# Janet Wolff

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{{Short description|British sociologist (born 1943)}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2026}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2026}}
{{about|the sociologist|the advertising executive|Janet L. Wolff}}
{{Infobox academic
| image              = 
| image_size         = 
| caption            = 
| birth_date         = {{birth date and age|1943|3|25|df=y}}
| birth_place        = Manchester, United Kingdom
| occupation         = {{flatlist|
* Sociologist
* art historian
* aesthetician
}}
| awards             = [Guggenheim Fellowship](/source/Guggenheim_Fellowship) (1993)
| alma_mater         = [University of Birmingham](/source/University_of_Birmingham)
| discipline         = Sociology of art
| workplaces         = {{ublist|
* [University of Leeds](/source/University_of_Leeds)
* [University of Rochester](/source/University_of_Rochester)
* [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University)
* [University of Manchester](/source/University_of_Manchester)
}}
}}
'''Janet Wolff''' (born 25 March 1943) is a British sociologist and art historian. After working for some time as a secretary at the [North Western Gas Board](/source/North_Western_Gas_Board), she decided to attend university after seeing her sister go to one, and she obtained her BSS and PhD at the [University of Birmingham](/source/University_of_Birmingham). She worked at [University of Leeds](/source/University_of_Leeds), [University of Rochester](/source/University_of_Rochester), [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University), and eventually the [University of Manchester](/source/University_of_Manchester), where she retired as professor emeritus. She has written several books on sociology and art studies, and following her retirement from Manchester, the history of Manchester.
==Biography==
===Early life and education===
Wolff, of German Jewish descent,<ref name="JT 2017"/> was born on 25 March 1943 in Manchester to Rosabelle ({{nee}} Noar) and chemist/company director Arthur Wolff.<ref name="ency"/> Her father was born in Berlin and fled the antisemitic Nazi regime to [Eccles, Greater Manchester](/source/Eccles%2C_Greater_Manchester), working for [Lankro Chemicals](/source/Lankro_Chemicals).<ref name="JT 2017"/> Several of her relatives were murdered in the Holocaust.<ref name="JT 2017"/>

Wolff's family lived in northern Manchester before they moved to Didsbury, and she was educated at [Manchester High School for Girls](/source/Manchester_High_School_for_Girls).<ref name="JT 2017"/> She attended [Miss Wilkinson's Secretarial College for Gentlewomen](/source/Miss_Wilkinson's_Secretarial_College_for_Gentlewomen) and worked at the [North Western Gas Board](/source/North_Western_Gas_Board) as a manager's private secretary.<ref name="JT 2017"/> She then decided to attend a university after her sister went to one in Bristol, and she studied moral and political philosophy at the [University of Birmingham](/source/University_of_Birmingham), where she obtained a BSS with first class honors in 1968 and a PhD in sociology and the arts in 1972.<ref name="JT 2017"/><ref name="ency"/> She also spent two years attending the [London Contemporary Dance School](/source/London_Contemporary_Dance_School) from 1970 to 1972.<ref name="ency"/>
===Academic and writing career===
In 1973,<ref name="ency"/> Wolff became a lecturer at [University of Leeds](/source/University_of_Leeds) after [Zygmunt Bauman](/source/Zygmunt_Bauman) offered a teaching job there.<ref name="JT 2017"/> She stepped down from her job at Leeds in 1989 and moved to California.<ref name="JT 2017"/> She was Professor of Art History/Visual and Cultural Studies at the [University of Rochester](/source/University_of_Rochester),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Janet Wolff |url=https://nyupress.org/author/janet-wolff/ |access-date=2026-03-07 |website=NYU Press}}</ref> where she directed the PhD program in visual and cultural studies (1991–2001).<ref name="mancu"/> She was later Professor of Arts at [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University),<ref>{{Cite web |title=AngloModern by Janet Wolff {{!}} Paperback |url=https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801487422/anglomodern/www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801487422/anglomodern/ |access-date=2026-03-07 |website=Cornell University Press}}</ref> where she served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the [School of the Arts](/source/Columbia_University_School_of_the_Arts) from 2001 to 2006.<ref name="mancu"/> She eventually received several job offers from institutions based in the UK,<ref name="JT 2017"/> and in 2006, she became a professor at the [University of Manchester](/source/University_of_Manchester).<ref name="mancu"/> She retired from the university in 2010 and was eventually promoted to professor emeritus.<ref name="mancu">{{Cite web |date=March 7, 2026 |title=Janet Wolff |url=https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/janet.wolff |access-date=2026-03-07 |website=University of Manchester}}</ref>

