Elaine Coburn

Elaine Coburn is assistant professor of sociology in the department of Global Communications and a permanent research member of the Centre d’analyse et d’intervention sociologiques (CADIS) founded by Alain Touraine, at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). She obtained her PhD from Stanford University in 2002, as a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada four year doctoral fellow, and was a postdoctoral researcher at the EHESS, funded by the French Ministry of Research. She is the co-editor of the peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journal Socialist Studies/Etudes Socialistes (www.socialiststudies.com) and on the editorial board of New Cultural Frontiers (www.newculturalfrontiers.org). 

Main areas of scholarly interest

a. sociological theory, Marxist political economy and critical realism

b. economic globalization and transformations of capitalism

c. alternative globalization movements and resistance

d. critical approaches to social science methods

Many of my recent publications may be directly consulted, below.

Current research projects

1. ‘Neoliberalism at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund from 1978-2010: Continuities, Changes and Contradictions’

2. ‘Alternative Policy Groups and Global Civil Society: Networks, Discourses and Practices of Counter-Hegemony’. A Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) project under principal investigator William K. Carroll with collaborators Christopher Chase-Dunn, Unno Yahilo and Vishwas Satgar.

Teaching Philosophy

In my courses, I emphasize the importance of classical and contemporary sociological theory for helping to make sense of contemporary social structures. How do central social structures, like contemporary capitalism, enable and constrain us – our choices, our successes and failures, even our most intimate thoughts? How can we understand ourselves as embedded in social relationships that vary over time and within and across national contexts? For example:

• how did the idea of ‘human rights’ arise? how is the notion of a ‘human rights victim’ the product of struggle and subject to ongoing challenge, including by those officially recognized as ‘human rights victims’? (course on ‘Contemporary Ideologies’)

• what would a truly democratic media look like? in what ways is the alternative media ‘field’ in Vancouver, British Columbia democratic and in what ways does it fall short? how does this compare to contemporary ‘mainstream’ media? (course on ‘Media Sociology’)

• how can we carry out reflexive, critical social science? for example, how does the social location of the researcher affect the generation of social science data? in what ways has ‘objective’ scientific research been bound up with the colonial project and what does this suggest about the hazards of carrying out ethical research in contemporary cross-cultural contexts? (course on ‘Social Science Methods’)

Classes emphasize participation by students in small and large group discussions, based on evidence that students learn best when explaining and clarifying ideas with others, rather than listening. My overarching aim is to encourage critical thinking about our own taken-for-granted ideas and about the ‘natural’ ways that our social relationships are organized – and to think creatively about how our social world could be organized, more justly and more fairly.

Professor Coburn has taught the following courses: Contemporary Ideologies, Social Science Methods (for MA students), Media Sociology, and Globalization and the Media.

   Articles and Book Chapters

Forthcoming. “Globalization and Women: A Marxist Feminist Introduction”. Gendered Intersections. Second Edition. Edited by Lesley Biggs and Susan Gringell. Fernwood Press.

2010. “Resisting Neo-Liberal Capitalism: Insights from Political Economy.” Chapter ten in Relations of Global Power: Neoliberal Order and Disorder. Edited by Stephen McBride and Gary Teeple. University of Toronto Press.

2007. (coauthor with David Coburn). “Health and Health Inequalities in a Neo-Liberal Global World.” Chapter in Equity in Health and Health Care. Edited by Gavin Mooney and Diane McIntyre. Cambridge University Press.

2006. “Commodification or Rationalization? Yes, Please!: Technology Transfer Talk in the Canadian Context.” Chapter in Diffusion and Transformation of Higher Education Models: Universities Between National Traditions and Global Trends. Edited by Georg Krücken et al. Transcript Verlag. 

2005. “Globalization and Women.” Chapter in Gendered Intersections: A Collection of Readings for Women’s and Gender Studies. Edited by Leslie Biggs and Pamela Downe. Fernwood Press.

