Klinenberg, Eric

PERSONAL:

Education: Brown University, A.B., 1993; University of California at Berkeley, M.A., 1997, Ph.D., 2000.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Sociology, New York University, The Puck Building, 295 Lafayette St., 4th Fl., New York, NY 10012-9604. E-mail—eric.klinenberg@nyu.edu.

CAREER:

Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, assistant professor and faculty fellow at Institute for Policy Research, 2000-02; New York University, New York, NY, assistant professor, 2002-05, associate professor of sociology, 2005—.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Best Book in Sociology and Anthropology award, Association of American Publishers; Robert Park Book Award in Urban Sociology, American Sociological Association; Sociology of Health and Illness Book Prize, British Sociological Association; Mirra Komarovsky Book Award, Eastern Sociological Society; Biannual Book Award, Urban Affairs Association.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Birgit Brander Rasmussen, Irene J. Nexica, and Matt Wray) The Making and Unmaking of Whiteness, Duke University Press (Durham, NC), 2001.

Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 2002.

(Editor) Cultural Production in a Digital Age ("Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science" series), Sage Publications (Thousand Oaks, CA), 2005.

Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America's Media, Metropolitan Books (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor to books, including Bodies as Commodities, edited by Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Loic Wacquant, Sage (London, England), 2002; Pierre Bourdieu and the Sociology of the Journalistic Field, edited by Rodney Benson and Eric Neveu, Polity Press (Cambridge, England), 2004; and The Sociology and Health and Illness: Critical Perspectives, 7th edition, Worth/St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2004.

Contributor to periodicals, including the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Contemporary Sociology, American Journal of Sociol-ogy, Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales, New Statesman, Theory and Society, Nation, London Review of Books, Political Communication, Washington Post Book World, Social Forces, Urban Studies, Rolling Stone, Le Monde Diplomatique, Slate, Boston Globe, New England Journal of Medicine, Chicago Magazine, Philadelphia Daily News, Social Justice, Guardian (London, England), and Information, Communication, and Society. Contexts, member of editorial board and "Conversations" editor, 2004—; Qualitative Sociology, member of editorial board.

SIDELIGHTS:

Eric Klinenberg is a sociologist and university professor who describes himself as an "urban sociologist," a professional who undertakes the "gritty work of ethnography but motivated by theoretical questions, interpretive challenges, and a passion for public and politically engaged social science," as he explained on the New York University Department of Sociology Web site. A prolific writer and lecturer, Klinenberg has published dozens of articles and participated in numerous invited lectures, panels, and presentations.

In Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago, Klinenberg delves deeply into the history of a fatal 1995 heat wave in Chicago, in which nearly 800 people died as a direct result of the heat and because of a lack of substantive assistance rendered by the city to those most in need. The author "presents a solidly grounded and theoretically complex analysis of the social, economic, and political context of this tragedy using the methodological strategy of a ‘social autopsy,’" commented M. Iris in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. In doing so, Klinenberg seeks out the failures and oversights that contributed to the deaths of hundreds who could have been saved.

During the scorching heat wave, temperatures rose as high as 106 degrees Fahrenheit, while the heat index reached a searing 126 degrees. The effects of the heat were seen in buckled streets, railroad tracks that had warped and detached themselves from their fastenings, and in power failures attributed to increased demand for air conditioning and cooling. In many parts of the city, however, the poor, the elderly, and the socially isolated were unable to take advantage of amenities that could help keep them alive. Those who could not afford air conditioning simply did not have it. Those who lived in high-crime neighborhoods were unable or unwilling to venture out of their stifling but safe apartments in order to find relief in air-conditioned malls or offices. Cut off from neighbors and social networks, many did not know what to do or where to turn to get help. Hundreds of people "died alone in shabby apartments and rented rooms, without comfort from family, friends or social workers. And though their fate was extreme, it is also the case that more and more Americans find themselves alone at the end of their lives," observed Jim McNeill in the American Prospect.

Part of Klinenberg's analysis includes a comparison of two distinct ethnic neighborhoods, one largely Latino and the other predominantly African American, and how greater community cohesion of the Latino community resulted in dramatically fewer deaths there. The author also places blame on the city administration, which failed to assist its most vulnerable residents during a time of great need. Then-Mayor Richard Daley, Klinenberg notes, was more concerned with the negative public relations effects of the disaster. "Chicago-watchers will not be too surprised to read that the city administration both actively hindered appropriate relief efforts and put most of its energy into an attempt to ‘spin its way out of the crisis,’" commented Nation reviewer Micaela di Leonardo. Both Daley and the media went so far as to question whether the large number of deaths were "really real," actually attributable to the heat or simply fabricated.