Wolff focuses on the sociology of art; aesthetics; and 20th-century art.<ref name="mancu"/> She is author of ''Hermeneutic Philosophy and the Sociology of Art'' (1975), ''Aesthetics and the Sociology of Art'' (1983), ''Feminine Sentences: Essays on Women and Culture'' (1990), ''Resident Alien: Feminist Cultural Criticism'' (1995), and ''AngloModern: Painting and Modernity in Britain and the United States'' (2003), and she edited ''The Sociology of Literature: Theoretical Approaches'' (1977) with Jane Routh.<ref name="ency"/> She was part of the [British Sociological Association](/source/British_Sociological_Association)'s executive committee from 1977 to 1979.<ref name="ency"/> In 1993, she was awarded a [Guggenheim Fellowship](/source/Guggenheim_Fellowship).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Janet Wolff |url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/janet-wolff/ |access-date=2026-03-07 |website=Guggenheim Fellowships}}</ref>

Wolff became interested in non-academic writing after retiring from Manchester.<ref name="mancu"/> In 2017, she published ''Austerity Baby'', a narrative volume on exile and displacement, through [Manchester University Press](/source/Manchester_University_Press).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Manchester University Press – Austerity baby |url=https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526121301/ |access-date=2026-03-07 |website=Manchester University Press}}</ref> She has also co-edited several books on the history of Manchester, such as ''Culture in Manchester'' (2013), ''The Photographs of Zygmunt Bauman'' (2023), and ''The Simons of Manchester'' (2024).<ref name="mancu"/>

===Personal life===
Originally living in [Woodhouse](/source/Woodhouse%2C_Leeds) during her time at Leeds,<ref name="ency"/>
Wolff moved to Didsbury as part of her return to the United Kingdom.<ref name="JT 2017"/> After the [United Kingdom voted in favor of Brexit](/source/2016_United_Kingdom_European_Union_membership_referendum), Wolff became a [German dual citizen by descent](/source/German_nationality_law).<ref name="JT 2017"/>

Although Wolff had often went to synagogues with her parents during her youth, the family "[wasn't] very involved",<ref name="JT 2017"/> and she later identified as a Jewish atheist after starting her academic career.<ref name="ency"/>

