Gary Alan Fine (born May 11, 1950, in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
) is an
American sociologist and author.
Life and career
The son of Bernard David Fine and Bernice Estelle Tanz, Fine grew up in
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
and went to the
Horace Mann School. He studied
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
at 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 ...
(
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...
). He attended graduate school at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
from 1972 to 1976 and received his
PhD
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 graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
from Harvard in
social psychology
Social psychology is the methodical study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. Although studying many of the same substantive topics as its counterpart in the field ...
. His dissertation advisor was the eminent small group theorist
Robert F. Bales.
In 1976, he became an
assistant professor
Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea.
Overview
This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...
in the sociology department at the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...
. At various times, he was a
visiting professor
In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...
at
Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...
(1980), the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
(1985), the
University of Bremen
The University of Bremen () is a public university in Bremen, Germany, with approximately 18,400 students from 117 countries. Its 12 faculties offer more than 100 degree programs.
The University of Bremen has been among the top 50 European rese ...
(1986), and the
University of Iceland
The University of Iceland ( ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland, and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' school to a modern co ...
(1988). In 1988, he received the
American Folklore Society's
Opie Award for the Best Scholarly Book in the field of Children's Folklore and Culture for his work ''With The Boys'', an
ethnographic
Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...
study of
Little League baseball teams.
In 1990, he became the department head of the Department of Sociology at the
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...
, a position he held until 1993, after which he remained a professor. In 1990 he was also the President of the
Society for the Study of Symbolic Interactionism. During the term of 1994 to 1995, he was a fellow at the
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) is an interdisciplinary research institution at Stanford University designed to advance the frontiers of knowledge about human behavior and society, and contribute to the resoluti ...
, affiliated with
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
. He continued at the University of Georgia but accepted a position at
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 ...
in
Evanston, Illinois beginning in 1997, where in 2005 he was named John Evans Professor. In 2002, he was the President of the
Midwest Sociological Society, and in 2005 he was President of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. He remains at Northwestern and in 2003 was a fellow at the
Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences at
Uppsala University
Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation.
Initially fou ...
in Sweden. In 2005 and 2006, he was a visiting scholar at the
Russell Sage Foundation
The Russell Sage Foundation is an American non-profit organisation established by Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage, Margaret Olivia Sage in 1907 for “the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States.” It was named after her re ...
in New York City. He is a former editor of
Social Psychology Quarterly, an official journal of the American Sociological Association. He is married to Susan Hirsig Fine and has two children.
Academic focus
Fine has written ethnographies of a number of diverse small group activities from analyses of ''
Dungeons & Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...
'' players and
mushroom hunters to high school
policy debate
Policy debate is an American form of debate competition in which teams of two usually advocate for and against a resolution that typically calls for policy change by the United States federal government. It is also referred to as cross-examinat ...
rs and restaurant workers. Fine maintains that these different groups and distinct areas connect:
His work on
rumor
A rumor (American English), or rumour (British English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences; derived from Latin 'noise'), is an unverified piece of information circulating among people, especial ...
has made a substantial contribution to the understanding of
urban legends
Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not.
These legends can be e ...
and the transmission of rumors. In 2001, he co-authored a book with
University of California-Davis Professor
Patricia Turner on
rumors in the African-American community and rumors and
urban legends
Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not.
These legends can be e ...
held by whites about blacks 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 ...
. He is currently researching rumors related to the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
and
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
. A recently published manuscript deals with the social production and communication of
scientific
Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
work at the
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
.
Another area of research includes the complicated historical and social reputations of figures such as
Thorstein Veblen
Thorstein Bunde Veblen (; July 30, 1857 – August 3, 1929) was an American Economics, economist and Sociology, sociologist who, during his lifetime, emerged as a well-known Criticism of capitalism, critic of capitalism.
In his best-known book ...
,
Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold (#Brandt, Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American-born British military officer who served during the American Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of ...
,
Fatty Arbuckle,
Herman Melville
Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works ar ...
,
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...
,
Warren Harding,
Sinclair Lewis
Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1930, he became the first author from the United States (and the first from the America ...
, and
Henry Ford
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...
. On August 4, 2004, several months before the
2004 Presidential Election, he set off a minor storm, especially in the political
blogger community, with his
op-ed
An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page," is a type of written prose commonly found in newspapers, magazines, and online publications. They usually represent a writer's strong and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted a ...
piece in ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' "Ire to the Chief" that argued that the commonly expressed hatreds of presidents
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
,
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
, and
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
reflected their behavior and activities in youth more than their specific policies as president.
Fine is also a major figure in the study of the work of
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 ...
and the theory of
symbolic interactionism
Symbolic interactionism is a sociological theory that develops from practical considerations and alludes to humans' particular use of shared language to create common symbols and meanings, for use in both intra- and interpersonal communication.
...
. He co-edited with
Gregory W. H. Smith a major compilation of Goffman's work and of criticism and analysis of his contribution to the social sciences. Together with
Kent Sandstrom and
Dan Martin, he has produced a forthcoming textbook on symbolic interactionism entitled ''Symbols, Selves, and Social Reality: A Symbolic Interactionist Approach to Sociology and Social Psychology''.
Specific areas
Restaurants
In addition to his analysis of restaurant establishment culture in his 1996 book ''Kitchens: The Culture of Restaurant Work'', Fine considers himself a sort of amateur
restaurant critic. Through 2015, he maintained a blog, called ''Veal Cheeks'', describing his restaurant visits while living in New York City. His writing style, punchy and wry, can also be seen in his review of
Eric Schlosser's book, ''
Fast Food Nation'', for
Reason magazine.
