Profile

Rachel Harvey

• Postdoctoral Research Scholar
  Committee on Global Thought
  Columbia University

Rachel Harvey’s earned her PhD in Sociology from the University of Chicago. Her research focuses on the importance of social and cultural factors in economic globalization. In her dissertation she examined the role of sociocultural processes in the globalization of a financial market based in London, England. Her research indicated that tradition, custom, and place were central in the transformation of the London Gold Fixing from an international market into a global formation. While her dissertation focused on the global city, her master’s paper turned its attention to the global hinterland. This project focused on the impact of the economic and cultural globalization on a small rural town, Elko, Nevada, in a major gold producing region. In this instance, global forces fostered a regional backlash against political and cultural structures associated with globalization. She was the recipient of the University of Chicago’s department of sociology’s Century Fellowship, the University of Chicago’s Overseas Dissertation Research Fellowship, and the University of Chicago’s Markovitz Dissertation Fellowship. She has been active in the International Sociological Association’s Community Research Committee. In addition she was a member of both the American Journal of Sociology’s book and manuscript review boards. Her general interests include economic sociology, globalization, historical sociology, culture, social movements, the urban/rural divide, and political culture.