Joseph Berger

Joseph Berger is an American theoretical sociologist and a Professor Emeritus. After earning his doctoral degree in sociology at Harvard University in the 1950s, he established a theoretical and experimental research program at Stanford University. The program, Expectation States Theory, has many branches and through his mentorship of generations of graduate students, this program has been a unique example of the growth of knowledge in sociology through chains of theory development accompanied by experimental tests and refinements. In addition, Berger, along with collaborators, has edited a large number of books to which invited scholars have contributed papers that elaborate upon one or another "sociological theory in progress."

Edited books (partial list)

*Sociological Theories in Progress, Vol. I, 1966
*Sociological Theories in Progress, Vol. II, 1972
*Sociological Theories in Progress, New Formulations, 1989
*New Directions in Contemporary Sociological Theory, 2002