Wolff was once diagnosed with thyroid cancer, something she attributed to water tainted by the [Windscale fire](/source/Windscale_fire) in 1957.<ref name="JT 2017"/>
==Works==
*''Hermeneutic Philosophy and the Sociology of Art'' (1975){{efn|Reviews of this book: <ref>{{Cite journal |last=James |first=Kim |date=1976 |title=Review of Hermeneutic Philosophy and the Sociology of Arts |JSTOR=1573579 |journal=Leonardo |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=248–248 |doi=10.2307/1573579 |issn=0024-094X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kavolis |first=Vytautas |date=1975 |title=Review of Hermeneutic Philosophy and the Sociology of Art: An Approach to Some of the Epistemological Problems of the Sociology of Knowledge and the Sociology of Art and Literature |JSTOR=430087 |journal=The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=215–215 |doi=10.2307/430087 |issn=0021-8529}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Laurenson |first=Diana |date=1976 |title=Review of Hermeneutic Philosophy and the Sociology of Art |JSTOR=589572 |journal=The British Journal of Sociology |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=105–106 |doi=10.2307/589572 |issn=0007-1315}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rosenblum |first=Barbara |date=1977 |title=Review of Hermeneutic Philosophy and the Sociology of Art. |JSTOR=2778317 |journal=American Journal of Sociology |volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=495–499 |issn=0002-9602}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sharon |first=Batia |date=1977 |title=Review of Hermeneutic Philosophy and the Sociology of Art: An Approach to some of the Epistemological Problems of the Sociology of Knowledge and the Sociology of Art and Literature. |JSTOR=2064783 |journal=Contemporary Sociology |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=304–304 |doi=10.2307/2064783 |issn=0094-3061}}</ref>}}
*(ed. with Jane Routh) ''The Sociology of Literature: Theoretical Approaches'' (1977)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Selden |first=Raman |date=1979 |title=Review of The Sociology of Literature: Theoretical Approaches; The Sociology of Literature: Applied Studies |JSTOR=42852079 |journal=Sociology |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=154–157 |issn=0038-0385}}</ref>
*(ed. with Michele Barrett, Philip Corrigan, and [Annette Kuhn](/source/Annette_Kuhn)) ''Ideology and Cultural Production'' (1979){{efn|Reviews of this book: <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Goldfarb |first=Jeffrey C. |date=1981 |title=Review of Ideology and Cultural Production |JSTOR=2066865 |journal=Contemporary Sociology |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=219–219 |doi=10.2307/2066865 |issn=0094-3061}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Selden |first=Raman |date=1980 |title=The Problem of 'Relative Autonomy' in Cultural Studies |JSTOR=42852181 |journal=Sociology |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=301–306 |issn=0038-0385}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tristram |first=R. J. |date=1980 |title=Review of Ideology and Cultural Production |JSTOR=589798 |journal=The British Journal of Sociology |volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=589–590 |doi=10.2307/589798 |issn=0007-1315}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Robert N. |date=1980 |title=Review of Ideology and Cultural Production. |JSTOR=2577202 |journal=Social Forces |volume=58 |issue=3 |pages=975–976 |doi=10.2307/2577202 |issn=0037-7732}}</ref>}}
*''The Social Production of Art'' (1981){{efn|Reviews of this book: <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bowler |first=Anne |date=1984 |title=Review of The Social Production of Art. |JSTOR=2578588 |journal=Social Forces |volume=62 |issue=4 |pages=1122–1124 |doi=10.2307/2578588 |issn=0037-7732}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=DiMaggio |first=Paul J. |date=1983 |title=The Sociology of Art Comes of Age |JSTOR=2068956 |journal=Contemporary Sociology |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=272–274 |doi=10.2307/2068956 |issn=0094-3061}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Griswold |first=Wendy |date=1983 |title=Review of The Social Production of Art. |JSTOR=2779025 |journal=American Journal of Sociology |volume=89 |issue=3 |pages=730–732 |issn=0002-9602}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schaefer |first=Jean Owens |date=1991 |title=Marxism, the Sociology of Art, and Women Artists |JSTOR=1358194 |journal=Woman's Art Journal |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=53–55 |doi=10.2307/1358194 |issn=0270-7993}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Weismann |first=Donald L. |date=1983 |title=Review of The Social Production of Art |JSTOR=42861532 |journal=Social Science Quarterly |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=218–219 |issn=0038-4941}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wright |first=Edmond |date=1983 |title=Review of The Social Production of Art; Beyond Art. What Art Is and Might Become if Freed from Cultural Elitism |JSTOR=1772160 |journal=Poetics Today |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=141–144 |doi=10.2307/1772160 |issn=0333-5372}}</ref>}}
