Sociology Department

Marshall Battani

Marshall Battani (Associate Professor and Department Chair):
Professor Battani's areas of specialization include cultural sociology, art worlds, mass media, and sociological theory. As a sociologist trained in the fine arts Professor Battani draws from classical and contemporary social and cultural theory to investigate the cultural texture of social life. Because material and ideal culture are intertwined with the creation and maintenance of institutionalized order his research and teaching seek to make clear the narratives and clusters of meaning that inform social organization and human action. He has examined issues of collective memory and the commemoration of tragedy, 19th century photography and its role in reinforcing cultural structures and social hierarchies, and how amateur snapshot photography informs critical human consciousness and action. He is co-author of Sociology on Culture (Routledge) which maps major classical and contemporary analyses and controversies about culture in relation to social structure and everyday life.

2171 ASH phone: 331-3730 Email: battanim@gvsu.edu