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. Torpey is currently a professor of sociology and history at the

Graduate Center, CUNY The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and postgraduate university in New York City. Formed in 1961 as Division of Graduate Studies at City University ...

and director of the Graduate Center's

Ralph Bunche Ralph Johnson Bunche ( ; August 7, 1904 – December 9, 1971) was an American political scientist, diplomat, and leading actor in the mid-20th-century decolonization process and US civil rights movement, who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Priz ...

Institute for International Studies. From 2016 to 2017, Torpey served as the president of the Eastern Sociological Society.

Education and career

Torpey received his

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 from

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

in 1981 in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

, before completing his Ph.D. in sociology at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

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 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 ...

, the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

, and at the Graduate Center, CUNY. In 2010, Torpey was the

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

Distinguished Chair in

American Studies American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary field of scholarship that examines American literature, History of the United States, history, Society of the United States, society, and Culture of the Unit ...

at the Karl-Franzens-University in

Graz, Austria Graz () is the capital of the Austrian federal state of Styria and the second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 including secondary residence). In 2023, the population of the Gra ...

. 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 East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

, 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 A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that certifies a person's identity and nationality for international travel. A passport allows its bearer to enter and temporarily reside in a foreign country, access local aid ...

. In ''The Invention of the Passport'', Torpey borrows from sociologist

Max Weber Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German Sociology, sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economy, political economist who was one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sc ...

, 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. He has also been a contributor to the

Axial Age ''Axial Age'' (also ''Axis Age'', from the German ) is a term coined by the German philosopher Karl Jaspers. It refers to broad changes in religious and philosophical thought that occurred in a variety of locations from about the 8th to the 3rd ...

debate.

Bibliography

Solely Authored Books

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Co-authored Books

Edited Volumes

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References

Sources

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External links

Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies at the Graduate Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Torpey, John Living people 1959 births 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers American sociologists Amherst College alumni UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni Fulbright Distinguished Chairs CUNY Graduate Center faculty American male non-fiction writers