{{Short description|American professor (born 1958)}} {{Multiple issues| {{resume-like|date=February 2016}} {{External links|date=June 2024}} }} {{Infobox academic | name = Lawrence D. Bobo | image = 2023 LBobo square.jpg | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1958|02|18}} | occupation = {{hlist|Professor|dean}} | title = W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of the Social Sciences | education = {{Unbulleted list|[[Loyola Marymount University]] {{small|([[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]])}} | [[University of Michigan]] {{small|([[Master of Arts|M.A.]], [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]])}} }} | workplaces = [[Harvard University]]<br>[[Stanford University]]<br>[[University of California, Los Angeles]]<br>[[University of Wisconsin, Madison]] | notable_students = [[Camille Z. Charles]] }} '''Lawrence D. Bobo''' is the W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of the Social Sciences at [[Harvard University]]. His research focuses on the intersection of [[social psychology]], [[social inequality]], [[politics]], and [[Race (human categorization)|race]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Lawrence D. Bobo |url=https://scholar.harvard.edu/bobo/home |website=Harvard University |access-date=14 July 2020}}</ref>
== Early life and education == Bobo, who is of [[African Americans|African American]] heritage, is the second of three sons born to Joseph R. Bobo Sr., a graduate of [[Meharry Medical College]] and once the chief of minor trauma at USC County Medical Hospital in Los Angeles, California, and Joyce Cooper Bobo, a longtime teacher in the [[Los Angeles Unified School District]].
His maternal grandmother was [[Ann Nixon Cooper]], the 106-year-old Atlanta woman [[Barack Obama]] mentioned in his victory speech in [[Grant Park (Chicago)|Grant Park, Chicago]], upon his election as president in 2008.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-12-30 |title=Barack Obamas Rede - Lawrence Bobo: "Obama machte meine Grossmutter berühmt" |url=https://www.srf.ch/kultur/gesellschaft-religion/lawrence-bobo-obama-machte-meine-grossmutter-beruehmt |access-date=2023-02-13 |website=Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) |language=de}}</ref> Bobo wrote of his relationship with her in a blog post for ''[[The Root (magazine)|The Root]]'' at the time of her death.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bobo |first=Lawrence |date=2009-12-23 |title=The Ann Nixon Cooper I Knew |url=https://www.theroot.com/the-ann-nixon-cooper-i-knew-1790873917 |access-date=2023-02-13 |website=The Root |language=en}}</ref>
Bobo grew up in the [[San Fernando Valley]], living in [[Pacoima, Los Angeles|Pacoima]] when young and in [[Granada Hills, Los Angeles|Granada Hills]] in his teenage years, attending public schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District from kindergarten through high school. He graduated [[Latin honors|magna cum laude]] from [[Loyola Marymount University]] with his [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree in [[sociology]] in 1979. He received his [[Master of Arts]] degree in 1981 and [[Doctor of Philosophy]] degree in 1984, both in [[sociology]], from the [[University of Michigan]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Biographical Note |url=https://scholar.harvard.edu/bobo/biocv |access-date=2020-09-21 |website=scholar.harvard.edu}}</ref>
== Career == Bobo has held tenured appointments in the sociology departments at the [[University of Wisconsin, Madison]] (1989–1991), [[University of California, Los Angeles]] (1993–1997), [[Stanford University]] (2005–2007), and [[Harvard University]] (1997–2004, 2008–present).
He is a founding editor of the ''[[Du Bois Review]]'',<ref>[http://dubois.fas.harvard.edu/DBR Dubois Review, Harvard University] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807061436/http://dubois.fas.harvard.edu/DBR |date=2011-08-07 }}</ref> published by [[Cambridge University Press]]. He co-authored the book ''[https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674745698 Racial Attitudes in America: Trends and Interpretations]'' and is a senior editor of ''[https://www.russellsage.org/publications/prismatic-metropolis-1 Prismatic Metropolis: Inequality in Los Angeles]''. His most recent book, [https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674013292 ''Prejudice in Politics: Group Position, Public Opinion, and the Wisconsin Treaty Rights Dispute''], was a finalist for the 2007 [[C. Wright Mills Award]].
