Robert Granfield
Professor and Chair
Education: Ph.D., Sociology, Northeastern University
Research Interests: Law and Society, Sociology of Drugs and Alcohol, Crime and Deviance, Law and Urban Justice, Occupations and Professions.
Recent Courses:
Soc 481 Drugs, Crime and Justice
Soc 482 Senior Seminar in Law and Society
Soc 562 Sociology of Law
Soc 593 Sociology of Law and Urban Justice
Soc 595 Sociology of Deviance
Bio: Robert Granfield is professor and chair in the Department of Sociology at the State University of New York at Buffalo and is director of the Institute for the Study of Law and Urban Justice. He is also the co-founder of the Initiative on Civic Engagement and Public Policy at University at Buffalo. He is the author of four books and over 50 scholarly articles and reviews in journals including Social Problems, Law and Society Review, Sociological Quarterly, and Sociological Forum. He has two major research interests - a) the study of law and legal institutions with a particular emphasis on the legal profession and b) the sociology of alcohol and drug use with an emphasis on natural recovery from addiction. He is currently conducting research on the institutional dynamics of pro bono legal work, residential foreclosures in Buffalo, and community re-integration of formerly incarcerated drug offenders.
Recent Publications:
"The Meaning of Pro Bono: Institutional Variations in Professional Obligation", Law and Society Review, 2007.
"Institutionalizing Public Service in Law School: Results on the Impact of Mandatory Pro Bono Programs", forthcoming in Buffalo Law Review, 2007.
email: rgranfie [at] buffalo [dot] edu