Di Leonardo called Klinenberg's book a "trenchant, multilayered, and well-written social autopsy of the disaster." Reviewer Katherine Haver, writing in the Journal of International Affairs, considered it "required reading for anyone grappling with the increasingly relevant issue of who is accountable for society's most vulnerable members before, during, and after disaster strikes." Social Forces contributor Robin Wagner-Pacifici stated: "This masterful study of the intersection of the political and the ecological reveals just how important it is that sociologists look not just at trends or patterns over time, but at specific events."

Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America's Media is an "eye-opening examination of the ever-increasing power wielded by big media conglomerates," observed a Kirkus Reviews critic. Klinenberg finds great public danger in the increased consolidation of media power in the hands of a few individuals and corporations. He describes how in many ways the consolidation is disguised: mass-produced content and national radio shows created in a centralized location are subtly altered to appear local for broadcast. Local representation in the media is dwindling as radio, television, and newspaper outlets are controlled from locations often far removed from the geographical areas served by the papers and stations. In one particularly harrowing case, a radio station could not inform local residents of a disaster because all the station's programming had been pre-recorded in another state, and no representative of the station could be located to allow emergency channels to break in on the canned broadcasts. Klinenberg covers legal and regulatory issues surrounding media ownership and consolidation, and he finds that profits and corporate interests often outweigh the public good that is supposed to be derived from a free and diverse media. He supports grass-roots opposition to media consolidation and smaller efforts to return control of print and broadcast to the people the media serves. Klinenberg's "impassioned call to restore local journalism and its role in creating informed, engaged communities is sure to strike a chord" with concerned citizens, students, and readers, commented a Publishers Weekly reviewer. The author "convincingly argues that media consolidation is limiting choices and opinions in America," observed Jenny Emanuel in Library Journal.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Journal of Sociology, March 1, 2003, John L. Jackson, review of Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago, p. 1114.

American Prospect, October 21, 2002, Jim McNeill, "Too Hot to Handle," review of Heat Wave, p. 37.

California Bookwatch, March, 2007, Diane C. Donovan, review of Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America's Media.

Canadian Journal of Urban Research, winter, 2002, Joe Hermer, review of Heat Wave, p. 366.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, March 1, 2003, G. Rabrenovic, review of Heat Wave, p. 1268.

Christian Century, October 9, 2002, review of Heat Wave, p. 22.

Columbia Journalism Review, January-February, 2007, Michael Schudson, "Owning Up: A New Book Stops Short of Deepening the Discourse on Media Concentration," review of Fighting for Air, p. 56.

Contemporary Sociology, March 1, 2004, "Using Disaster to See Society," p. 137; March 1, 2004, "Scrutinizing the Heat: On Ethnic Myths and the Importance of Shoe Leather," p. 139; March 1, 2004, "Dissecting a Social Autopsy," p. 151.

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, September 1, 2004, review of Heat Wave.

JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, March 26, 2003, Karen E. Smoyer Tomic, review of Heat Wave, p. 1573.

Journal of Economic Literature, March 1, 2003, review of Heat Wave, p. 304.

Journal of International Affairs, spring-summer, 2006, Katherine Haver, review of Heat Wave, p. 371.

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, December, 2003, M. Iris, "Anthropology and History," review of Heat Wave, p. 797.

Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 2006, review of Fighting for Air, p. 1113.

Library Journal, January 1, 2007, Jenny Emanuel, review of Fighting for Air, p. 120.

Nation, September 2, 2002, Micaela di Leonardo, "Murder by Public Policy," review of Heat Wave, p. 31.

New England Journal of Medicine, September 26, 2002, John Wilhelm, review of Heat Wave, p. 1046.

New Yorker, August 12, 2002, review of Heat Wave, p. 76.

Political Communication, October 1, 2003, Michael Schudson, review of Heat Wave, p. 505.

Publishers Weekly, November 20, 2006, review of Fighting for Air, p. 55.

Science News, August 3, 2002, review of Heat Wave, p. 79.

Social Forces, June, 2003, Robin Wagner-Pacifici, review of Heat Wave, p. 1499.

Social Service Review, December 1, 2003, William Sites, review of Heat Wave, p. 619.

Times Higher Education Supplement, November 8, 2002, John Adams, "Ignored to the End," review of Heat Wave, p. 26.

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), August 18, 2002, review of Heat Wave, p. 1; December 8, 2002, review of Heat Wave, p. 3; July 27, 2003, review of Heat Wave, p. 6.

Urban Studies, October 1, 2003, Douglas C. Gills, review of Heat Wave, p. 2316.

Weatherwise, May-June, 2003, Stanley David Gedzelman, review of Heat Wave, p. 42.

ONLINE

New York University Department of Sociology Website,http://sociology.fas.nyu.edu/ (June 14, 2007), biography and curriculum vitae of Eric Klinenberg.

University of Chicago Press Web site,http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ (June 14, 2007), "Dying Alone," interview with Eric Klinenberg.

Wetmachine.com,http://www.wetmachine.com/ (January 9, 2007), Harold Feld, review of Fighting for Air.