Orlando Patterson

Research Interests: The origins, history and culture of freedom; the comparative study of slavery and ethno-racial relations; the sociology of underdevelopment with special reference to the Caribbean; the problems of familial relations in the black societies of the Americas; the ways that cultural processes, interacting with structural forces, 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. Professor Patterson is the author of numerous academic papers and 10 major academic books including, Slavery and Social Death (1982/2018), Freedom in the Making of Western Culture (1991), The Cultural Matrix: Understanding Black Youth (2015), The Paradox of Freedom (2023) and Enslavement: Past and Present (2025)