[Fine, Gary Alan (2001).]
"Chewing the Fat."
''Reason'', Nov. 2001.
Art
Another subject in which Fine has combined his personal and academic interests is
art
Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...
. While researching his book about
outsider art
Outsider art is Fine art, art made by Autodidacticism, self-taught individuals who are untrained and untutored in the traditional arts with typically little or no contact with the Convention (norm), conventions of the art worlds.
The term ''ou ...
''Everyday Genius'', he became well-acquainted with many of the major figures and artists in that segment of the art world. He studied the cases of major outsider (self-taught) artists like
Henry Darger
Henry Joseph Darger Jr. ( ; April 12, 1892 – April 13, 1973) was an American writer, novelist and artist who worked as a hospital janitor, custodian in Chicago, Illinois. He has become famous for his posthumously recovered 15,145-page manuscri ...
,
Bill Traylor,
Edgar Tolson,
Thornton Dial,
Lonnie Holley,
Martin Ramirez,
Sam Doyle, and
Howard Finster. He is also an avid collector of outsider art himself. While researching the book and living in Georgia, he was a member of the
Nexus Center for Contemporary Art and a board member at the
High Museum of Art
The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...
in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
. He is also currently a board member of the
Intuit: Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
.
Policy Debate
During his research for ''Gifted Tongues: High School Debate and Adolescent Culture'', he followed and observed several high school
policy debate
Policy debate is an American form of debate competition in which teams of two usually advocate for and against a resolution that typically calls for policy change by the United States federal government. It is also referred to as cross-examinat ...
teams in
Minnesota
Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
. The book depicts an activity, although popular in United States, that is often seen as esoteric and confusing. His son, Todd David Fine, as described in the dedication to the book, first saw a video of the activity as a young child while Fine was researching the book. Apparently inspired, in high school, Todd, along with his partners Adam Goldstein and Julie Bashkin, went on to capture the national-circuit debate championship the ''
Tournament of Champions'' and the ''
Barkley Forum'' at
Emory University
Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...
, another major championship in the activity.
Works
* (With Ralph Rosnow) ''Rumor and Gossip: The Social Psychology of Hearsay'', Elsevier-North Holland (New York, NY), 1976.
* ''Shared Fantasy: Role Playing Games As Social Worlds'', University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 1983.
* ''Talking Sociology'', Allyn and Bacon (Boston, MA), 1985.
* ''With the Boys: Little League Baseball and Preadolescent Culture'', University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 1987.
* (Editor) ''Meaningful Play, Playful Meaning, Human Kinetics Publishers'' (Champaign, IL), 1987.
* (With Kent L. Sandstrom) ''Knowing Children: Participant Observation with Minors'', Sage (Newberry Park, CA), 1988.
* (Editor, with John Johnson and Harvey A. Farberman) ''Sociological Slices: Introductory Readings from the Interactionist Perspective'', JAI Press (Greenwich, CT), 1992.
* ''Manufacturing Tales: Sex and Money in Contemporary Legends'', University of Tennessee Press (Knoxville, TN), 1992.
* (Editor, with Karen Cook and James S. House) ''Sociological Perspectives on Social Psychology'', Allyn and Bacon (Boston, MA), 1994.
* (Editor) ''A Second Chicago School?: The Development of a Postwar American Sociology'', University of Chicago (Chicago, IL), 1995.
* ''Kitchens: The Culture of Restaurant Work'', University of California (Berkeley, CA), 1996.
* ''Morel Tales: The Culture of Mushrooming'', Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1998.
* (Editor, with Gregory W. H. Smith) ''Erving Goffman, Sage'' (Thousand Oaks, CA), 2000.
* ''Difficult Reputations: Collective Memories of the Evil, Inept, and Controversial'', University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 2001.
* ''Gifted Tongues: High School Debate and Adolescent Culture'', Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 2001.
* (With Patricia A. Turner) ''Whispers on the Color Line: Rumor and Race in America'', University of California (Berkeley, CA), 2001.
* (With Daniel D. Martin and Kent L. Sandstrom) ''Symbols, Selves, and Social Life: A Symbolic Interactionist Approach, Roxbury'' (Los Angeles, CA), 2002.
* (With David Shulman) ''Talking Sociology'', Fifth Edition. Allyn and Bacon (Boston, MA), 2003.
* ''Everyday Genius: Self-Taught Art and the Culture of Authenticity'', University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 2004.
* (With Kent Sandstrom and Daniel D. Martin) ''Symbols, Selves and Social Life: A Symbolic Interactionist Approach to Sociology and Social Psychology''. Roxbury (Los Angeles, CA), In press.
* ''Players and Pawns: How Chess Builds Community and Culture'', University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 2015.
* ''Talking Art: The Culture of Practice and the Practice of Culture in MFA Education'', University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 2018.
References
*Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2005. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2005.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fine, Gary Alan
1950 births
American sociologists
Living people
University of Pennsylvania alumni
University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni
Northwestern University faculty
University of Minnesota faculty
Indiana University faculty
University of Chicago faculty
University of Georgia faculty
Horace Mann School alumni
American restaurant critics
American male non-fiction writers
Social Psychology Quarterly editors
Harvard University alumni