Ronald Stuart Burt (born 1949) is an American sociologist. He is the Charles M. Harper Leadership 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 ...

and

Strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " a ...

at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Distinguished Professor at Bocconi University. He is most notable for his research and writing on

social network A social network is a social structure consisting of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), networks of Dyad (sociology), dyadic ties, and other Social relation, social interactions between actors. The social network per ...

s and

social capital Social capital is a concept used in sociology and economics to define networks of relationships which are productive towards advancing the goals of individuals and groups. It involves the effective functioning of social groups through interper ...

, particularly the concept of structural holes in a social network.

Biography

Originally a pre-medical major, Burt earned his B.A. in social and behavioral sciences from

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

in 1971 with a focus on social psychology. He earned a M.A. in Sociology from The State University of New York at Albany in 1973 working with Nan Lin. He moved to 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 ...

to work with mathematical sociology professor James Samuel Coleman and earned his Ph.D. in sociology in 1977. His dissertation committee also included the social network analyst Edward Laumann. Prior to joining the University of Chicago in 1993, he was a professor of sociology at the

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 ...

and

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 ...

. He is also the former Shell Professor of

Human Resources Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include ' ...

INSEAD INSEAD ( ; French: ''Institut européen d'administration des affaires'') is a non-profit business school with locations in Europe (Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, UAE) and North America (San Francisco, USA ...

and has held various organizational development positions at Raytheon. He currently resides in the

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

metropolitan area.

Research

He is the author of several books on sociology, organization behavior and network analysis, including ''Structural Holes: The Social Structure of Competition'' (

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

, 1992) and ''Brokerage and Closure: An Introduction to Social Capital'' (

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2005) His research has been published in numerous academic journals, including '' Administrative Science Quarterly'', '' American Journal of Sociology'', Academy of Management Journal, ''Organization Science'', ''Social Networks'', ''Sociological Inquiry'', and others.

Publications

Books

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Highly-cited articles

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References

External links

Personal website

University of Chicago homepage

Bocconi University Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burt, Ronald S. 1949 births Living people Social scientists from Chicago Johns Hopkins University alumni University at Albany, SUNY alumni University of Chicago alumni American sociologists American network scientists University of Chicago faculty Columbia University faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences