February 23, 2004

Sharon Zukin To Talk About Urban Culture in Boise State Address

The Boise State University Sociology Department Speaker Series presents Sharon Zukin at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 8, in the Student Union Jordan C Ballroom. Zukin’s talk, titled “Globalization and Urban Culture,” is free and open to the public. Zukin is Broeklundian Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College and the City University Graduate Center.  She recently published “Point of Purchase: How Shopping Changed American Culture” (Routledge, 2004), and has also spoken about the social issues of shopping on National Public Radio and published articles on the Op-Ed Page of the New York Times and in the Chronicle of Higher Education. The author of many books and articles about cities, culture and economic change, Zukin has also edited, with Michael Sorkin, “After the World Trade Center: Rethinking New York City” (Routledge, 2002). Her book, “Loft Living” (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), was the first analysis of the important role played by the arts and cultural activities in contemporary urban revitalization. In “Landscapes of Power: From Detroit to Disney World” (University of California Press, 1991), which won the C. Wright Mills Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems, Zukin examined the shift from production to consumption, with a special focus on cultural consumption, in a range of cities across the United States. “The Cultures of Cities” (Blackwell, 1995) described the symbolic economy created by cultural strategies of urban redevelopment and the privatization of public spaces. Working in the field of economic sociology, Zukin has also edited “Industrial Policy: Business and Politics in the United States and France” (Praeger, 1985) and, with Paul DiMaggio, co- edited “Structures of Capital” (Cambridge University Press, 1990). She is a past chair of the section on community and urban sociology of the American Sociological Association. Zukin earned her Ph.D. from Columbia University. -30- Contact Leslie Martin Sociology department 208 426-3243 Media Contact Kathleen Craven communications and marketing 208 426-3275