About

José Itzigsohn is a Professor of Sociology at Brown University with a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University obtained in 1995. His research focuses on developing sociological theory, particularly a Du Boisian sociology and decolonizing sociological theory, as well as examining identity and group formation processes related to racialization and colonial capitalism. He is also interested in alternative economic organizations, including cooperative and solidarity economies. Itzigsohn has authored several books, notably 'The Sociology of W. E. B. Du Bois: Racialized Modernity and the Global Color Line,' which explores Du Bois's contributions to sociological theory and urban sociology, emphasizing a critique of racialized modernity. His work traces the global and historical development of racial and colonial capitalism, positioning Du Bois as a foundational figure in this critique. Additionally, he authored 'Developing Poverty,' analyzing the informal economy in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 'Encountering American Fault-Lines,' which examines the experiences of Dominican immigrants in the United States and how class and racial structures shape their trajectories and identities. His research has been recognized with awards, including the 2009 Best Book Award from the American Sociological Association Latino/a Sociology Section. Itzigsohn teaches courses on race and ethnicity, sociological theory, development, and comparative historical sociology, contributing to the academic community through his scholarly work and teaching at Brown University.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Social Science
• Political Science
• Anthropology
• Epistemology
• Law

Selected publications

• A Du Boisian Sociological Imagination: The Black Radical Tradition, Marxism and Du Boisian Sociology

  British Journal of Sociology · 2025-01-16 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  W. E. B. Du Bois is finally recognized as one of the founders of sociology, a social theorist, and a methodological innovator. The recognition of Du Bois' work is accompanied by the emergence of a contemporary Du Boisian sociology. This sociology takes inspiration from the work of Du Bois, but it does not limit itself to his work. It aims to bring into sociology the work of scholars that so far have been confined to the margins of the discipline, among them, Franz Fanon and Stuart Hall. Yet, as Du Bois work gets increasing visibility, important debates emerge. One of these debates concerns Du Bois' relation to Marxism, and the relationship between Du Boisian sociology to Marxist sociology. Marxist sociologists argue that Du Bois' late work, as well as the work of Franz Fanon and Stuart Hall, belongs in the Marxist tradition. In this essay I argue that while Du Bois, Fanon, and Hall were sympathetic to Marxism, their work cannot be encapsulated within the Marxist tradition. The question of the human was central to their thought. Moreover, for them colonialism and racism structure identity, lived experience and politics under capitalism in ways that are not reducible to class and class conflict. The Marxist appropriation of their work diminishes its originality and precludes the discipline from questioning the coloniality of its historical silences and its epistemic limits.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Introduction: <i>Black Reconstruction</i> After 90 Years

  Sociological Forum · 2025-12-15

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  ABSTRACT In 1935, W. E. B. Du Bois published one of the most important pieces of historical scholarship from the twentieth century, Black Reconstruction in America: An Essay Toward a History of the Part Which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860–1880. While the book has received significant discussion in disciplines such as Black studies, history, American studies, and political science, sociologists in general have been slow to discuss this momentous piece of scholarship. This disciplinary oversight is interesting, given that Black Reconstruction has much to offer across a range of sociology's subfields, such as comparative historical sociology, political sociology, sociology of race and ethnicity, and sociology of labor. In order to redress this disciplinary oversight, we arranged for a plenary panel on Black Reconstruction on its 90th anniversary at the Decolonizing Sociology mini‐conference of the Eastern Sociological Society's (ESS) annual meeting of 2025. This special section of Sociological Forum—ESS's flagship journal—draws upon that plenary panel.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Decolonizing Sociology

  Oxford University Press eBooks · 2024 · 9 citations

  • Sociology
  • Sociology
  • Anthropology

  Abstract As scholars and movements pay increased attention to decolonizing universities, in particular, and knowledge production in general, there is a need for a healthy and critical conversation about what decolonization actually means and what it might look like, for both the discipline of sociology and the work of sociologists. This plenary brings together sociologists from around the globe to deconstruct how the discipline has articulated, nurtured, and reconstructed imperialism and its attendant racism, patriarchy, and exploitation. More importantly, however, these scholar activists envision and discuss the challenges and transformations that decolonization will bring to the tasks of not only interpreting the world but also changing it.

