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Steven Spitzer, PhD

Professor Emeritus, Sociology

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Education

  • PhD, Indiana University
  • MA, University of Maryland
  • BA, University of Maryland

Research Interests

  • Men in Prison
  • Initiation and Transformation in Correctional Settings
  • Masculinity and Justice
  • Gender Imagery, Role Performance and Mass Media

Employment History

  • 1985-2017
    Professor of Sociology, Suffolk University
  • 1980-1985
    Associate Professor of Sociology, Suffolk University
  • 1979-1980
    Postdoctoral Fellow in Law and Sociology, Harvard University
  • 1977-1980
    Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Northern Iowa
  • 1971-1977
    Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania

Publications

  • Spitzer, S. and A.T. Scull 2008. Privatization and Capitalist Development: The Case of the Private Police, International Library of Criminology, Criminal Justice & Penology (Second Series).
  • Spitzer, S. 2006. Ice Men (Poem) Smudgestick: Newsletter of the New England Men’s Network.
  • Spitzer, S. 2002. Reaching Men in the Shadows: Men’s Circles in Prison Settings, Section 51 Newsletter of the American Psychological Association.
  • S. Spitzer. 1999. The Rationalization of Crime Control in Capitalist Society, in I. Taylor, Crime and Political Economy.
  • S. Spitzer. 1996. Punishment and Social Organization: A Study of Durkheim’s Theory of Penal Evolution in A.J. Trevino, The Sociology of Law: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives.
  • Spitzer, S. 1995. Security and Control in Capitalist Societies: The Fetishism of Security and the Secret Thereof, in R.V. Ericson, Crime and the Media.
  • S. Spitzer and S. Hicks. 1991. Myth and Law in Integrated Studies, Focus on Law Studies (American Bar Association).
  • Spitzer, S. 1979-1988 (Editor) Research in Law, Deviance and Social Control (JAI Press). Recent Oral Presentations
  • Spitzer, S. 2007. Generativity Scripts in Prison Circles, Changing Lives Through Literature, Winter Training (Boston).
  • Spitzer, S. 2006. In the Belly of the Beast: The Web of Demands, Interests and Meaning in Prison Work, Keynote Address, High Plains Society for Applied Anthropology (Denver).
  • Spitzer, S. 2003. Healing Within: Circles Within and Beyond Prison Walls, The Mankind Project Summer Conference (Philadelphia).
  • Spitzer, S. 2000. Native American Models of Justice in Urban Contexts, American Society of Criminology (San Francisco).

Professional Activities

  • 2002-present, President, Jericho Circle Project, Inc.
  • 2007 Chair, Ron Hering Award Committee, (MKP New England)
  • 2005-present, Research Director, “Inside Stories: The Lives of Men in Prison”

Other Activities and Awards

  • 2008 and 2007 Living in Mission Grant Award (MKP New England)
  • 2006 Volunteer of the Year at Bay State Correctional Center (D.O.C.)
  • 2003 Ron Hering Mission of Service Award (Mankind Project International)
  • 2001-2008 Organizer and Coordinator, Jericho Circle Project, Men’s Circles and Weekend Workshops at the following correctional institutions: FMC Devens, MCI-Cedar Junction, Bay State Correctional Center, Hampshire County House of Correction, Adult Correctional Institution-Cranston, Rhode Island.

Grant Support

  • Sociological Initiatives Foundation/Shaw Foundation. Closing the Circle: Men’s Groups From Community to Prisons to Community (2004-2005).
  • Helen and William Mazer Foundation. Daddy Stories from the Inside Out (2004-2005).
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