2003. “La Bataille de Seattle: Portrait d’une manifestation en mouvement.” Chapter seven in Un autre monde est possible. Edited by Michel Wieviorka. Balland Press.

2003.a “Interrogating Globalization: Emerging Contradictions and Conflicts.” Chapter six in Global Shaping and Its Alternatives. Edited by Yildiz Atasoy and William K. Carroll. Garamond Press

2003.b (coauthor with William K. Carroll). “Social Movements and Transformation.” In Changing Canada: Political Economy as Transformation. Edited by Wallace Clement and Leah F. Vosko. McGill-Queen’s University Press.

1999. (coauthor with Robert Bright, Julie Faye, Derek Gafijczuk, Karen Hollander, Janny Jung and Helen Syrmbos). “Mainstream and Marginal Newspaper Coverage of the 1995 Quebec Referendum: An Inquiry into the Functioning of the Canadian Public Sphere.” In the Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology. 36:3. August edition. Research responsibilities were equally shared. I was responsible for the final written version of the paper, as well as all revisions.

1998. “The Ontario Labour Split: The Role of the State in Shaping Labour Struggle in an Era of Globalization.” In the conference proceedings for Work Difference and Social Change: New Perspectives on Work and Workers Two Decades after Braverman’s Labour and Monopoly Capital.

   Reference

Forthcoming.

a).“Class”

b).“Inequality”

c).“Intellectual Property”

d.)‘Transnational Justice Movements’

In the Encyclopedia of Global Studies. Edited by Mark Juergensmeyer and Helmut Anheier. Sage Publications.

Forthcoming. “Social Stratification” in Encyclopedia of Social Networks. Edited by George A. Barnett and Geoffrey J. Golson. Sage Publications.

   Interview

2010. ‘Pulling the Monster Down’: Interview with William K. Carroll. Pp.65-92 in Socialist Studies/Etudes Socialistes. Vol. 6, No.1.

   Editorials

2010. “I Class Struggle: French Exceptionalism and Challenges for Socialist Studies”. Pp.1-8 in Socialist Studies/Etudes Socialistes. Vol. 6. No.2

2010. “Introduction: Rosa Luxemburg’s Political Economy: Contributions to Contemporary Political Theory and Practice”. Pp. 38-42 in Socialist Studies/Etudes Socialistes. Vol. 6. No.2

2009. “What is Socialism? What is Socialist Studies?”. Pp. 1-16 in Socialist Studies/Etudes Socialistes. Vol.5, No.2.

   Book reviews

2009. Review of Fuyuki Kurasawa’s The Work of Global Justice: Human Rights as Practices. Pp.154-156 in Socialist Studies/Etudes Socialistes. Vol. 5, No.2.

2008. Review of Richard Sandbrook et al’s Social Democracy in the Global Periphery: Origins, Challenges, Prospects. Pp.93-96 in Socialist Studies/Etudes Socialistes. Vol. 4, No.2.

2006. Review of William K. Carroll and R.S. Ratner, editors’, Challenges and Perils: Social Democracy in Neoliberal Times. Pp.129-131 in Socialist Studies/Etudes Socialistes. Vol.2, No.1.

2005. Review of Henry Giroux’s The Terror of Neoliberalism: Authoritarianism and the Eclipse of Democracy. Pp.109-111 in Socialist Studies/Etudes Socialistes. Vol. 1, No.2.

2004. Review of William K. Carroll’s Corporate Power in a Globalizing World: A Study in Elite Social Organization. Pp. 52-55 in Socialist Studies Bulletin/ Bulletin d’Etudes Socialistes. No. 73.

2003. Review essay of Anne Hansen’s, Direct Action: Memoirs of an Urban Guerrilla, and David McNally’s Another World is Possible: Globalization and Anti-Imperialism in the 21st Century. Pp. 35-39 in Socialist Studies Bulletin/ Bulletin d’Etudes Socialistes. No.69.