-AI grant, project on “AI-Assisted Academic Dishonesty, Anomie, and Strain: An Examination of Institutional Policies,” Office of the Vice President for Research, University of South Carolina, 2025–2026.
- October 7 and International Police Cooperation: The Silence of Interpol. Belügyi Szemle: Academic Journal of Internal Affairs, 2025.
- Becoming a Mental Health Activist: The Learning of Naomi Osaka (co-authored with with Megan Routh). Journal for Cultural Research, 2025.
- Racial Justice Activism and Democracy: The Deliberative Role of Black Women Athletes (with Brandii Brunson). In Democracy, Governance, and Law, edited by M. Deflem, 2025.
Mathieu Deflem, Ph.D.
Department of SociologyUniversity of South Carolina
911 Pickens Street
Columbia, SC 29208 (USA) | www.mathieudeflem.net Thieu Deflem
