Patricia Arend

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Behavioral Sciences School of Arts and Sciences
Patricia Arend headshot
978.665.3608 Office: McKay 208
Office Hours
Spring 2025

Mondays,12:30 -2:00 p.m.; Thursdays, 2 - 3:30 p.m.; Fridays, by Google Meet Appointment

Courses Taught

To see course descriptions go to the University Catalog.

Introduction to Sociology (SOC 1100)
Basic Skills of Social Research (SOC 3130)
Urban Sociology (SOC 2440)
Gender and Society
Consumer Society (SOC 2010)
Gender and Consumer Society
Love, Intimacy and Human Sexuality
Sociology of Family (SOC 2630)
Violence in Families
Mass Media in American Society
Gender, Sexuality and Society
Sociology of Organizations (SOC 2650)
Women in American Society (SOC 3770)
Sociology of Education (SOC 2800)

Background

Ph.D., Boston College (Sociology)
M.A., Northeastern University (Sociology)
Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies, Northeastern University
B.A., The University of Dayton

Relationships between gender inequality and consumer society
The popularity of the white wedding in an age of growing gender equality
Consumption and environmental sustainability

Dream Weddings: Fantasy, Femininity and Consumer Desire: unpacks the paradox of the popularity of the white wedding in an era of growing gender equality through the use of qualitative research on women’s subjectivity and subconscious experience

"Culture, Power, and History: Studies in Critical Sociology," co-editor with Stephen Pfohl et al (Brill Academic Publishers, 2005).

“Commercialized Weddings,” Journal of Consumer Culture, 5:1, pp. 109-114, 2005.

Kerry Ann Rockquemore and Patricia Arend, “Opting for White: Choice, Fluidity and Racial Identity Construction in Multiracial America,” Race and Society, 5:1, pp. 49-64, 2003.

“(Inter)disciplining Chinese Women: An Introduction to the English Language Literature on Women’s Studies in China,” Wisconsin Bibliographies in Women’s Studies Number 81, Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Women’s Studies Librarian, https://www.library.wisc.edu/gwslibrarian/bibliographies/chinese/, 2000.

"Gender and Advertising," Invited book chapter for Gender and Pop Culture: A Text/Reader, Edited by Patricia Leavy and Adrienne Trier-Bieniek for Sense Publishers, Rotterdam: The Netherlands, 2014.

"Weddings," Invited encyclopedia entry for The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Consumption and Consumer Studies, Edited by Daniel Cook and J. Michael Ryan, forthcoming.

"Consumption as Common Sense: Heteronormative Hegemony and White Wedding Desire," Journal of Consumer Culture, Published online before print February 17, 2014, doi: 10.1177/1469540514521076.

ASA - American Sociological Association
ESS - Eastern Sociological Society
NWSA - National Women’s Studies Association
SSSP - Society for the Study of Social Problems
SWS - Sociologists for Women in Society