Visual Sociology (PDF)

Douglas Harper is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Duquesne University, USA. He is a founding member of the International Visual Sociology Association and founding editor of its journal, Visual Studies. His ground-breaking work explores various aspects of visual sociology and makes extensive and creative use of photo elicitation techniques. He is the author of several books, including Good Company (third edition, Routledge, 2016), a pioneering visual ethnography of railroad tramps in the US; Working Knowledge (1992), a sociological examination of a rural bricoleur; and Simboli del fascismo nella Roma del XXI secolo (co-authored with Francesco Mattioli, 2014), which explores public interpretations of fascist symbols in contemporary Italy. He also co-authored visual ethnographies with British sociologist Caroline Knowles (Hong Kong: Migrant Lives, 2009) and on the sociology of food, The Italian Way, with Italian sociologist Patrizia Faccioli (2009). Harper recently co-directed the documentary film, The Longest Journey Begins, on a recovery community in Pittsburgh. His work has appeared in translation, and he has lectured and taught in leading universities in Europe and the US. Now, in semi-retirement, he continues to teach part time and is focussed on the completion of a thirty-year visual ethnography of Piazza Maggiore in Bologna, Italy.