Bruce Hoffman

[pdf format]

 

Education

University of Washington, Ph.D. in Sociology (2004).
Area Specializations: Deviance & Social Control, Institutional Analysis

Indiana University, M.A. in Criminal Justice (2000).
Qualifying Exams: Theoretical Criminology, Law & Society

Indiana University, B.A., Honors, in Philosophy; History; Certificate in Jewish Studies (1995).
Thesis: The Early Thought of Emil Fackenheim

Eastern Mennonite College, Harrisonburg, Virginia (1990-91).

 

Ph.D. Dissertation

The Cultural Power of Law: The Criminalization, Mobilization, and Organization of Direct-Entry Midwifery.

My study investigates how law has shaped the self-conception and organization of contemporary direct-entry midwifery in the United States. Law exerts an influence by the criminalization of midwifery in many states, and by midwives' consequent need to engage with state legislatures in pursuit of legal recognition through licensure. Through researching midwives' involvement with state legislatures over the last three decades and their simultaneous efforts to develop state and national organizations in support of their cause, I seek to explain whether and how midwives' encounter with the law has transformed the character of midwifery in any lasting way.

Committee: Katherine Beckett, chair; Robert C. Crutchfield; Gary Hamilton; Debra Minkoff.

 

Articles and Book Chapters

“Minding the Gap: Legal Ideals and Strategic Action in State Legislative Hearings.” Law & Social Inquiry 33 (2008): 89-126.

“The Science and Politics of Reducing Child Victimization.” Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 24 (2008): 103-113..

“Staging an Execution: The Media at McVeigh.”  With Michelle Brown. Forthcoming in K. Hayward and M. Presdee, eds., Cultural Criminology and the Image: Framing Crime in Late Modernity.  London: Cavendish Press.

"Conquest Traditions, Conflict Transformation, and the Cultural Boundaries of Criminology: Rigoberta Menchú and Criminological Science.”  Forthcoming in Contemporary Justice Review 11:4 (2008) .

“Mother Blame and Delinquency Claims: Maternal Responsibility and Juvenile Delinquency in Expert Discourses.”  With Thomas Vander Ven. 2007. In Youth Violence and Delinquency Interventions edited by Marilyn D. McShane and Frank P. Williams III.  Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.

"Challenging Medicine: Law, Resistance, and the Cultural Politics of Childbirth." With Katherine Beckett. Law & Society Review 39 (2005): 125-70.

 

Edited Volumes

Teaching the Sociology of Deviance.  With Ashley Demyan. Sixth Edition.  Washington, D.C., American Sociological Association.

 

Manuscripts in Progress

“Criminology and its History: The Social Role of Historical Narratives for the Construction of Contemporary Criminological Science.”  Under Review.

“Evidence-Based Activism: Adoption and Adaptation of Medical Science by Independent Midwives.”  Under Review.

'The Central Problem of Culture in David Garland's Thought." Working Paper.

“Midwifery Research and Advocacy as Feminist Practice: Translations and Transformations of Social Science.”  With Katherine Prown. Working Paper.

The Revolution Will Not Be Medicalized: Independent Midwifery and the Law in California, Oregon, and Washington. Working Monograph.

"Who Are We? Crime, Science, and Criminology in C.S.I." With Michelle Brown. Working Paper.

 

Grants and Awards

2004: "The Revolution Will Not be Medicalized: Law, Culture, and the Development of Independent Midwifery in California, Oregon, and Washington." Ohio University Research Committee, Ohio University ($6250)
2004: International Travel Fund Award, University International Council, Ohio University
2002: Dissertation Support Grant, University of Washington Department of Sociology
2001: Fellow, University of Washington Center for Comparative Law and Society Studies
2001: Grant for Documentary Film Production, University of Washington
1998: Teaching Excellence Recognition Award, Indiana University Board of Trustees

 

Presentations

“Drafting Law’s Future: Justice Architects and the Courthouse Design Process.”  To be presented at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting (St. Louis, MO: November 2008).