Bobo is an elected member of the [[National Academy of Sciences]]<ref>[http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AAHP_Database_Bio_Bobo Lawrence D. Bobo ] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110820211201/http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AAHP_Database_Bio_Bobo |date=2011-08-20 }}, African American History Program, [[National Academy of Sciences]]. Accessed September 1, 2011</ref> and a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]<ref>[http://news.stanford.edu/news/2006/april26/aaas-042606.html Eight scholars elected to academy of arts and sciences], ''Stanford Report'', April 24, 2006. Accessed September 1, 2011</ref> and the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]]. He is a Guggenheim Fellow, an Alphonse M. Fletcher Sr. Fellow, a Fellow of the [[Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences]], and a [[Russell Sage Foundation]] Visiting Scholar. As of 2024, he chairs the board of directors of the [[American Institutes for Research]]. From 2018 to 2025, Bobo chaired the division of social sciences within the [[Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lawrence D. Bobo Named Next Dean of Social Science {{!}} News {{!}} The Harvard Crimson |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2018/9/18/bobo-next-dean/ |access-date=2025-06-18 |website=www.thecrimson.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Harvard Social Science Dean Lawrence Bobo Steps Down, Will Be Replaced by Economist David Cutler {{!}} News {{!}} The Harvard Crimson |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/6/19/bobo-steps-down/ |access-date=2025-06-18 |website=www.thecrimson.com}}</ref>
In June 2024, Bobo authored a [[The Harvard Crimson|''Harvard Crimson'']] op-ed arguing that Harvard should sanction faculty members who "excoriate University leadership, faculty, staff, or students with the intent to arouse external intervention into University business".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bobo |first=Lawrence D. |date=June 15, 2024 |title=Faculty Speech Must Have Limits |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/6/15/bobo-faculty-speech-limits/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240616100554/https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/6/15/bobo-faculty-speech-limits/ |archive-date=June 16, 2024 |access-date=June 18, 2024 |work=[[The Harvard Crimson]]}}</ref> His essay was widely criticized by faculty at Harvard and other universities, the [[Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression]], and the [[Editorial board at The Wall Street Journal|''Wall Street Journal'' editorial board]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Robinson |first=Tilly R. |date=June 18, 2024 |title=Harvard Faculty Slam Social Science Dean's Proposal to Limit Faculty Speech |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/6/18/harvard-faculty-slam-bobo/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240618174329/https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/6/18/harvard-faculty-slam-bobo/ |archive-date=June 18, 2024 |access-date=June 18, 2024 |work=[[The Harvard Crimson]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=June 19, 2024 |title=Harvard's Dean of Speech Sanctions |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/harvard-dean-lawrence-bobo-faculty-speech-harvard-crimson-78d7cae1 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240619231348/https://www.wsj.com/articles/harvard-dean-lawrence-bobo-faculty-speech-harvard-crimson-78d7cae1 |archive-date=June 19, 2024 |access-date=June 20, 2024 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Adler |first=Jonathan H. |author-link=Jonathan H. Adler |date=June 16, 2024 |title=A Frightening View of Free Speech and Academic Freedom at Harvard |url=https://reason.com/volokh/2024/06/16/a-frightening-view-of-free-speech-and-academic-freedom-at-harvard/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240618010052/https://reason.com/volokh/2024/06/16/a-frightening-view-of-free-speech-and-academic-freedom-at-harvard/ |archive-date=June 18, 2024 |access-date=June 18, 2024 |work=[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]}}</ref> Ten members of the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard responded to Bobo in another ''Crimson'' op-ed, calling his arguments "downright alarming" and "clear infringements on academic freedom".<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Flier |first1=Jeffrey S. |author-link=Jeffrey Flier |last2=Maskin |first2=Eric S. |author-link2=Eric Maskin |last3=Pinker |first3=Steven A. |author-link3=Steven Pinker |date=June 19, 2024 |title=From the Leadership of CAFH: Don't Punish Faculty Speech |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/6/19/CAFH-punish-faculty-speech/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240620044428/https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/6/19/CAFH-punish-faculty-speech/ |archive-date=June 20, 2024 |access-date=June 20, 2024 |work=[[The Harvard Crimson]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Cristantiello |first=Ross |date=June 19, 2024 |title=Harvard dean's essay arguing for limiting faculty speech causes uproar |url=https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2024/06/19/harvard-deans-essay-arguing-for-limiting-faculty-speech-causes-uproar/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240620044720/https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2024/06/19/harvard-deans-essay-arguing-for-limiting-faculty-speech-causes-uproar/ |archive-date=June 20, 2024 |access-date=June 20, 2024 |work=[[The Boston Globe]]}}</ref>
