Peter Hedström (born 14 July 1955 in
Norsjö, Sweden) is one of the founders of the field of
analytical sociology. He has made contributions to the analysis of social contagion processes and complex
social network
A social network is a social structure consisting of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), networks of Dyad (sociology), dyadic ties, and other Social relation, social interactions between actors. The social network per ...
s, as well as to the philosophical and meta-theoretical foundations of analytical sociology. He is one of the key contributors to the literature on
social mechanisms.
Hedström received his Ph.D. at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
in 1987. He then took a post as assistant professor at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
, and, in 1989, he received a professor chair at the Department of Sociology,
Stockholm University
Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...
. In 2003, he assumed a position as Official Fellow and professor at
Nuffield College
Nuffield College () is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college specialising in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. N ...
, University of Oxford, which he left in 2011 to become the director of the Institute for Futures Studies in Stockholm. During the 2008/2009 he was dean of the School of Social Sciences at the
Singapore Management University
Singapore Management University (SMU) is a publicly funded private university in Singapore. Founded in 2000, SMU is the third oldest autonomous university in the country, modelling its education after the Wharton School. The university is trip ...
. Together with
Peter Bearman, Hedström edited the foundational ''
Oxford Handbook of Analytical Sociology'' published in 2009. In 2014, Hedström started the Institute for Analytical Sociology at Linköping University. Hedström is past president of the Swedish Sociological Association and has served as editor of ''
Acta Sociologica
''Acta Sociologica'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all areas of sociology. It is an official journal of the Nordic Sociological Association and was established in 1955. It publishes papers on original research, book revi ...
'' and as associate editor of the ''
American Journal of Sociology
The ''American Journal of Sociology'' is a peer-reviewed bi-monthly academic journal that publishes original research and book reviews in the field of sociology and related social sciences. It was founded in 1895 as the first journal in its disci ...
'', ''
Annual Review of Sociology
The ''Annual Review of Sociology'' is an annual peer-reviewed review journal published by Annual Reviews since 1975. As of 2023, it is being published as open access, under the Subscribe to Open model. It is abstracted and indexed in the Social S ...
'', and ''Rationality and Society''. He is the president of the International Network of Analytical Sociology, past president of the
European Academy of Sociology, and a Fellow of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...
, the
Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, the
Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway.
History
The Royal Frederick University in Christiania was establis ...
and the
Academia Europaea
The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences.
The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...
.
Key publications
* P. Hedström and
Richard Swedberg (eds.) ''Social Mechanisms: An Analytical Approach to Social Theory''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
* P. Hedström ''Dissecting the Social: On the Principles of Analytical Sociology''. Cambridge University Press, 2005.
* P. Hedström and Peter Bearman (Eds.) ''The Oxford Handbook of Analytical Sociology''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
* P Hedström ''Causal mechanisms in the social sciences'' (with Petri Ylikoski). Annual Review of Sociology 36: 49–67.
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Institute for Analytical Sociology in NorrköpingAn article about Hedström's approach to sociologyInternational Network of Analytical Sociology
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hedstrom, Peter
1955 births
Academic staff of Stockholm University
Fellows of Nuffield College, Oxford
Harvard University alumni
Living people
Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Swedish sociologists
Members of Academia Europaea