University of Gothenburg
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Abby Peterson

Professor Emerita

Department of Sociology and Work
Science
Telephone
+46 31-786 53 50
Mail
abby.peterson@gu.se
Visiting address
Skanstorget 18
41122 Göteborg
Postal address
Box 720
40530 Göteborg

About Abby Peterson

Dr. ABBY PETERSON is Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology, University of Gothenburg. She has held visiting appointments in the Department of Sociology, Vytautus Magnus University in Lithuania and the Centre for Criminology, Oxford University. She conducts research within the fields of political sociology and cultural sociology and the interface between the two fields, as well as within the fields of criminology and sociology of law. In particular, Peterson has made contributions within social movement theory, culture and politics, policing political protests, classical sociological theory, and ethnic relations.

Specialist Fields

  • Social movement research
  • Cultural sociology
  • Policing
  • The governance of ethnicity

Current research She currently directs Swedish research participation in a European Science Foundation collaboration with six European countries entitled “Caught in the Act of Protest: Contextualizing Contestation”. She heads an ongoing six-year research programme dealing with the theme “Policing Ethnicity”. Since 2014 she is directing research for the project “Pride Parades in Seven European Countries: An International Comparison of LGBT Movement Dynamics”. Together with Professor Malin Åkerström of Lund University and Professor Liv Finstad of Oslo University she co-directs a research network on the multiple modes of contemporary policing in Scandinavia.

Miscellaneous Professor Peterson was co-editor, together with Professor Bengt Furåker, of Acta Sociologica between 2006 and 2011. She was President of the Swedish Sociological Association between 2012-2014. Peterson serves on the Board of Advisors for Cosmos — the Consortium on Social Movement Research at the European University Institute in Florence.