Steven Barkan

Who is Steven Barkan?

Steven Barkan, an American sociologist, is Professor and chairperson of the Sociology department at the University of Maine.

Barkan is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Trinity College, in Hartford, Connecticut where he studied sociology and later received his Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in the same field of study. Upon receiving his doctorate in 1980, he joined the faculty of the University of Maine.

Barkan served as president of the Society for the Study of Social Problems from 2008 to 2009, a position that has been held previously by such notables as Gary Alan Fine and Alvin Ward Gouldner. Barkan has chaired the SSSP's Law and Society Division and served as an editor of Social Problems, the Society's journal. Barkan has also edited the newsletter of the American Sociological Association's Collective Behavior and Social Movements section.

Barkan's work focuses on criminology and the collective behavior of social movements, especially commitment and participation in social movement organizations.