Selected research and publications

Evan Schofer on Google Scholar

Higher education, universities, science — and contemporary illiberal & populist attacks of them

  • Scholarship on higher education and science, especially in sociology, centers on educational inequalities. My work, by contrast, focuses on the broader relation of educational institutions to societies, often from a global purview. How does society propel the growth of education? How do those systems of schooling, in turn, reshape society? For instance, how are politics and globalization and environmentalism reshaped by the massification of higher education?

This piece offers an accessible summary of some work:  Schofer, Evan.  2019.  “Schofer Growth of Schooling in Global Perspective.”  Pp. 7-22 (Ch 1) in Education and Society, edited by T. Domina, B. Gibbs, L. Nunn, and A. Penner, University of California Press.

Lerch, Julia C., David J. Frank, and Evan Schofer.  2024.  “The Social Foundations of Academic Freedom:  Heterogeneous Institutions in World Society, 1960-2022.”  American Sociological Review, 89(1):88-125. Academic Freedom ASR LerchFrankSchofer2025

  • ASA Sociology of Education Section James Coleman Award for the Best Article Honorable Mention.

Schofer, Evan, Julia C. Lerch, and John W. Meyer. 2022. “Illiberal Reactions to Higher Education.” Minerva. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-022-09472-x

Lerch, Julia C., Evan Schofer, David J. Frank, Wesley Longhofer, Francisco O. Ramirez, Christine M. Wotipka, and Kristopher Velasco. 2022. “Women’s Participation and Challenges to the Liberal Script: A Global Perspective.” International Sociology, 37, 3:205-329.

Schofer, Evan, Francisco O. Ramirez, and John W. Meyer.  2021.  “The Societal Consequences of Higher Education.”  Sociology of Education.  99(1):1-19.  PDF Link.

Furuta, Jared, Evan Schofer, and Shawn Wick.  2021.  “The Effects of High Stakes Educational Testing on Enrollments in an Era of Hyper-Expansion: Cross-National Evidence, 1960-2010.”  Social Forces, 99, 4:1631-1657.  https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soaa07  PDF Link.

Schofer, Evan, and John W. Meyer. 2005. “The World-Wide Expansion of Higher Education in the Twentieth Century.” American Sociological Review, 70:898-920.  PDF Link.

Drori, Gili, John W. Meyer, Francisco O Ramirez, and Evan Schofer. 2003. Science in the Modern World Polity: Institutionalization and Globalization. Stanford University Press.  Amazon Link.

Cole, Wade M., Evan Schofer, and Kristopher Velasco. 2023. “Individual Empowerment, Institutional Confidence, and Vaccination Rates in Cross-National Perspective, 1995 to 2018.” American Sociological Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/00031224231162869. 2023 Cole Schofer Velasco ASR Indiviudualism Institutions Vaccines

Cole, Wade M. and Evan Schofer. 2023. “Destroying Democracy for the People: The Economic, Social, and Political Consequences of Populist Rule, 1990 to 2017.” Social Problems. https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spac060 Cole Schofer 2023 Effects of Populism

Populism, illiberalism, and weakening of to the liberal international order

Schofer, Evan, Julia C. Lerch, and John W. Meyer.  2022.  “Illiberal Reactions to Higher Education.”  Minerva. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-022-09472-x. Link.

Lerch, Julia C., Evan Schofer, David J. Frank, Wesley Longhofer, Francisco O. Ramirez, Christine M. Wotipka, and Kristopher Velasco.  2022.  “Women’s Participation and Challenges to the Liberal Script:  A Global Perspective.”  International Sociology, 37, 3:205-329. PDF Link.

Politics, NGOs, nonprofit organizations

Schofer, Evan and Wesley Longhofer.  2020.  “The Global Rise of Nongovernmental Organizations.” Pp. 603-617 in Powell, W. and P. Bromley The Nonprofit Sector:  A Research Handbook (3rd ed).  Stanford University Press.  PDF Link.

Forucade, Marion and Evan Schofer. 2016. “Political Structures and Political Mores: Varieties of Politics in Comparative Perspective.” Sociological Science, 3:413-443.  PDF Link.

Schofer, Evan and Wesley Longhofer. 2011. “The Structural Sources of Association.” American Journal of Sociology, 117, 2:539-585.  PDF Link.

Global environmentalism

Evans, Erin M., Evan Schofer, and Ann Hironaka.  2020.  “Globally Visible Environmental Protest: A Cross-national Analysis, 1970–2010.”  Sociological Perspectives, 63, 5:786-808.  https://doi.org/10.1177/0731121420908899  PDF Link.

Longhofer, Wesley and Evan Schofer. 2010. “National and Global Origins of Environmental Association.” American Sociological Review, 75: 505-533.  PDF Link.

Schofer, Evan and Ann Hironaka. 2005. “The Effects of World Society on Environmental Protection Outcomes.” Social Forces, 84, 1:25-47.  PDF Link.

Frank, David J., Ann M. Hironaka, and Evan Schofer. 2000. “The Nation State and the Natural Environment, 1900-1995.” American Sociological Review, 65 (Feb): 96-116.  PDF Link.