Neil Fligstein

Neil Fligstein (born May 23, 1951) is an American sociologist, and a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, known for his work in economic sociology, political sociology and organizational theory. He has produced both empirical and theoretical works. His main theoretical works center in economic sociology where he has created a "political-cultural" approach to markets in works on corporate control, the "architecture of markets", and "markets as politics." He has used these ideas to study the European Union's attempt to create a single market through cooperative political means. In 2008, he published a book with Doug McAdam entitled A Theory of Fields that proposes a cohesive view of field theory as an approach to study many of the key features of modern life including politics, the economy, and social movements.

Born in Seattle, Washington, Fligstein obtained his BA in 1973 from Reed College, his MS in 1976 from the University of Wisconsin, and his Ph.D. in 1979 from the University of Wisconsin.

After his graduation Fligstein started his academic career in 1979 as an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Arizona. From 1980 to 1982, he was at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, where he was appointed Senior Study Director and NIMH Postdoctoral Fellow. Fligstein returned to the University of Arizona and in 1984 he was promoted to associate professor and in 1990 full professor. From 1984 to 1988 he was the director of the SBSRI Data and Software Library. In 1991 he moved to the University of California, Berkeley, where he was appointed Professor of Sociology. He was the department chair from 1992 to 1995. Fligstein is the founder and director of the Center for Culture, Organization, and Politics at the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at the University of California, Berkeley; the center has been in existence since 1998.

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