Josh Whitford is an American sociologist and an associate professor at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He writes on

economic sociology Economic sociology is the study of the social cause and effect of various economic phenomena. The field can be broadly divided into a classical period and a contemporary one, known as "new economic sociology". The classical period was concerned ...

and organizations.

Biography

Whitford was born in

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. He is the son of

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

Law School Professor William Whitford. Whitford attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received a B.A in math and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

in 1993, an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in sociology in 1998 with a thesis "Dewey, Parsons, and means-to-ends", and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in sociology in 2003. In 2003 he was a

post-doctoral fellow A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...

at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies. In 2004 he joined the faculty at Columbia University as an

assistant professor Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree A docto ...

and was promoted to associate professor in 2010. He is also a faculty affiliate at the

Center on Organizational Innovation The Center on Organizational Innovation (COI) is a research center at Columbia University's Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy. The center, established in 2000 and directed by sociologist David Stark, promotes research in the are ...

. In February 2007, he was named an Industry Studies Fellow by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Research

Whitford’s interests include economic and organizational sociology, comparative

political economy Political economy is the study of how economic systems (e.g. markets and national economies) and political systems (e.g. law, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour ...

economic geography Economic geography is the subfield of human geography which studies economic activity and factors affecting them. It can also be considered a subfield or method in economics. There are four branches of economic geography. There is, primary secto ...

and pragmatist social theory. His research focuses on the social, political and institutional implications of productive

decentralization Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group. Conce ...

( outsourcing) in manufacturing industries in both the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. Whitford advised the PhD thesis of Ifeoma Ajunwa.

Publications

He is the author of ''The New Old Economy: Networks, Institutions and the Organizational Transformation of American Manufacturing'' (Oxford University Press 2005 ). The book has been reviewed in '' American Journal of Sociology'', ''

Administrative Science Quarterly ''Administrative Science Quarterly'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the field of organizational studies. The journal was established in 1956 and is published by SAGE Publications for the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Mana ...

'', ''

Contemporary Sociology ''Contemporary Sociology'' is a bi-monthly peer-reviewed academic journal of sociology published by SAGE Publications in association with the American Sociological Association since 1972. Each issue of the journal publishes many in-depth as well ...

'', ''

Social Forces ''Social Forces'' (formerly ''The Journal of Social Forces'') is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of social science published by Oxford University Press for the Department of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ...

'', ''Research Policy'', ''

Political Studies Review The ''Political Studies Review'' is an academic journal that publishes rather range of long short form articles, including: original research articles, review articles, early results, the null hypothesis, and symposia and new ideas in the field of ...

'', ''

The Sociological Review ''The Sociological Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of sociology, including anthropology, criminology, philosophy, education, gender, medicine, and organization. The journal is published by SAGE Publicatio ...

'', ''British Journal of Industrial Relations'', and ''European Newsletter of Economic Sociology'', in addition to numerous peer-reviewed articles.

References

External links

CV at Columbia University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitford, Josh Living people Scientists from Madison, Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Library and Information Studies alumni Columbia University faculty Year of birth missing (living people)