Congratulations to Juliet Schor for 2011 Herman Daly Award
The Board of the U.S. Society for Ecological Economics is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2011 Herman Daly Award—Dr. Juliet Schor of Boston College, whose pioneering research has challenged long-held theories and assumptions about work, leisure, consumerism, and economic justice. Congratulations, Professor Schor! This award is given in honor of Herman Daly, one of the visionaries who founded the field of ecological economics. The award is designed to recognize individuals who have connected ecological economic thinking to practical applications and implementation of solutions that are sustainable in scale, equitable in distribution and efficient in allocation. The award is given in conjunction with the biennial conference, to be held June 26-29, 2011 at Michigan State University in East Lansing (USSEE 2011 conference).
Juliet Schor is Professor of Sociology at Boston College. Her research focuses on issues pertaining to trends in work and leisure, consumerism, the relationship between work and family, women’s issues and economic justice. Schor’s latest book is Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture. She is also author of The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure and The Overspent American: Upscaling, Downshifting and the New Consumer.
Schor’s research has challenged long-held assumptions and raised the kind of thought-provoking questions that are consistent with the aims of ecological economists. This has been especially true for her research on work, leisure, and consumption. In The Overworked American, she took a critical look at the impact of so-called time-saving and efficiency-increasing practices and technology. The best-selling book was chosen for the Princeton University Library’s Noteworthy Books in Industrial Relations and Labor Economics, it was cited as one of the best business books of 1992 Business Week, and the New York Times listed it among its notable books in 1992 and 1993.
Schor is a founding member and Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Center for a New American Dream, a non-profit organization committed to challenging the idea that “more stuff makes us happier.” She is also a Founding Member and Staff Economist of the Center for Popular Economics, a non-profit collective of political economists that offers workshops and institutes that simplify economics and put useful economic tools in the hands of people fighting for social and economic justice and against systems of oppression based on race, class, gender, nation and ethnicity.
In 2007 Schor was named the Friedson Lecturer in Sociology at New York University, and in 2006 she received the Leontief Prize for Expanding the Frontiers of Economic Thought from the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University. She also holds a chair in the Economics of Leisure Studies at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. Schor is a graduate of Wesleyan University, and she received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Massachusetts. Before joining Boston College, Schor taught at Harvard University for 17 years, in the Department of Economics and in Women’s Studies.