| Jason Beckfield | |
| Birth Date: | March 17, 1976 |
| Fields: | Sociology |
| Workplaces: | Harvard University University of Chicago |
| Alma Mater: | Indiana University |
| Doctoral Advisor: | Arthur Alderson |
| Academic Advisors: | Clem Brooks, Patricia McManus, Robert V. Robertson |
| Known For: | Contributions to social inequality, political sociology, population health, and climate change. |
| Notable Students: | Benjamin Cornwell, Anny Fenton, Benjamin Sosnaud, Linda Zhao |
Jason Beckfield is an American sociologist. He is the Robert G. Stone Jr. Professor of Sociology at Harvard University.
Jason Beckfield was born to Cathy and Albert Beckfield in 1976. He grew up in Joplin, Missouri and graduated from Truman State University.[1] [2] He earned his Ph.D. in Sociology from Indiana University, Bloomington.[2]
Beckfield was an assistant professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago from 2004 to 2007.[2] He joined Harvard University as assistant professor in 2007, and became a tenured professor in 2011.[2] He later served as the department chair.[1] He is an affiliate scholar of the Stanford Center on Poverty & Inequality at Stanford University.[3] He is also the Associate Director of the Center for Population and Development Studies at Harvard https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/population-development/.
His research focuses on social inequality, especially in the European Union.[1] [2] He has also written about world polity theory.[2] [4] His work has been published in numerous outlets, including American Journal of Public Health, American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, and Annual Review of Sociology, among others.
He is perhaps best known for his work documenting the role that different cities play in connecting international networks of investment and trade, giving rise to a world city system.[5] This approach has helped to refine and expand work on the world system. His research shows persistent inequality in different countries' ties to international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) – levels that rival world income inequality.[6] His book,, shows how growing integration among European national economies has simultaneously increased inequality among European households.[7] [8]
His work also shows how the structure of national political systems and income inequality combine to perpetuate consequential health inequities within societies.[9] [10] [11]
Beckfield has two children.[1] [2]