About
Mark Austin is a professor of sociology and also serves on the program faculty of the Urban and Public Affairs PhD program. A good deal of his past and current research has focused on issues related to community and urban sociology examining matters such as perceptions of safety, attitudes about growth and the environment, reactions to crime, and factors related to neighborhood satisfaction. While much of his past research has focused on geographically stable communities, in more recent work he has examined issues related to geographically mobile communities with some of his research dealing with community, historical, and subcultural issues involving motorcyclists in American culture. This has also lead to an interest in edgework, the sociology of risk-taking. Additionally, some of his work has combined the use of photography and survey research.
He has received the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching and the President’s Distinguished Award for Teaching.
He is an avid touring motorcyclists, as one might guess from some of his academic work. Additionally, he spends time caring for rescue and foster dogs.
Research
Community Sociology
Urban Sociology
Fear of Crime
Edgework
Teaching Areas
SOC 201 Introduction to Sociology