  PublisherDOI

• Why Now? Thoughts on the Du Boisian Revolution

  Sociology Compass · 2024-08-01 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access

  ABSTRACT In this editorial collection, five sociologists share their opinions on why there has been a recent proliferation of scholarship on Du Bois, and summarize their own position in relation to this intellectual area. Ranging from reflections on how they “discovered” Du Bois's works, through to assessments of American sociology's reception of Du Bois's scholarship, the idea of this brief piece is to provide an insight into some of the potential driving forces behind the boom in Du Boisian scholarship.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Rethinking Historical Sociology

  Du Bois Review Social Science Research on Race · 2024-10-11 · 9 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract For too long, questions of racism and colonialism have not been part of historical sociology’s understanding of modernity. Yet, a new generation of scholars has begun to address this, placing racism and empire at the center of their inquiries. This new generation looks to previously marginalized scholars for guidelines and inspiration. In line with this shift in historical sociology, this paper brings the work of W.E.B. Du Bois and other writers in the Black Radical Tradition to bear on longer-standing analytic and methodological debates: How do these authors allow us to think about theory-building and comparison? What is the goal of explanation? How should we approach archives and sources? Building on these insights, this paper explains how the work of Du Bois and the Black Radical Tradition provides a model for a new historical sociology, and a framework that allows us to see the connections between racism, colonialism, and modernity.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Review Of: Creolizing the Modern

  Journal of World-Systems Research · 2023-03-21 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Decolonizing Migration Studies: A Du Boisian/Decolonial Perspective¹

  Sociological Forum · 2023-07-20 · 17 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  This essay addresses my current thinking on the question of the decolonization of the sociology of migration. Coloniality in knowledge production means that knowledge systems are founded in the ways of seeing created by colonialism. To decolonize a field means to think beyond these ways of seeing. This essay first identifies the key ways through which coloniality is expressed in the sociology of migration and then it presents an alternative decolonial approach based on the sociology of W. E. B. Du Bois. I show how this approach may reshape the field by a critical examination of my own work.

  PublisherDOI

• On Decolonizing Sociology

  Transilvania · 2023 · 20 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Sociology
  • Social Science

  There is a growing interest in decolonizing Sociology. Yet, there is no agreed upon definition of what this entails. In this essay I address two questions related to the decolonizing sociology effort. The first one is whether sociology has a mainstream and, if so, how can we describe it? In discussing this question, I also address the relationship between sociology and science. The second question is how do we go about decolonizing the discipline? I present the outlines of a proposal to decolonize sociology’s methodologies and practices and I also discuss the differences between alternative approaches and the question of what labels should we use. I don’t presume to have definitive answers to these questions. I offer these reflections as a contribution to the effort of rethinking sociology, a process that needs to be a collective endeavor.

  PublisherDOI

• Is Sociology Worth Saving? A Conversation with José Itzigsohn and Vilna Bashi

  Sociology of Race and Ethnicity · 2023-05-30

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Sociology and the Theory of Double Consciousness

  2022-04-05 · 7 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  I could see that the scientific task of the twentieth century would be to explore and measure the scope of chance and unreason in human action, which does not yield to argument but changes slowly and with difficulty after long study and careful development.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Karida L. Brown

  Emory University

  17 shared

• Matthias vom Hau

  12 shared

• Marcelo A. Bohrt

  4 shared

• Aldon Morris

  4 shared

• Fatma Müge Göçek

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  4 shared

• Marion Orr

  3 shared

• Ricarda Hammer

  University of California, Berkeley

  3 shared

• Ali Meghji

  University of Cambridge

  3 shared

Education

• B.A.

  Johns Hopkins

  1995

Awards & honors

• Encountering American Faultlines: Class, Race, and the Domin…