Jeffrey Alexander

Jeffrey Charles Alexander (born May 30, 1947) is an American sociologist, one of the main proponents of Neofunctionalism, and a central figure in the contemporary school of Cultural Sociology referred to as the "Strong Program".

He was born May 30, 1947. Alexander gained his BA from Harvard in 1969 and his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in 1978. He was originally interested in Marxist sociology and worked with Fred Block. Later he worked with Neil Smelser, Robert Bellah, and Leo Lowenthal. Each of whom were on his dissertation committee, with the chair being Robert Bellah, a former student of Talcott Parsons. Alexander's dissertation, "Theoretical Logic of Sociology" was published as a four volume set. Volume 1 was subtitled Positivism, Presuppositions, and Current Controversies, Volume 2 was The Antimonies of Classical Thought: Marx and Durkheim, Volume 3 was The Classical Attempt at Theoretical Synthesis: Max Weber, and Volume 4 was subtitled The Modern Reconstruction of Classical Thought: Talcott Parsons. At the time, many theorists were attempting to revive Parsons after a decade of criticisms, and Alexander's Theoretical Logic of Sociology was part of this revival.

He worked at the University of California, Los Angeles, from 1974 until joining Yale University in 2001, where (as of 2008) he is the Lillian Chavenson Saden Professor of Sociology and co-Director of the Center for Cultural Sociology.

Alexander has authored or co-authored ten books. He was one of the editors of the journal Sociological Theory, and he is currently co- editor of the "American Journal of Cultural Sociology".

He received honorary doctorates from La Trobe University, Melbourne and the University College Dublin, Ireland. In 2004, he won the Clifford Geertz Award for Best Article in Cultural Sociology and in 2008, he won the Mary Douglas Prize for Best Book in Cultural Sociology. He also received the 2007 Theory Prize from the Theory Section of the American Sociological Association for best theoretical article. In 2009, he received The Foundation Mattei Dogan Prize in Sociology by the International Sociological Association, awarded every four years in recognition of lifetime accomplishments to "a scholar of very high standing in the profession and of outstanding international reputation."

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