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Known for his ecological theories of occupations, Abbott has also pioneered algorithmic analysis of social sequence data. He has written on the foundations of social science methodology and on the evolution of the social sciences and the academic system. He is the author of five books and sixty articles and chapters. His major work includes The System of Professions (Chicago 1988), a theoretical analysis of the professions and their development that won the ASA's Sorokin Award in 1991. His recent books include a historical study of academic disciplines and publication (Department and Discipline [Chicago 1999]) and a theoretical analysis of fractal patterns in social and cultural structures Chaos of Disciplines [Chicago 2001]). He has also published a collection of theoretical essays in the Chicago pragmatist and ecological tradition (Time Matters [Chicago 2001]) and a short introduction to heuristics in the social sciences (Methods of Discovery [Norton 2004]). Abbott is currently working on a general work of social theory entitled The Social Process. Other recent theoretical work concerns ideas of outcome in the social sciences, the notion of "lyrical sociology," and the problem of continuity in social entities. Abbott has also recently collaborated on two projects in the history of sociology, one with James Sparrow on sociology in the Second World War and the other with Rainer Egloff on the life of W. I. Thomas. A senior fellow of Chicago's Computational Institute, Abbott is also writing on the computational theory of library research. An active teacher, Abbott has served on or chaired 68 dissertation committees, and his students teach at universities and colleges throughout the United States. He served from 1993 to 1996 as Master of Chicago's Social Science Collegiate Division and as Chair of the Department of Sociology from 1999-2002. He has also chaired the University's Library Board and the task force planning the future of the University's libraries. Abbott edited Work and Occupations from 1991 to 1994 and has edited the American Journal of Sociology since 2000. He was President of the Social Science History Association in 2002/3. Abbott was Norman Chester Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, in 1997 and has continued to visit Oxford regularly since. He will spend the Spring Quarter at Nuffield College in 2008. |
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