Mark A. Pachucki
Graduate Student in Sociology
Biographical Note
Born and raised in Schenectady, New York, Mark is a PhD candidate and 2009-10 Department Teaching Fellow. His research is broadly concerned with culture, health, food and nutrition, social networks, and non-profit organizations. Prior to his time in the Sociology department, Mark spent five years working with the nonprofit arts presenters, Jazz at Lincoln Center. Current research projects separately examine: how taste preferences interact with social status and network affiliations over time; how quality evaluations are shaped in the context of the art museum field; how key elements of musicians' careers are intertwined with aesthetic choices made in the art production process; how social interaction among elite competitive athletes interacts with physiological capacity to influence performance outcomes.
Mark is a recipient of dissertation support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). He is an active member of the Culture and Social Analysis and Health and Social Structure workshops. In his off-hours, Mark is a local food and childhood obesity advocate; an endurance athlete with intentions to race the Boston Marathon and Lake Placid Ironman in the near future; and a very, very poor (but spirited!) banjo player.
Recent projects:
•Pachucki, Mark A., Ronald L. Breiger. "Cultural holes: Beyond relationality in social networks and culture." Annual Review of Sociology, v.36 (2010)
•Pachucki, Mark A., Jennifer C. Lena and Steven J. Tepper. "Creativity narratives among college students: Sociability and everyday creativity."Forthcoming, The Sociological Quarterly.(pdf)
•Pachucki, Mark A., Chris Bail, and Lauren Rivera. 2008. "An Invitation to Cultural Sociology at Harvard." Culture, Vol. 22(3). (pdf)
•Pachucki, Mark A., Sabrina Pendergrass, and Michèle Lamont. 2007. "Boundary Processes: Recent Theoretical Developments and New Contributions." Poetics, Vol. 35., pp 331-351.(pdf)
•Pachucki, Mark A. "Museums." Working paper.
(click here for Curriculum Vita).
09/07/2009
- Research Interests
- Culture, social networks, health, food and nutrition, nonprofit organizations
- Previous Degrees
-
B.A. Sociology, Columbia University, 2003.
A.M. Sociology, Harvard University, 2007.
| Teaching Experience | ||
|---|---|---|
| Soc305 | Graduate Teaching Practicum | Co-instructor (w/Prof. David Ager), 2009 |
| Soc190 | Life and Death in the US (Christakis) | (TF-2006; Head TF- 2007,2008,2009) |
| Soc153 | Media and the American Mind (Kaufman) | (TF-2005) |
| Soc95 | Research for Non-Profits | Graduate instructor (Beckfield/Winship 2007, 08, 09) |
- Prospectus Title
- A taste for tastes? Evaluating the spread of food choices and healthy behaviors in a large social network
- Committee
- Profs. Nicholas Christakis (chair); Michèle Lamont; Filiz Garip
- Abstract
-
The goals of this thesis are: (a) to evaluate the extent to which taste preferences, specifically patterns of food choice, might be observed to spread through a networked population; (b) to evaluate interrelationships between social status and food choice; and (c) to evaluate the roles that social ties play in mediating food choice and health outcomes such as obesity and cardiovascular disease. While it is commonly accepted that what we eat affects our well-being, existing research that seeks to specify causal relationships between eating behaviors and health outcomes has largely ignored the role of social connections between networks of individuals. To what extent do our specific food consumption patterns depend on the taste preferences of people to whom we are directly (or indirectly) connected?
Miscellaneous Additional Information
- Software Skills
- AtlasTi, Pajek, SAS, statnet/R, Stata, UCInet
Suggested Links
| Social influences on food consumption (lecture excerpt) |
Romare Bearden, Empress of the Blues 1974
Contact
617-495-8769
(Phone)
617-496-5794 (FAX)
568 William James Hall
33 Kirkland Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Office Hours
Tues, 12-2p, and by appt.