Eviatar Zerubavel (; born November 25th, 1948) is professor of

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 ...

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

, a specialist in the sociology of cognition and everyday life, including topics such as time, boundaries, and categorization.

Biography

Zerubavel is a grandson of Ya'akov Zerubavel. Born in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

in 1948 to parents in diplomatic service, he spent much of his childhood abroad. He studied first at the University of Tel Aviv and then received his Ph.D. in sociology from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

in 1976, where he studied under

Erving Goffman Erving Goffman (11 June 1922 – 19 November 1982) was a Canadian-born American sociologist, social psychologist, and writer, considered by some "the most influential American sociologist of the twentieth century". In 2007, '' The Time ...

. After teaching at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

and the

State University of New York at Stony Brook Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...

, he has spent the bulk of his career at

. In 2003 he was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

, and in 2007 he was recognized as a Board of Governors and Distinguished Professor of Sociology. Zerubavel's first notable contributions were in the study of

time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

, particularly the sociology and

standardization Standardization (American English) or standardisation (British English) is the process of implementing and developing technical standards based on the consensus of different parties that include firms, users, interest groups, standards organiza ...

of time. His books in this area were ''Patterns of Time in Hospital Life'' (1979); ''Hidden Rhythms'' (1981); ''The Seven Day Circle'' (1985); and ''Time Maps'' (2003). Later he turned his attention to what he has termed cognitive sociology, pointing out how much society rather than human nature shapes our mental lives, and how much the commonalities that mark out

social groups In the social sciences, a social group is defined as two or more people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics, and collectively have a sense of unity. Regardless, social groups come in a myriad of sizes and varieties. Fo ...

involve shared patterns of thinking. His work in this vein includes ''The Fine Line'' (1991); ''Terra Cognita'' (1992); ''Social Mindscapes'' (1997); ''The Elephant in the Room'' (2006); and ''Ancestors and Relatives'' (2011). His newest book is (2018) ''Taken for Granted: The Remarkable Power of the Unremarkable''. Zerubavel served for many years as director of the graduate program in Sociology at Rutgers University and mentor to many graduate students. He became very interested in academic work habits and in

time management Time management is the process of planning and exercising conscious control of time spent on specific activities—especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency and productivity. Time management involves demands relating to work, social ...

in writing. His book ''The Clockwork Muse'' (1999) gives practical advice to writers across disciplines, and in particular advice on time management to those finishing books and dissertations. His own writing is notable for its use of multiple examples from everyday life, an approach which one of his students, Wayne Brekhus, has called "Zerubavelian" sociology.(2019) "Times of Sociology: Eviatar Zerubavel in Conversation with Lorenzo Sabetta," ''Sociologica,'' August 2019, vol. 13 no. 2, 55-74, doi: 10.6092/issn.1971-8853/9747 He is married to Yael Zerubavel, a scholar of Israeli history who also teaches at Rutgers University.

References

External links

Zerubavel's website at Rutgers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zerubavel, Eviatar 1948 births Living people Rutgers University faculty American sociologists Israeli Jews Israeli sociologists Jewish sociologists