from Jeff Leiter

Welcome to my web page. I'm using it to tell you a bit about myself, mostly about my professional life as a sociologist. I've include links to details on my research and my teaching. Just send me email if you need more information than you find here.

I'm a professor of sociology at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. I've been on the faculty here since 1978. I got my B.A. in history from Williams College in 1970 and my Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Michigan in 1977. I'm part of the doctoral specialty at NCSU called Work, Industry, and Organizations. I work as a Research Associate with the NC State Institute for Nonprofits.

Research

My research divides into two streams: (1) organizations and work in them; and (2) schools. Within these streams, I have studied rather diverse topics.

Organizations and Work
- The textile industry and its workers, including workers' attitudes, unionization, and wages
- Nonresponse in surveys of organizations, both failing to return the survey and failing to answer particular questions
- Chocolate, from declining cacao harvests to a comparison of Hershey and Mars (example on the web)
- Latinos in low wage North Carolina jobs (web presentation, interview about project)
- Nonprofit organizations
- The labor movement, especially public sector unions and collective bargaining
Schools
- Teachers' autonomy in middle schools
- Tracking and grading in elementary schools
- Effects of child abuse and neglect on school performance (example on the web)

I like all this variety both because I enjoy being a generalist and because I've been able to apply what I've learned in one project to what I've tried to do in another. I've managed to get much of this research published. These days, while continuing to write for other scholars, I'm also trying to catch the interest of non-sociologists. Hence the research on chocolate and labor unions. The idea here is partly to improve the public's appreciation of sociological approaches.

Teaching

At both the undergraduate and graduate levels, I teach classes that pertain primarily to work and organizations. The following list covers courses I teach regularly. I encourage you to check out the syllabi for those with online links. I'd be happy to get your suggestions for making these courses better.

Undergraduate Courses

Jobs and Work (SOC 205): uses central ideas in sociology to help students develop a job search strategy.
Technology in Society and Culture (SOC/ANT 261): examines relationship of technology to socio-cultural change, structure of work, and catastrophic accidents.
Managers, Work, and Organizations (SOC 310): what managers do, especially how they help their organizations adapt to change and how they coordinate and control the labor process.
Sociology of Organizations (SOC 410): analyzes private and public-sector bureaucracies, including control and coordination, decision making, and relationships with other organizations.
Textiles and Society (MDS/TAM 414): examines textile and apparel industries, workers, and communities from early industrialization through contempory period of rapid change.
Labor Union Organization and Organizing (SOC 495a): looks for applications in the historical and sociological literature to the problems and opportunities facing labor unions today. Both undergraduate and graduate students, plus members of the community, are welcome in this course.

Graduate Courses

Work and Industry (SOC 752): investigates economic and labor process organization. This course is part of the doctoral concentration in Work, Industry, and Organizations.
Formal Organizations [SOC 753]: lays out the wide variety of theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of organizations. This course is part of the doctoral concentration in Work, Industry, and Organizations.
Labor Union Organization and Organizing (MLS501): looks for applications in the historical and sociological literature to the problems and opportunities facing labor unions today. Both undergraduate and graduate students, plus members of the community, are welcome in this course.
Contemporary Sociology (SOC 791a): invites new students in our graduate program to explore the diversity of sociology's commitments, approaches, and orientations.

I emphasize discussion of original research, writing, and critical thinking in all my courses. The class meetings are typically informal and interactive. Students usually say the expectations were high, there was a lot of work, but they learned a new way of looking at the world.

Away from the University

I have a great family. My wife is a free-lance writer and a print maker. She publishes fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction, teaches writing, and owns her own studio. We have three children, each entirely different from the others. Everyone in the family plays at least one musical instrument, so music is a big part of our life at home. We live in a closely knit, historic neighborhood next to downtown Raleigh. I devote a good deal of whatever time I can free up to our garden.

Thanks for visiting my web page. I'd be pleased to hear from you (just click here).

[last updated March, 2007]

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