Scarlet Speakers from the Heart of New Brunswick with Paul McLean

Paul McLean is Professor of Sociology at Rutgers—New Brunswick. He teaches courses on social network analysis, sociological theory, political and economic sociology, and the sociology of culture. He also routinely teaches large sections of Introduction to Sociology, currently to 110 students, and recently, to over 500 students in Fall 2020. One main line of his research explores the relationship between social network structure and cultural practices and schemata. The Art of the Network (Duke UP, 2007) treated this relationship by examining political patronage networks and letter-writing in Renaissance Florence. His second book, Culture in Networks (Polity, 2017), explores various ways in which culture and networks intersect across sundry aspects of social life. His other research interests include politics in early modern states, the network organization of the Renaissance economy, Adam Smith’s social theory, contemporary populism, and the cultural and interactional aspects of videogame play. He is a past Chair and Undergraduate Director of his department.