Eviatar Zerubavel

Eviatar Zerubavel (* 1948 in Israel ) is an Israeli sociologist and author in the field of "standardization of time" and the "sociology of knowledge". He is Professor of Sociology at Rutgers University (The State University of New Jersey) where he currently holds advanced courses in Cognitive Sociology, Time and Memory, and Sociological Theory. He is also currently writing a book about the social organization of ancestors and descendants.

Life

Since Zerubavel's parents worked in the field of international development , he spent most of his childhood abroad.

Zerubavel first studied at Tel Aviv University and received his degree ( Ph.D. ) in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1976, where he studied with Erving Goffman , among others .

After teaching positions at Columbia University and Stony Brook University in New York State, he then moved to Rutgers University.

Zerubavel's first notable involvement in a scientific topic was in the field of the "science of time", in particular in the sociology and standardization of time.

His main field today is cognitive sociology and the sociology of the time. Among other things, he pointed out how society and not human nature shapes the spiritual life of a person. He particularly emphasized the similarities between members of a social group in terms of their spiritual life and development.

Zerubavel also worked from 1992 to 2001 and again as director of the program for graduate students in sociology at Rutgers University, where he is also a mentor for students. He dealt with "habits in academic work" and "time management in writing". In his book "The Clockwork Muse (1999)" he gives advice for authors, especially on the subject of time management at the end of a written work.

From 2000 to 2001 he served as chairman of the Culture Section of the American Sociological Association

In 2003 he received a Guggenheim scholarship .

He is married.

Publications

• Patterns of Time in Hospital Life: A Sociological Perspective . University of Chicago Press 1979 ( ISBN 0-226-98160-6 )
• Hidden Rhythms: Schedules and Calendars in Social Life . University of California Press 1985 ( ISBN 0-520-05609-4 )
• The Seven Day Circle: The History and Meaning of the Week . University Of Chicago Press 1985 ( ISBN 0-226-98165-7 )
• The Fine Line . University Of Chicago Press 1991 ( ISBN 0-226-98159-2 )
• Terra Cognita: The Mental Discovery of America Transaction Publishers 1992 ( ISBN 0-765-80987-7 )
• Social Mindscapes: An Invitation to Cognitive Sociology . Harvard University Press 1997 ( ISBN 0-674-81390-1 ).
• Time Maps: Collective Memory and the Social Shape of the Past . University of California Press 2003 ( ISBN 0-226-98153-3 )
• The Elephant in the Room: Silence and Denial in Everyday Life . Oxford University Press 2006 ( ISBN 0-195-33260-1 )

Web links

• Eviaters Zerubavel's staff page at Rutgers University .
• An interview with Eviatar Zerubavel, conducted by Prof. Dmitry Shalin from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on August 2nd, 2008 about Zerubavel's acquaintance with Erving Goffman.