Randall Collins is Dorothy Swaine Thomas Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, and Presidentelect of the American Sociological Association for 2010–2011. He is the author of Violence: A Micro-Sociological Theory (2008), and Interaction Ritual Chains (2004). His earlier books include Conflict Sociology (1975), The Credential Society (1979), The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change (1998) and Macro-History (1999).
E-mail: rancollins@comcast.net