Sarah Soule

Research Statement

Sarah A. Soule's research examines state and organizational-level policy change and diffusion, and the role social movements have on these processes. She has recently published papers on how protest impacts multi-national firm-level decisions regarding divestment in Burma, and on how advocacy organizations learn new strategies and tactics from those with which they collaborate. She is currently working on a study of how protest affects the outcomes of shareholder resolutions, and another study of how advocacy organizations innovate. She has published a book with Cambridge University Press, entitled Contention and Corporate Social Responsibility. Recent published work has appeared in the American Journal of Sociology, Administrative Science Quarterly, the American Sociological Review, Organizational Studies, the Strategic Management Journal, and the Annual Review of Sociology.

Teaching Statement

Sarah A. Soule teaches courses on Strategy, Organizational Design, and Design Thinking.

Bio

Soule is the Morgridge Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and senior associate dean for academic affairs. Her major areas of interest are organizational theory, social movements, and political sociology. She has written two books, the first with Cambridge University Press, entitled Contention and Corporate Social Responsibility, and the second with Norton, called A Primer on Social Movements. She is a member of the founding team of Sociological Science, and serves on the editorial boards of Stanford University Press and Cambridge University Press. Her recent research has been published in the American Journal of Sociology, Annual Review of Sociology, American Sociological Review, and the Administrative Science Quarterly. She has served on a number of boards of nonprofit organizations, is currently a member of the board of advisors to the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (the Stanford d.school), and the international advisory board to the president of the Stockholm School of Economics.

Academic Degrees

• PhD in Sociology, Cornell University, 1995
• MA in Sociology, Cornell University, 1991
• BA in Sociology, University of Vermont, 1989

Academic Appointments

• At Stanford University since 2008

Awards and Honors

• Hank McKinnell-Pfizer Inc. Faculty Fellow, Stanford Graduate School of Business, 2014-2015

Books

• Contention and Corporate Social Responsibility
  Sarah A. Soule Cambridge Univeristy Press New York 2009