Dr. Ben Carrington

Biography

Ben Carrington is widely regarded as one of the world's leading authorities on the sociology of race, politics, and popular culture. Before joining USC Annenberg, he taught at the Department of Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin for 13 years and worked at the University of Brighton in England. He has also served as a visiting Carnegie research fellow at Leeds Beckett University. At USC Annenberg, Carrington holds courtesy appointments in both the Department of Sociology and the Department of American Studies and Ethnicity. His research primarily examines the ideologies of race, gender, class, and nationalism, particularly how these dynamics shape and are shaped by cultural forms and practices. He studies mass media and sports as a way to understand the key sociological dimensions of everyday life, focusing on the racialized, gendered, and classed social structures that constrain and enable social existence. Carrington teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in cultural sociology, post/colonial theory, race, media studies, and journalism, and supervises master's and doctoral students. He has published numerous articles and essays on these topics, alongside four critically acclaimed books, including "Race, Sport, Politics: Sporting Black Diaspora" (Sage, 2010). Additionally, he is a public sociologist who has authored op-eds for publications such as The Guardian and The Huffington Post and regularly appears in news media as a commentator on race, culture, and politics.

Research Interests

Courses