*''Aesthetics and the Sociology of Art'' (1983){{efn|Reviews of this book: <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Beardsley |first=Monroe C. |date=1984 |title=Review of Aesthetics and the Sociology of Art |JSTOR=3332581 |journal=Journal of Aesthetic Education |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=123–123 |doi=10.2307/3332581 |issn=0021-8510}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fyfe |first=G. J. |date=1983 |title=Review of Aesthetics and the Sociology of Art |JSTOR=42852669 |journal=Sociology |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=618–620 |issn=0038-0385}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hamblen |first=Karen A. |date=1995 |title=Review of Aesthetics and the Sociology of Art |JSTOR=3333296 |journal=Journal of Aesthetic Education |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=107–110 |doi=10.2307/3333296 |issn=0021-8510}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hill |first=Michael R. |date=1985 |title=Review of Aesthetics and the Sociology of Art (Controversies in Sociology No. 14) |JSTOR=23252978 |journal=Mid-American Review of Sociology |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=91–92 |issn=0732-913X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kavolis |first=Vytautas |date=1983 |title=Review of Aesthetics and the Sociology of Art |JSTOR=430667 |journal=The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=222–223 |doi=10.2307/430667 |issn=0021-8529}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rosenblum |first=Barbara |date=1983 |title=Review of Aesthetics and the Sociology of Art |JSTOR=2068039 |journal=Contemporary Sociology |volume=12 |issue=6 |pages=669–670 |doi=10.2307/2068039 |issn=0094-3061}}</ref>}}
*(ed. with John Seed) ''The Culture of Capital: Art, Power and the Nineteenth-Century Middle Class'' (1988){{efn|Reviews of this book: <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Alfrey |first=Nicholas |date=1990 |title=Review of Art and Politics of the Second Empire: The Universal Expositions of 1855 and 1867; The Culture of Capital: Art, Power, and the Nineteenth-Century Middle Class |JSTOR=884373 |journal=The Burlington Magazine |volume=132 |issue=1049 |pages=582–582 |issn=0007-6287}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brain |first=David |date=1989 |title=Review of The Culture of Capital: Art, Power and the Nineteenth-Century Middle Class. |JSTOR=2780457 |journal=American Journal of Sociology |volume=95 |issue=1 |pages=270–271 |issn=0002-9602}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Frisby |first=David |date=1989 |title=Review of The Culture of Capital: Art, Power and the Nineteenth-Century Middle Class, Manchester |JSTOR=42854615 |journal=Sociology |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=160–162 |issn=0038-0385}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Griswold |first=Wendy |date=1990 |title=Into Something Rich and Strange: Contrasting Perspectives on the Visual Arts |JSTOR=2072774 |journal=Contemporary Sociology |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=508–511 |doi=10.2307/2072774 |issn=0094-3061}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hichberger |first=Joan |date=1989 |title=Review of The Culture of Capital: Art, Power and the Nineteenth-Century Middle Class |JSTOR=3828272 |journal=Victorian Studies |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=594–595 |issn=0042-5222}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hoppit |first=Julian |date=1991 |title=A Very Polite and Commercial People |JSTOR=176046 |journal=Journal of British Studies |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=345–349 |issn=0021-9371}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kidd |first=Alan |date=1989 |title=Review of The Culture of Capital: Art, Power and the Nineteenth-Century Middle Class |JSTOR=4049956 |journal=Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=323–325 |doi=10.2307/4049956 |issn=0095-1390}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=1988 |title=Review of The Culture of Capital: Art, Power and the Nineteenth-Century Middle Class |JSTOR=25143121 |journal=Labour / Le Travail |volume=22 |pages=380–380 |doi=10.2307/25143121 |issn=0700-3862}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=MacKenzie |first=John M. |date=1989 |title=Review of The Culture of Capital: art, power and the nineteenth- century middle class |JSTOR=24414447 |journal=History |volume=74 |issue=242 |pages=549–549 |issn=0018-2648}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nenadic |first=Stana |date=1989 |title=Review of The Culture of Capital: Art, Power, and the Nineteenth-Century Middle Class |JSTOR=44610120 |journal=Urban History Yearbook |volume=[16] |pages=190–191 |issn=0306-0845}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Perkin |first=Harold |date=1990 |title=Review of The Culture of Capital: Art, Power and the Nineteenth-Century Middle Class; Englishness: Politics and Culture, 1880-1920 |JSTOR=1881269 |journal=The Journal of Modern History |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=374–377 |issn=0022-2801}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pollard |first=Sidney |date=1990 |title=Review of The Culture of Capital: Art, Power and the Nineteenth-Century Middel Class |JSTOR=20735799 |journal=VSWG: Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte |volume=77 |issue=4 |pages=544–544 |issn=0340-8728}}</ref>}}
