Ronald Stuart Burt

Ronald Stuart Burt
Born	1949
Citizenship	United States
Nationality	United States
Fields	Mathematical sociology, social networks
Institutions	University of Chicago (1993– ) Columbia University (1982–1993) University of California, Berkeley (1976–1983)
Alma mater	Johns Hopkins University (B.A., 1971) University at Albany, SUNY (M.S., 1973) University of Chicago (Ph.D., 1977)
Doctoral advisor	James Samuel Coleman
Known for	Structural holes, network models of social capital
Notable awards	Distinguished Scholar of Organizations and Management Theory, Academy of Management (2007) Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1993) Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (1984)

Ronald Stuart Burt (born 1949) is an American sociologist and the Hobart W. Williams Professor of Sociology and Strategy at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is most notable for his research and writing on social networks and social capital, particularly the concept of structural holes in a social network.

Biography

Originally a pre-medical major, Burt earned his B.A. in social and behavioral sciences from Johns Hopkins University in 1971 with a focus on social psychology. He earned a M.A. in Sociology from The State University of New York at Albany in 1973 working with Nan Lin. He moved to the University of Chicago to work with mathematical sociology professor James Samuel Coleman and earned his Ph.D. in Sociology in 1977. His dissertation committee also included the social network analyst Edward Laumann.

Prior to joining the University of Chicago in 1993, he was a professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University. He is also the former Shell Professor of Human Resources at INSEAD and has held various organizational development positions at Raytheon.

He currently resides in the Chicago metropolitan area.

Research

He is the author of several books on sociology, organization behavior and network analysis, including Structural Holes: The Social Structure of Competition (Harvard University Press, 1992) and Brokerage and Closure: An Introduction to Social Capital (Oxford University Press, 2005) His research has been published in numerous academic journals, including Administrative Science Quarterly, American Journal of Sociology, Journal of Organization Behavior, Organization Science, Social Networks, Sociological Inquiry, and others.

External links

• University of Chicago homepage