Larissa Buchholz is an award-winning sociologist who works at the intersections of the sociology of art and culture, global and transnational sociology, and theory. She also has interests in comparative-historical sociology, the sociology of markets, and the sociology of intellectuals and knowledge. Having earned four graduate degrees (three master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in sociology from Columbia University), Buchholz is an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies and Sociology (by courtesy) at Northwestern University and a faculty fellow at the Critical Realism Network Yale University. Prior to that, she was a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows, breaking barriers as the first woman elected from her discipline.
Buchholz’s recent book, The Global Rules of Art. (Princeton University Press, 2022) examines the emergence of a global cultural field and how artists from formerly colonized or “peripheral” countries reach global recognition after centuries of exclusion and discrimination. Among recent reviews, the book was described as “a stunning scholarly achievement that sets a new standard for sociology,” “theoretically and empirically exceptional,” or “a reference book for now and future generations.” She has additionally published over twenty academic pieces (including peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries), which have been cited by scholars on six continents across the social sciences and humanities.
Buchholz gave keynotes at nationally and internationally leading academic institutions, including Cambridge University, UK, the University of Pennsylvania, USA, the Max Planck Institute Cologne, Germany or Uppsala University, Sweden, among others. Her scholarship has garnered multiple awards, including a Fulbright Award, the Alex Inkeles Prize and Robert K. Merton Award at Columbia University, the outstanding Dissertation Award from the American Sociological Association, a William F. Milton Fund Award at Harvard University, the Junior Theorist Prize of the International Sociological Association, the Junior Theorist Award of the American Sociological Association, or the outstanding recent Alumni Award of Columbia University. In addition to a Fellowship at the Harvard Society of Fellows, she was awarded a Junior Thyssen Fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study, Central European University. In addition to her academic work, Buchholz has engaged in consulting for art organizations in Chicago and around the globe.