SUZANNE KELLER Emeritus Faculty Department of Sociology 120 Wallace Hall Princeton University Princeton, NJ 08544 t:(609) 258-4546 t:(609) 258-4531 f:(609) 258-2180 skeller@princeton.edu |
WHO WILL GUARD THE GUARDIANS?
My work has taken several directions including the nature of elites and leadership,the genesis of community, and the role of space and place in the human story. . How societies hold together is one question I have pursued through classic and contemporary social thought This reflects my abiding fascination with those who captain the ships of collective survival over time --those at the helm of key institutions in business and politics,themilitary and diplomacy, and celebrated figures in the popular culture. The questions I have sought to answer are timeless ones: who gets to the top and how? What criteria govern selection and success? what determines rewards? And, perhaps most centrally,who will guard the guardians? A counterpart to macroscale elites is Community and the capacity of citizens to fashion a life in common. and come to care for the public good. Communities can be buffers by offering a human baseline,a set of mediating institutions and significant psychic, material and social resources that are bridges into the macro-society; leadership proves critical here as well. Gender, Family systems, and Social Architecture rounded out my research and teaching. SELECTED PUBLICATIONS: Community: Pursuing the Dream, Living the Reality, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2004 "Male and Female: A Sociological View", General Learning Press, N.J.: 1975, pp. 1-29 Beyond the Ruling Class, Random House, 1963 "Celebrities as a National Elite", POLITICAL ELITES AND SOCIAL CHANGE, MMCzudnowski(ed),Northern Illinois University Press, 1982, pp. 3-14 |
