Dr. Ann Branaman

Background

My current research focuses on identity processes in 'emerging adulthood', a term other scholars have used to refer to a developmental phase between adolescence and adulthood. Drawing upon my background in social theory, I analyze how the experience of 'growing up' has changed as a consequence of broader changes in society, culture and political economy. This research involves intensive interviewing and analysis of autobiographical narratives of young, middle-aged and older adults from varied social backgrounds. 

My research of the past two decades has covered a broad range of topics in social theory, including: the social theory of Erving Goffman and Kenneth Burke; psychoanalytical social theory; interaction and inequality; emotions and human rights; feminist social theories of identity; Zygmunt Bauman's theory of gender and sexualities in 'liquid modernity'. 

Published Works

2014. “Feminist and Postfeminist Theory.” Pp. 74-96 in The Handbook of Social and  Cultural Theory, edited by Anthony Elliott. Routledge.

2013. “ Theater as Life: The Seminal Contributions of Kenneth Burke.” Pp. 6-15 in Life  as Performance: A Dramaturgical Handbook, edited by Charles Edgley. Ashgate Publishers.

2012 “Emotions.” In The Handbook of the Sociology of Human Rights, edited by Brunsma, Smith, and Gran. Paradigm Publishers. 

2011 “Feminism and Identity.” In The Handbook of Identity Studies, edited by Anthony Elliott. Routledge.

2010 “Identity and Social Theory.” In The Routledge Companion to Social Theory, edited by Anthony Elliott. Routledge.

2009 “The Protean Goffman: Erving Goffman and the New Individualism.” In The Contemporary Goffman, edited by Michael Hviid Jacobsen. Routledge.

2007 “Gender and Sexuality in Liquid Modernity.” In The Contemporary Bauman, edited by Anthony Elliott. Routledge.

2006 “Contemporary Social Theory and the Sociological Study of Mental Health.” In Mental Health, Social Mirror, edited by Bill Avison, Jane McLeod, and Bernice Pescosolido. Springer Publishing.

2003 “Interaction and Hierarchy in Everyday Life: Goffman and Beyond,” In The Sociology of Face-to-Face Encounters after Erving Goffman, edited by Javier Trevino. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.

2001 "Goffman." In Profiles in Contemporary Social Theory, edited by Anthony Elliot and Bryan Turner. Sage Publications.

2001 The Self and Society Reader. Cambridge, Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers.

2001 "Rational and Irrational Bases of Commitment to Hierarchy in Group Interaction." Advances in Group Processes 18: 31-64.

2000 "The Bonds of Hierarchy: Anglo-American Psychoanalytic-Feminist Theory on Inequality in Intimate Relationships." Current Perspectives in Social Theory 20: 67-89.

1997 The Goffman Reader. Co-edited with Charles Lemert. Cambridge, Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers.

1997 "Goffman's Social Theory." In The Goffman Reader, edited by Charles Lemert and Ann Branaman.

1994 "Reconsidering Kenneth Burke: His Contributions to the Identity Controversy." Sociological Quarterly 35(3):443-455.