*''Feminine Sentences: Essays on Women and Culture'' (1990){{efn|Reviews of this book: <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ferris |first=Lesley |date=1992 |title=Absent Bodies, Dancing Bodies, Broken Dishes: Feminist Theory, Postmodernism, and the Performing Arts |JSTOR=3174731 |journal=Signs |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=162–172 |issn=0097-9740}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Turner |first=Bryan S. |date=1992 |title=Review of Feminine Sentences: Essays on Women and Culture |JSTOR=2075596 |journal=Contemporary Sociology |volume=21 |issue=5 |pages=724–725 |doi=10.2307/2075596 |issn=0094-3061}}</ref>}}
*''Resident Alien: Feminist Cultural Criticism'' (1995){{efn|Reviews of this book: <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bywater |first=William |date=1996 |title=Review of Resident Alien: Feminist Cultural Criticism |JSTOR=431938 |journal=The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=412–413 |doi=10.2307/431938 |issn=0021-8529}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Curry |first=Renée R. |date=1996 |title=Review of Resident Alien: Feminist Cultural Criticism |JSTOR=1348363 |journal=Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=110–112 |doi=10.2307/1348363 |issn=0361-1299}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Daniel |first=Jamie Owen |date=1996 |title=The Romance of Marginality |JSTOR=4022415 |journal=The Women's Review of Books |volume=13 |issue=6 |pages=22–23 |doi=10.2307/4022415 |issn=0738-1433}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Philippi |first=Desa |date=1998 |title=Changes at a Standstill |JSTOR=1360704 |journal=Oxford Art Journal |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=149–154 |issn=0142-6540}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Starr |first=Chelsea |date=1996 |title=Review of Material Girls: Making Sense of Feminist Cultural Theory.; Resident Alien: Feminist Cultural Criticism. |JSTOR=2077318 |journal=Contemporary Sociology |volume=25 |issue=6 |pages=818–820 |doi=10.2307/2077318 |issn=0094-3061}}</ref>}}
*''AngloModern: Painting and Modernity in Britain and the United States'' (2003){{efn|Reviews of this book: <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Corbett |first=David Peters |date=2005 |title=Anglo-Modernism: Gender, Ethnicity and Value |JSTOR=4500036 |journal=Oxford Art Journal |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=488–491 |issn=0142-6540}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Duran |first=Jane |date=2005 |title=Review of Anglomodern: Painting and Modernity in Britain and the United States |JSTOR=3527413 |journal=Journal of Aesthetic Education |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=118–120 |issn=0021-8510}}</ref>}}
*''The Aesthetics of Uncertainty'' (2008)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Haskins |first=Casey |date=2009 |title=Review of The Aesthetics of Uncertainty |JSTOR=25622106 |journal=The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism |volume=67 |issue=4 |pages=427–429 |issn=0021-8529}}</ref>
*(ed. with [Mike Savage](/source/Michael_Savage_(sociologist))) ''Culture in Manchester'' (2013)<ref name="mancu"/>
*(ed. with [Jackie Stacey](/source/Jackie_Stacey)) ''Writing Otherwise'' (2013)<ref name="mancu"/>
*(ed. with [Peter Beilharz](/source/Peter_Beilharz)) ''The Photographs of Zygmunt Bauman'' (2023)<ref name="mancu"/>
*(ed. with John Ayshford and others) ''The Simons of Manchester'' (2024)<ref name="mancu"/>
==Notes==
{{notelist}}
==References==
<references>
<ref name="ency">{{Cite web |title=Wolff, Janet 1943– |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/wolff-janet-1943 |access-date=2026-03-07 |website=Encyclopedia.com}}</ref>

<ref name="JT 2017">{{Cite news |last=Wachmann |first=Doreen |title=Janet’s love-hate relationship with her home country |url=https://www.jewishtelegraph.com/prof_419.html |access-date=2026-03-07 |website=Jewish Telegraph}}</ref>
</references>
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolff, Janet}}

Category:1943 births
Category:Living people
Category:British art historians
Category:British women art historians
Category:20th-century British historians
Category:20th-century British women writers
Category:21st-century British historians
Category:21st-century British women writers
Category:Sociologists of art
Category:20th-century sociologists
Category:British sociologists
Category:British women sociologists
Category:British philosophers of art
Category:British women philosophers
Category:20th-century British philosophers
Category:Local historians of England
Category:People educated at Manchester High School for Girls
Category:Academics of the University of Leeds
Category:University of Rochester faculty
Category:Columbia University faculty
Category:Academics of the University of Manchester
Category:British people of German-Jewish descent
Category:British expatriate academics in the United States
Category:Academics from Leeds
Category:Writers from Leeds
Category:Writers from Manchester
Category:People from Didsbury

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Janet Wolff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Wolff) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Wolff?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.