Michèle Lamont
· Brandeis University Professor of Social SciencesHarvard University · Social Studies and Policy
Active 1982–2026
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About
Michèle Lamont is a cultural sociologist who studies morality, group boundaries, and inequality. She has tackled topics such as dignity, respect, stigma, racism, and how we evaluate social worth across societies in her books. Her research focuses on recognition, dignity, and social worth, examining how these concepts shape social interactions and inequalities.
Research topics
- Political Science
- Sociology
- Environmental resource management
- Environmental ethics
- Geography
- Biology
- Ecology
- Environmental planning
- Economics
- Philosophy
Selected publications
Our future in the Anthropocene biosphere
AMBIO · 2021 · 660 citations
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed an interconnected and tightly coupled globalized world in rapid change. This article sets the scientific stage for understanding and responding to such change for global sustainability and resilient societies. We provide a systemic overview of the current situation where people and nature are dynamically intertwined and embedded in the biosphere, placing shocks and extreme events as part of this dynamic; humanity has become the major force in shaping the future…
Social Science & Medicine · 2022 · 38 citations
Recreating a Plausible Future: Combining Cultural Repertoires in Unsettled Times
Sociological Science · 2023-01-01 · 33 citations
articleOpen accessThis article analyzes how young adults draw on cultural resources to understand their identities, aspirations, and goals when taken-for-granted scripts of success are perceived as less desirable or achievable. Drawing on pragmatism, we propose the concept of 'plausible futures' to capture how people rearrange elements within cultural repertoires as a practical and moral project to define their identities, aspirations, and goals. We draw on interviews with 80 college students concerning how they…
Our Future in the Anthropocene Biosphere: Global sustainability and resilient societies
SSRN Electronic Journal · 2020 · 21 citations
Economic Inequality and Mental Health: Causality, Mechanisms, and Interventions
Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · 2025-05-07 · 10 citations
reviewOpen accessAlmost all countries in the world have witnessed a rapid increase in levels of economic inequality, a measure of the distribution of income and wealth across the population, since the advent of neoliberal economic policies in the 1970s. In this review, we conceptualize inequality as an ecological construct and discuss why it matters for the mental health of populations and for individual clinical outcomes. We then discuss some of the key mechanisms through which economic inequality influences me…
Recent grants
African American Responses to Racism and Discrimination
NSF · $243k · 2007–2010
Frequent coauthors
- 54 shared
Virág Molnár
New School
- 28 shared
Alan Warde
- 27 shared
Vivien Walsh
London School of Economics and Political Science
- 27 shared
Ken Green
Australian National University
- 27 shared
Carole Cohen
Princeton University
- 27 shared
Andrew McMeekin
- 27 shared
G. M.P. Swann
- 27 shared
Mark Tomlinson
Providence Health & Services
Awards & honors
- President of the American Sociological Association in 2016
- Elected member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
- Elected member of the American Philosophical Society
- Elected member of the British Academy
- Elected member of the Royal Society of Canada
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