Committee on Social Theory

The mission of the Committee on Social Theory is to provide graduate students with the opportunity to pursue and obtain an interdisciplinary social theory certificate at the University of Tennessee. The Committee's activities – which include the organization of conferences (such as the 2014 Conference of the International Social Theory Consortium) and scheduling lectures by outside speakers as well as members of the Committee, and graduating students – constitute a context for students to complement or counterbalance the disciplinary orientations of graduate studies within particular departments, with an inter-, multi- or trans-disciplinary perspective.  The latter includes – but is not limited to – the establishment or deepening of links between the humanities and the social sciences, between particular social sciences, or between the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. 

Among the Committee's activities are weekly sessions of thew Critical Theory Reading Group that has been discussing books in theory for more than twenty-five years.  Currently, more than two dozen faculty members from several departments especially in the College of Arts and Sciences participate in the Committee.  For past and future events, click on the related link.