Orlando Patterson

Orlando Patterson

John Cowles Professor of Sociology
Orlando Patterson

Research Interests: The culture and practice of freedom; the comparative study of slavery and ethno-racial relations; the sociology of underdevelopment with special reference to the Caribbean; the problems of gender and familial relations in the black societies of the Americas; the ways that cultural processes relate to poverty and other social outcomes.

Orlando Patterson, a historical and cultural sociologist, is the John Cowles Professor of Sociology at Harvard University. He previously held faculty appointments at the University of the West Indies, his alma mater, and the London School of Economics where he received his PhD. He has written on the cultural sociology of sports, especially the game of cricket. Professor Patterson is the author of numerous academic papers and 6 major academic books including, Slavery and Social Death (1982), Freedom in the Making of Western Culture (1991), The Ordeal of Integration (1997), and The Cultural Matrix: Understanding Black Youth (2015).

Contact Information

520 William James Hall
33 Kirkland Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
p: 617-495-3707

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