Rik Scarce
Professor of Sociology
Office: Tisch Learning Center 223
Phone: (518) 580-5416
Email: rscarce@skidmore.edu
EDUCATION
- B.A. Stetson University
- M.A. University of Hawaii
- Ph.D. Washington State University
INTERESTS
Environmental sociology; social movements; political sociology; social theory
BIOGRAPHY
Sociology has given me the opportunity to translate several of my concerns and passions
into courses and research projects. I was drawn to the discipline by environmental
sociology, and most of my publications and films reflect an interest in the environment.
For that matter, making films exemplifies the freedom and flexibility that sociology—and
Skidmore’s Sociology Department, in particular—has provided me. My first major film
was on sustainability in the Hudson River region, Sustaining this Place; my book Creating Sustainable Communities parallels and amplifies on the film. I also teach three courses on visual sociology
and video ethnography, and I am now editing a new film, Impact, on the minimalist and barefoot running movement—for more information, click on the
“personal website” link, below.
Along with environmental and visual sociology, my other interests include science
and technology studies, political sociology, social theory, and research ethics. The
latter is particularly important to me because, in 1993, I was jailed for more than
five months on a contempt of court citation after I refused to fully cooperate with
a federal grand jury. The grand jury was investigating an Animal Liberation Front
break-in at the university where I was studying for my Ph.D. My research was on radical
environmentalists, including the ALF. I argued that, as a scholar, the First Amendment
shielded me from forced testimony and that the American Sociological Association’s
“Code of Ethics” directed that I not violate promises of confidentiality that I made
to research participants. I never answered the grand jury’s questions, and after
159 days imprisoned in the Spokane County (Washington) Jail, a judge released me.