Sociology

Education

2011 Ph.D. in Sociology, Virginia Tech

2004 M.S. in Sociology, Virginia Tech

Teaching Areas

Consumption, Consumerism, Culture, Public Sociology, Activism

Research Interests

Ethical Consumption, Anti-sweatshop Organizing, Labor Rights

Biography

My teaching, research, and service interests focus on nuanced forms of political and public participation within the context of consumer cultures. In particular, I am interested in the unconventional ways consumers leverage power to enact social change. I examine political and ethical consumerism as alternative forms of political action in a globalized world. I have been actively involved in the anti-sweatshop movement since 2007, and currently serve as the faculty advisor for United Students Against Sweatshops-VCU, Local 804.

Select Publications

2019 Katz, Meredith A. “Boycotting and Buycotting in Consumer Cultures: Political Consumerism in North America.” Pp. 515-537 in The Oxford Handbook on Political Consumerism edited by Magnus Boström, Michele Micheletti, and Peter Oosterveer.

2017 Katz, Meredith A. “’The Sweatshop Effect’: Consumer Activism and the Anti- sweatshop Movement on College Campuses.” Pp. 243-254 in Shopping for Change: The Possibilities and Pitfalls of Consumer Resistance edited by Louis Hyman and Joseph Tohill. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press and Toronto: Between the Lines Press.

2017 Katz, Meredith A. and Helen V. Mays. “Materialism and the Middle Class” in The American Middle Class: An Economic Encyclopedia of Progress and Poverty edited and compiled by Robert Rycroft. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood Publishing Group.

2016 Katz, Meredith A. “Pedagogical Approaches to Teaching the Sociology of Consumption.” Consume This! Blog (American Sociological Association section on Consumers and Consumption), November.

2016 Katz, Meredith A. “Teaching Public Sociology Online.” Teaching/Learning Matters: American Sociological Association’s Newsletter for the Section on Teaching and Learning in Sociology, Winter 2016.