Research/Areas of Interest:
Media, Political Culture, Extreme Incivility, Digital Abuse and Harassment, Public Discourse, Gender, Social Movements
Education
- PhD, Sociology, University at Albany, State University of New York, United States, 2002
- MA, Sociology, American University, United States, 1997
- BA, Political Science, State University of New York at Geneseo, United States, 1993
Biography
Sarah Sobieraj is Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology. Her research focuses on US political culture, extreme incivility, digital abuse and harassment, and the mediated information environment. Her book, Credible Threat: Attacks Against Women Online and the Future of Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2020), examines the impact of identity-based digital abuse on women's participation in social and political discourse.
Sobieraj is also the author of The Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility (Oxford University Press, 2014) with Jeff Berry, and Soundbitten: The Perils of Media-Centered Political Activism (NYU Press, 2011). She also edited (w/ D. Rohlinger) the Oxford Handbook of Digital Media Sociology (Oxford University Press, 2023), and (w/ R. Boatright, D. Young, and T. Schaffer) A Crisis of Civility?: Political Discourse and Its Discontents (Routledge, 2019).
Sobieraj's most recent journal articles can be found in Information, Communication & Society, Social Problems, PS: Political Science & Politics, Poetics, and Political Communication. Her work has been featured in venues such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Politico, Vox, CNN, PBS, NPR, the American Prospect, National Review, the Atlantic, Pacific Standard, and Salon.
In her free time, Professor Sobieraj can usually be found with her nose in a novel, talking politics, playing cards, or indulging in a good binge-watch.
Sobieraj is also the author of The Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility (Oxford University Press, 2014) with Jeff Berry, and Soundbitten: The Perils of Media-Centered Political Activism (NYU Press, 2011). She also edited (w/ D. Rohlinger) the Oxford Handbook of Digital Media Sociology (Oxford University Press, 2023), and (w/ R. Boatright, D. Young, and T. Schaffer) A Crisis of Civility?: Political Discourse and Its Discontents (Routledge, 2019).
Sobieraj's most recent journal articles can be found in Information, Communication & Society, Social Problems, PS: Political Science & Politics, Poetics, and Political Communication. Her work has been featured in venues such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Politico, Vox, CNN, PBS, NPR, the American Prospect, National Review, the Atlantic, Pacific Standard, and Salon.
In her free time, Professor Sobieraj can usually be found with her nose in a novel, talking politics, playing cards, or indulging in a good binge-watch.