John Christopher Torpey (born August 22, 1959) is an American academic, sociologist, and historian best known for his scholarship on the state, identity, and contemporary politics.
Education and career
Torpey received his Bachelor of Arts degree from
Amherst College in 1981 in political science, before completing his Ph.D. in sociology at University of California, Berkeley in 1992.
At Berkeley, Torpey wrote his dissertation under the guidance of
Jerome Karabel,
Robert Bellah, and
Martin Jay, which later became the foundation of his first book
Intellectuals, Socialism, and Dissent: The East German Opposition and its Legacy.
Torpey has held permanent teaching positions at the University of California, Irvine, the University of British Columbia, and at the Graduate Center, CUNY. In 2010, Torpey was the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in American Studies at the Karl-Franzens-University in Graz, Austria.
In addition to teaching, Torpey also sits on the editorial boards of the journals Theory and Society and Journal of Human Rights.
Work
Torpey has written extensively on the role of the state in shaping modern social life. In
Intellectuals, Socialism, and Dissent, Torpey examined the role of intellectuals within the German Democratic Republic, their role in the Republic's eventual collapse, as well as their aspirations for reform. Torpey has also received significant attention for his book
The Invention of the Passport: Surveillance, Citizenship, and the State, which examines the institution of the modern
passport. In
The Invention of the Passport, Torpey borrows from sociologist
Max Weber, arguing that states hold a “monopolization of the legitimate means of movement” and that the passport functions as a way of displacing and amplifying their administrative power.
Torpey's most recent scholarship focuses on religion in modern society. Alongside Christian Joppke, Torpey has written on the legal and cultural integration of Islam into Western liberal democracies, comparing the United States, Germany, France, and Canada.
Bibliography
Solely Authored Books
Co-authored books
Edited volumes
Sources
External links
