Faculty Bio

Paul S. Dean

Associate Professor of Sociology and Social Justice; Department Chair; Coordinator of Faculty Onboarding

Education

• A.A.S., Jamestown Community College
• B.A., Binghamton University
• M.A., University of Maryland
• Ph.D., University of Maryland

About

Paul Dean is Associate Professor of Sociology, Adviser for the Social Justice major, Chair of the Sociology-Anthropology Department, and Coordinator of Faculty Onboarding. His teaching and research areas include Stratification and Inequality; Race and Ethnicity; Social Justice; Social Movements; Economic Sociology; Socially Responsible Business; Sociological Theory; Globalization; First-Gen Students; and Service Learning. Along with co-author George Ritzer, he has written two books: Globalization: A Basic Text (2015, 2022) and Globalization: The Essentials (2019). Dr. Dean has also published on corporate social responsibility, stratification across race and class, educational travel, service learning, and even Jack Kerouac's On the Road.

Dr. Dean's current research continues his work on social inequality and justice. In a new book, he is exploring first-gen college graduates who pursue professional work that promotes social and economic justice. Drawing upon 37 in-depth interviews, he examines how first-gen graduates draw upon their working class roots, the role that working-class cultural capital plays in their professional work, and how they navigate middle-class contexts while trying to stay true to their working class roots.

At OWU, Dr. Dean has won the Sherwood Dodge Shankland Award for Encouragement of Teachers (2018), Presidential Award for Racial and Cultural Diversity (2017), and Bishop Francis Emner Kearns Faculty of the Year Award (2016). He is also co-creator and co-editor of The Sociological Cinema, an award-winning website for using video and popular culture to teach and learn sociology.

When he's not working with students or on his research, Dr. Dean loves hiking, relaxing with his family, watching live music, and hanging out with his dog, Kerouac.

Recent Publications

• Paul Dean and Frachesca Nestor. 2024. "Evaluating a Required Antiracism Unit in a First-Year Seminar at a Predominantly White College." Journal on Excellence in College Teaching. [Supplementary Materials]
• George Ritzer and Paul Dean. 2022 (3rd ed.), 2015 (2nd ed.). Globalization: A Basic Text, Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
• Paul Dean, and Claudia Kelly. 2020. "Educational Travel for First-Generation Students." Teaching Sociology 48 (4): 341-352.
• George Ritzer and Paul Dean. 2019. Globalization: The Essentials, 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

Curriculum Vitae (PDF)