Charles C. Ragin (born ) is Chancellor's Professor of Sociology at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

Biography

Born , Ragin graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

in May 1972. He completed his

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

(PhD) degree in sociology from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

at age 22 in 1975. After completing his PhD, Ragin joined the faculty at

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

. He left Indiana University in 1981. He worked on the faculty of

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

from 1981 to 2001. He was also a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

in Norway from 1998 to 2001. From 2001 through 2012, he was a professor of sociology and political science at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

. He began his position as Chancellor's Professor at the

in 2012.

Sociological research

Ragin has made many contributions to

. He is a proponent of using

fuzzy sets Fuzzy or Fuzzies may refer to: Music * Fuzzy (band), a 1990s Boston indie pop band * Fuzzy (composer), Danish composer Jens Vilhelm Pedersen (born 1939) * Fuzzy (album), ''Fuzzy'' (album), 1993 debut album of American rock band Grant Lee Buffalo ...

to bridge the divide between quantitative and qualitative methods. His main interests are

methodology In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bri ...

, political sociology, and comparative-historical research, with a special focus on such topics as the welfare state, ethnic political mobilization, and

international political economy International political economy (IPE) is the study of how politics shapes the global economy and how the global economy shapes politics. A key focus in IPE is on the power of different actors such as nation states, international organizations and ...

. He is also the author of more than 100 articles in research journals and edited books, and he has developed software packages for

set theory Set theory is the branch of mathematical logic that studies Set (mathematics), sets, which can be informally described as collections of objects. Although objects of any kind can be collected into a set, set theory – as a branch of mathema ...

analyses of social data,

Qualitative Comparative Analysis In statistics, qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) is a data analysis based on set theory to examine the relationship of conditions to outcome. QCA describes the relationship in terms of necessary conditions and sufficient conditions. The tech ...

(QCA) and fuzzy set

(fsQCA).

Awards and honors

Ragin has been awarded the Stein Rokkan Prize of the International Social Science Council, the Donald Campbell Award for Methodological Innovation by the Policy Studies Organization, and received honorable mention for the Barrington Moore, Jr. Award of the American Sociological Association. He received the 2014 Paul F. Lazarsfeld Award, given by the American Sociological Association's Section on Methodology to recognize a career of outstanding contributions to sociological methodology. He has conducted academic workshops on methodology in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and for diverse audiences in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Books published by Ragin

* Ragin, Charles C. ''Analytic Induction for Social Research.'' University of California Press 2023. * Ragin, Charles C. & Peer C. Fiss. ''Intersectional Inequality: Race, Class, Test Scores and Poverty.'' University of Chicago Press 2017. * Ragin, Charles C. & Becker, Howard. ''Qu'est-ce qu'un cas? Explorer les fondements de l'enquête en sciences sociales.'' Schwabe 2021. * Ragin, Charles C. ''Redesigning Social Inquiry: Fuzzy Sets and Beyond.'' University of Chicago Press 2008. * Ragin, Charles C. ''Fuzzy-Set Social Science.'' University Chicago Press 2000. * Ragin, Charles C. & Larry Griffin. ''Formal Methods of Qualitative Analysis.'' (Edited Collection). Special Issue of Sociological Methods and Research 23, 1. (1994). * Ragin, Charles C. ''Constructing Social Research: The Unity and Diversity of Method.'' Pine Forge Press 1994. * Ragin, Charles C. ''What Is a Case? Exploring the Foundations of Social Inquiry.'' Cambridge University Press 1992. * Ragin, Charles C. ''Issues and Alternatives in Comparative Social Research.'' E.J. Brill 1991. * Ragin, Charles C. ''The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies.'' University of California Press 1987.

References

External links

Personal website
at the University of California, Irvine {{DEFAULTSORT:Ragin, Charles C. 1952 births American sociologists Indiana University faculty Living people Northwestern University faculty University of Arizona faculty University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts alumni Winners of the Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research