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Chris Benner
  • Pronouns he, him, his, his, himself
  • Title
    • Professor
    • Dorothy E. Everett Global Information and Social Entrepreneurship Chair, Director, Everett Program for Technology and Social Change
    • Director, Institute for Social Transformation
  • Division Social Sciences Division
  • Department
    • Environmental Studies Department
    • Sociology Department
  • Affiliations Institute for Social Transformation, Community Studies Program, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas, Global & Community Health
  • Phone
    530-574-7585 (Cell)
  • Email
  • Website
  • Office Location
    • Social Sciences 2, 47
    • Institute for Social Transformation, 150 Social Sciences II Bldg
  • Office Hours By appointment (please email me)
  • Mail Stop Environmental Studies
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise Urban studies, Labor and Social Movements, Sociology, Environmental Justice, Globalization, Community-based Research, Science and Technology, Social Justice, Political Economy of Development, Activism
  • Courses SOCY 30A Intro to Global Info and Soc Enterprise Studies, SOCY 107A Designing ICT Projects for Social Enterprise, SOCY 107B Project Implementation & Grant Writing

Summary of Expertise

Urban and economic geography, urban political ecology, technology and social change, environmental justice, sustainable communities, inclusive economies, city and regional planning

Biography, Education and Training

Dr. Chris Benner is the Dorothy E. Everett Chair in Global Information and Social Entrepreneurship, and a Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.  He currently directs the Everett Program for Technology and Social Change and the Institute for Social Transformation.  His research examines the relationships between technological change, regional development, and the structure of economic opportunity, focusing on regional labor markets and the transformation of work and employment.  He has authored or co-authored seven books (most recently Solidarity Economics, 2021, Polity Press) and more that 75 journal articles, chapters and research reports.  He received his Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley.

Selected Publications

BOOKS: 

2021           Solidarity Economics:  Why Mutuality and Movements Matter Chris Benner and Manuel Pastor.  Cambridge: Polity

2015           Equity, Growth and Community:  What the Nation Can Learn From America’s Metro Regions.  Chris Benner and Manuel Pastor.  Berkeley:  UC Press

2012           Just Growth: Inclusion and Prosperity in America’s Metropolitan Regions. Chris Benner and Manuel Pastor.   New York: Routledge.

2009           This Could Be The Start of Something Big: Social Movements for Regional Equity and the Future of Metropolitan America.  Manuel Pastor, Chris Benner, and Martha Matsuoka.  Ithaca:  Cornell University Press

2007           Staircases or Treadmills:  Labor Market Intermediaries and Economic Opportunity in a Changing Economy   Chris Benner, Laura Leete and Manuel Pastor.  New York:  Russell Sage Foundation

2002           Work in the New Economy: Flexible Labor Markets in Silicon Valley.  Oxford: Blackwell Press.