John Foran
· Professor, SociologyUniversity of California, Santa Barbara · Spanish and Portuguese Studies
Active 1955–2026
About
John Foran is a Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, affiliated with the Latin American & Iberian Studies Program. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from UC Berkeley. His academic focus includes social movements and revolutions, and he is involved in teaching and research within these fields. As a faculty member, he contributes to the interdisciplinary study of Latin American and Iberian societies, engaging in scholarly activities that explore social change and collective action in these regions.
Research topics
- Political Science
- Sociology
- Law
- Psychology
- Environmental ethics
- Economics
- Criminology
- History
- Ecology
- Biology
- Philosophy
Selected publications
Clinical Radiology · 2026-03-14
articleClimate Justice Is Social Justice
Oxford University Press eBooks · 2024 · 3 citations
1st authorCorresponding- Political Science
- Sociology
- Criminology
Abstract This chapter introduces the climate justice movement within the context of multiple system failures on a global scale. It begins with a look at the historical and social origins of the climate justice movement and then presents an overview of the incredibly diverse and international movement today. It highlights such diverse movement organizations as the youth-led Sunrise and Fridays for Future movements, Extinction Rebellion, 350.org, the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance, and Acción Ecológica. Because the climate crisis affects multiple arenas, including the economic, social, political, and ecological spheres, it argues that a proper understanding of climate justice requires a broad approach to social justice. It concludes by explaining the need not only to address climate change but also to do so within the context of systemic changes that will address the root causes of both global warming and the need for sustainable economic systems and more participatory democratic political systems.
Transforming the University to Confront the Climate Crisis
2022-02-21 · 1 citations
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingAbstract Drawing on my own experiences at the University of California, Santa Barbara as a college professor of radical social change for 31 years who has been focused on the climate crisis for the past 10, I explore the crisis of higher education with respect to this most pressing existential challenge of the twenty-first century and propose various approaches, actions, activities, and projects for both classroom teachers and networks of educators. These include the UC-CSU NXTerra Knowledge Action Network, the UCSB-developed nearly carbon neutral conference, and engaging students in designing and implementing systemic alternatives outside the classroom in their own communities such as Eco Vista in the 23,000-person community of Isla Vista just adjacent to UC Santa Barbara, among others. The essay will end with a vision of a new type of university, exemplified in the world-spanning Ecoversities Alliance, and dreamed of in Transition U and Eco Vista U, two prototypes that I have been involved in co-creating with students, staff, faculty and community members in Santa Barbara, California, and in the Transition US movement.
American Journal of Sociology · 2021-11-01 · 1 citations
article1st authorCorrespondingRethinking Marxism · 2020 · 1 citations
1st authorCorresponding- Sociology
- Political Science
- Sociology
This essay critically assesses Joel Wainwright and Geoff Mann’s Climate Leviathan, arguing that its excellent framework for thinking about the various possible futures of global climate governance provides valuable strategic and theoretical perspectives for the global climate-justice movement to better fight for its preferred outcome, which the authors call Climate X and which this essay terms, somewhat interchangeably, climate democracy, radical climate justice, or intersectional ecosocialism.
Routledge eBooks · 2020 · 7 citations
1st authorCorresponding- History
The revolutions of the twenty-first century will not resemble those of the twentieth, and that could be a very good thing. It is likely that those who will have the most chance of successfully transforming the world in the direction of positive radical social change will do so through the creative elaboration of more horizontalist, less violent kinds of coalitions/networks/alliances as their vehicles for coming to power. This chapter briefly surveys relatively recent or current movements that trend in this direction and make the argument that what is needed to transform global societies is the emergence of new kinds of parties that come out of and are more tightly coupled with diverse social movements than in the past. Using the United States as a case, I briefly speculate on how a future scenario of this type might unfold. The second half of the chapter explores new ways of thinking about and designing social relations that are emerging in both the global North (degrowth, ecosocialism) and global South (buen vivir, the rights of nature) as allied visions in the making for a global transition away from capitalism toward a better future.
A Framework for the Study of Social Change in Iran
2019-04-09
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingConclusion to Part Two The Theoretical Significance of the Qajar Period
2019-04-09
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingZed Books Ltd · 2019-01-01 · 2 citations
book-chapterZed Books Ltd · 2019-01-01 · 4 citations
book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
Frequent coauthors
- 6 shared
Kum‐Kum Bhavnani
- 3 shared
Saïd Amir Arjomand
State University of New York
- 3 shared
Corrie Grosse
College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University
- 3 shared
Debashish Munshi
University of Waikato
- 3 shared
Jeff Goodwin
New York University
- 3 shared
Priya Kurian
University of Waikato
- 3 shared
Andreja Živković
- 2 shared
Shadi Hamid
Labs
Latin American & Iberian Studies ProgramPI
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