“An Examination of Theoretical Trends and Patterns in Criminology from 1964 to Present.”  With Michelle Brown, Christopher Kast, and Thomas Vander Ven. To be presented at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting (St. Louis, MO: November 2008).

“The Material Construction of Justice: The Design Process of Legal Architecture.”  To be presented at the Law and Society Association Annual Meeting (Montreal, QC: May 2008).

Participant.  The Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Annual Meeting (Cincinnati, OH: March 2008).

“Modeling Justice: Inventing and Implementing the ‘Criminal Justice System’ (on the 40th Anniversary of the 1967 President’s Commission).”  Presented at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting. Atlanta, GA: November 2007.

“Modeling Justice: Inventing and Implementing the ‘Criminal Justice System.’”  Presented at the Society for Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting. Montreal, QC: October 2007.

“Evidence-Based Activism: Adoption and Adaptation of Medical Science by Independent Midwives.”  Presented at the Society for Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting. Vancouver, British Columbia. November 2006.

Chair. "Law: Above and Below Science." Panel held at the Society for Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting. Vancouver, British Columbia. November 2006.

"The Central Problem of Culture for David Garland's Thought." Presented at the Law and Society Association Annual Meeting. Baltimore, Maryland. July 2006.

Discussant. "Domestic and International Constructions of Criminal Offenses and Defenses." Panel held at the Law and Society Association Annual Meeting. Baltimore, Maryland. July 2006.

Participant.  The Second International Conference on Cultural Criminology. London, UK. May 2006.

"Law, Solidarity, and Social Movements in the Lives of Midwives and Welfare Mothers." With John Gilliom. The Law and Society Association Annual Meeting. Las Vegas, Nevada. June 2005.

"Institutionalizing Midwifery's Red Guard: Mobilizing and Legalizing Independent Midwifery in Washington State." Presented at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting. Nashville, Tennessee. November 2004.

“Who Are We?: What C.S.I. Teaches Us About Criminology.”  With Michelle Brown.  Paper presented at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting. Nashville, Tennessee. November 2004.

“Tracing the Historical Trajectory of Criminological Theory, 1964 to Present.”  With Brent Funderburk, Michelle Brown, and Thomas Vander Ven.  Poster presented at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting. Nashville, Tennessee. November 2004.

“Establishing Expertise in Legislative Settings: Scientific Boundary-work between Midwives and Public Representatives.”  Paper presented at the special joint meetings of the Society for the Scientific Study of Science and The European Association for the Study of Science and Technology. Paris, France. August 2004.

“Legal Ideals and Strategic Action in State Legislative Hearings.”  Paper presented at the Law & Society Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, Illinois: May 2004.

“Who Are We?  Representations of Crime, Science, and Criminology in C.S.I.”  With Michelle Brown.  Paper presented at the Law & Society Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, IL. May 2004.

"The Constitutive Power of Law: The Criminalization, Mobilization, and Organization of Independent Midwifery." Paper presented at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting. Denver, Colorado. November, 2003.

"Back to Basics: Service Learning as Civic Engagement." With Jon Agnone. Presented at the International Conference of Civic Education Research. New Orleans, Louisiana. November 2003.

Panel Chairperson and Discussant. "Civic Education and the University." The International Conference of Civic Education Research. New Orleans, Louisiana. November 2003.

Panel Organizer (with Katherine J. Curtis White) and Discussant. "Place Represented: Spatial and Symbolic Conceptualizations." The Pacific Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Vancouver, British Columbia. April, 2002.

"Approaches and Issues to the History of Criminology: An Exercise in the Sociology of Science." Paper presented at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting. Toronto, Ontario. November, 1999.

"'How Should We Do the History of Criminology?' History, Sociology, and Philosophy in the Writings of David Garland." Paper presented at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C. November, 1998.

"'Natural' Crime Prevention? Gender, Place, and Environmental Criminology." Paper presented at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting. Washington, D.C. November, 1998.

"Cultural Tradition, Historical Experience, and Active Resistance: Mayan Transformations of Guatemala's Culture of Conflict." Paper presented at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Annual Meeting. Albuquerque, New Mexico. March, 1998.

