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Neil Louis Gross (born June 1, 1971) [1] is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Sociology and chair of the department of sociology at Colby College. [2] He is also a visiting scholar at New York University's Institute for Public Knowledge. [3] He has written several books on sociological and political topics, and also blogs for The Chronicle of Higher Education . [4] Gross edited the American Sociological Association's journal Sociological Theory from 2009 to 2015. [5] He previously taught at the University of Southern California, Harvard University, Princeton University, and the University of British Columbia. [5] [6]
Gross grew up near Berkeley, California, raised by his stay-at-home mother and his father, a legal editor. Both of his parents were avid readers. [7]
Gross earned a B.A. in Legal Studies from the University of California, Berkeley in 1992, and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2002. [5] Before going to graduate school, Gross was a patrolman in the Berkeley Police Department. [8]
From 2004 to 2008, Gross was an assistant professor of sociology at Harvard University, after which he joined the faculty of the University of British Columbia. [9] He was the editor-in-chief of Sociological Theory for six years (2009–2015). [2] In 2015, he left the University of British Columbia to become Charles A. Dana professor and chair of sociology at Colby College. [2]
Gross garnered considerable attention for his 2008 book Richard Rorty: The Making of an American Philosopher, which was described by philosopher Barry Allen as using Rorty's life to "build a theory of the sociology of ideas." [1] [10] In his review, sociologist Neil Mclaughlin commended Gross for his "careful archival research, innovative theoretical synthesis and substantive contributions." [1] [11]
Another focus of Gross' work has been the political leanings of university professors. With Solon Simmons, he began in 2006 a survey of 1417 faculty members at 927 U.S. universities, colleges, and community colleges, called the Politics of the American Professoriate. [12] [13] : 25–26 [14] According to Inside Higher Ed , several experts said the survey data collected by Gross and Simmons "may become the definitive source for understanding professors' political views." [14] Gross published an extensive analysis of the survey results in his 2013 book Why Are Professors Liberal and Why Do Conservatives Care? [15] He and Simmons further analyzed this field of research in their 2014 compilation, Professors and Their Politics. [13] : 25–26 Sociologist Joseph Hermanowicz regarded the compilation as an important work, on a par with "Paul Lazarsfeld and Wagner Theilen's classic study of 1958 and Seymour Martin Lipset and Everett Carll Ladd's 1976 work." [16]
Gross has found, along with numerous other researchers, that there are more liberals than conservatives in university faculty, [13] : 25–26 but he added that there is relatively little evidence indicating students are indoctrinated into liberal opinions during college. [5] In a field of study where experts disagree, [17] [18] [19] [20] and some have taken opposing views specifically on Gross' methods and interpretations, [21] [22] [23] [24] he has criticized what he sees as conservative political bias intentionally distorting the results of demographic research on campus politics. [13] : 20
In a 2017 New York Times editorial entitled "Professors Behaving Badly", Gross wrote that the occasional "political outbursts" by professors on social media may not be a consequence of their far-left politics. Instead, he suggested that professors are becoming alienated by their bleak employment prospects and precarious economic status in the growing adjunct tier of the academic work force. [25]
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