"Challenges to the Justification of Human Rights: Universality, Consensus, and Narrative." Paper presented at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, New Mexico. March, 1998.

"The Rise and Fall of Alfred Blumstein's 'Total Criminal Justice System': Systems Analysis, Information Technology, and the Concept of Criminal Justice as a 'System.'" Paper presented at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting, San Diego, California. November, 1997.

"Why Criminologists Need-and Need to Move Beyond-Foucault: Foucault's Historical Method and Contemporary Criminological Practice." Paper presented at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting, San Diego, California. November, 1997.

"Systems Theory, Cybernetics, and the Modeling of the Criminal Justice 'System.'" Paper presented at the Edwin H. Sutherland Colloquia, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. November, 1997.

"Theoretical and Methodological Difficulties of Observational Data Sets: A Critical Assessment of Recent Studies of the Effect of Citizen Demeanor on the Arrest Decision." Paper presented at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Annual Meeting. Louisville, Kentucky. March, 1997.

"Resistance and the Moral Self: David Garland's Critique of Foucault." Paper presented at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Annual Meeting. Louisville, Kentucky. March, 1997.

 

Teaching

Soc 101: Introduction to Sociology
Soc 362: Criminology
Soc 406: Sociology of Science (Senior Capstone)
Soc 464/564: Law in Societies
Soc 603: Seminar in Crime and Deviance

Hist 269U: Introduction to Jewish Civilization and Culture (Topics: Athens and Jerusalem; Judaism and the Challenges of Modernity”)

Honors Tutorial College: Tutorials in Social Theory, Criminological Theory, Criminal Justice, Introduction to Sociology

 

Computer Instructional Support:
Present: Design and maintain www.crimetheory.com, an educational resource for the learning, researching, and teaching of theoretical criminology. Averaging 60,000 hits yearly.
1986: Authored Talisman, internationally distributed computer game teaching ancient history.

 

Professional Memberships and Service

American Society of Criminology (ASC)
American Sociological Association (ASA)
Law & Society Association (LSA)
Society for Social Studies of Science (4S)
Journal Referee for Criminal Justice
Journal Referee for Criminology
Journal Referee for Theoretical Criminology

 

Filmography

"MedTV" (3:00). Montage of medical representations of pregnancy.

"Staging an Execution: The Media at McVeigh" (30:00). With Michelle Brown. What 1400 media asked-and didn't ask-in the absence of expected protests at the execution of Timothy McVeigh. Original footage shot in Terre Haute, Indiana, including interviews with local, state, national, and international media. Funded by a grant from the University of Washington.

"The Wheel" (9:00). Cityscape of Paris, in the tradition of early social documentarians Walter Ruckmann, Dziga Vertov, and Jean Vigo.

 

Department Service

Budget and Merit Committee (2005-Present)
Department Web Coordinator (2005-Present)
Faculty Handbook Editor (2005-Present)
Curriculum Committee (2003-Present)
Technology Committee (2003-Present)
Graduate Committee (2005-06)
Honors Tutorial Director (2004-05)
Criminology Search Committee (2004-05)
Planning and Leaves Committee (2004-05)
Library Committee (2003-04)

 

University Service

Tutor, Honors Tutorial College, Ohio University (2004-Present)
Ohio University-Zanesville Sociology Search Committee (2007-08)
Jewish Studies Certificate Planning Committee (2006-Present)
Bachelor of Criminal Justice Committee (2005-Present)
Bachelor of Special Studies Advisor (2005-Present)
Ohio Up Close Participant (2005-Present)
Friends of the Library Reading Day Participant (2005)
Majors Fair Participant (2004-05)
New Faculty Orientation, Discussant (2004)
Preview Day for future students, representing Anthropology and Sociology (2004)
University Common Book Day, Discussion Leader (2004))

 

Research and Teaching Interests

Crimonological Theory
Introduction to Sociology
Law and Society
Social Theory
Sociology of Science
Social Movements
Sociology of Medicine