== Personal life == Bobo was married to [[Marcyliena Morgan]], the Founding Director of the Hiphop Archive and Research Institute in the [[Hutchins Center for African and African American Research]] at Harvard University, until her death in September 2025.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Mitchell |first1=Robert |title=Bobo, Morgan return to Harvard |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2007/09/bobo-morgan-return-to-harvard/ |access-date=30 September 2025 |work=Harvard Gazette |date=13 September 2007}}</ref>
They lived in the Brattle District of [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], in a home originally designed by [[Lois Howe]] in 1898.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lois Lilley Howe: Pioneer Career Woman, Architect, Cambridge Citizen |url=https://historycambridge.org/articles/lois-lilley-howe-pioneer-career-woman-architect-cambridge-citizen/ |access-date=2023-07-20 |website=History Cambridge |language=en-US}}</ref> Bobo and Morgan remodeled the home, contracting with architect Mary Ann Thompson<ref>{{Cite web |title=Maryann Thompson FAIA (2005) |url=https://www.architects.org/wid-award-of-excellence-recipients/awardee-maryann-thompson-faia |access-date=2023-07-20 |website=Boston Society for Architecture |language=en}}</ref> and consulting on the kitchen design with chefs [[Jody Adams (chef)|Jody Adams]] and [[Aarón Sánchez (chef)|Aaron Sanchez]]. The remodeled Victorian has received recognition<ref>{{Cite news |date=2011-02-17 |title=A Victorian with a Modern Twist |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704171004576148763845927474 |access-date=2023-07-20 |work=Wall Street Journal |language=en-US |issn=0099-9660}}</ref> and awards.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Boston Society of Architects Awards 2010 |url=http://awards.architects.org/2010/ |access-date=2023-07-20 |website=awards.architects.org}}</ref>
== Awards and honors == * Warren J. Mitofsky Award for Excellence in Public Opinion Research, The Roper Center, University of Connecticut (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |title=2021 Warren J. Mitofsky Award Winner Lawrence D. Bobo {{!}} Roper Center for Public Opinion Research |url=https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/2021-warren-j-mitofsky-award-winner-lawrence-d-bobo |access-date=2023-01-24 |website=ropercenter.cornell.edu}}</ref> * Award for Exceptionally Distinguished Achievement, American Association for Public Opinion Research (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lawrence D. Bobo and Robert L. Santos Win AAPOR Awards - AAPOR |url=https://www-archive.aapor.org/Publications-Media/Press-Releases/Lawrence-D-Bobo%E2%80%8E-and-Robert-L-Santos-Win-AAPOR-Awa.aspx |access-date=2023-01-25 |website=www-archive.aapor.org}}</ref> * Phi Beta Kappa (Alumni Member), Omega Chapter of California, Loyola Marymount University (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |last=University |first=Loyola Marymount |title=2020 Induction - Loyola Marymount University |url=https://academics.lmu.edu/phibetakappa/2020induction/ |access-date=2023-01-25 |website=academics.lmu.edu |language=en}}</ref> * Outstanding Book Award, American Association for Public Opinion Research (for ''Prejudice in Politics'') (2018)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Past Book Award Winners - AAPOR|url=https://www.aapor.org/Awards/Book-Award/Past-Book-Award-Winners.aspx|access-date=2021-01-27|website=www.aapor.org}}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> * W.E.B. Du Bois Fellow, American Association of Political and Social Science (2017)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Four Former Fellows Elected to AAPSS|url=https://casbs.stanford.edu/news/four-former-fellows-elected-aapss|access-date=2020-10-07|website=casbs.stanford.edu|date=9 January 2017 }}</ref> * Charles Horton Cooley-George Herbert Mead Award for a Career of Distinguished Scholarship in Sociological Social Psychology, American Sociological Association (2012)<ref>{{Cite web|date=2012-08-23|title=Lawrence Bobo honored by ASA|url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/08/lawrence-bobo-honored-by-asa/|access-date=2020-10-07|website=Harvard Gazette}}</ref> * Outstanding Book Award, American Association for Public Opinion Research (for ''Racial Attitudes in America'') (2005)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Past Book Award Winners - AAPOR |url=https://www-archive.aapor.org/Awards/Book-Award/Past-Book-Award-Winners.aspx |access-date=2023-01-25 |website=www-archive.aapor.org}}</ref>
== Selected bibliography == === Books === *Bobo, Lawrence D.; Tuan, Mia (2006). ''[https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674013292 Prejudice in Politics: Group Position, Public Opinion, and the Wisconsin Treaty Rights Dispute]''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|9780674013292}}. *Bobo, Lawrence D. (ed.) (2003). ''[https://journals.sagepub.com/home/spq Race, Racism, and Discrimination]''. Social Psychology Quarterly special issue 66(4). *Bobo, Lawrence; O'Connor, Alice; Tilly, Chris (eds.) (2001). ''[https://www.russellsage.org/publications/urban-inequality-1 Urban Inequality: Evidence From Four Cities]''. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. {{ISBN|9780871546517}}. *Bobo, Lawrence; Oliver, Melvin L.; Johnson, James H.; Valenzuela, Abel (eds.) (2000). ''[https://www.russellsage.org/publications/prismatic-metropolis-1 Prismatic Metropolis: Inequality in Los Angeles]''. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. {{ISBN|9780871541307}}. *Bobo, Lawrence D.; Sears, David O.; Sidanius, James (eds.) (2000). ''[https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo3617330.html Racialized Politics: The Debate about Racism in America]''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN|9780226744070}}. *Bobo, Lawrence D. (ed.) (1997). ''[https://academic.oup.com/poq/issue/61/1?browseBy=volume Race, Public Opinion and Society].'' Public Opinion Quarterly special issue 61(1). *Bobo, Lawrence D.; Krysan, Maria; Schuman, Howard; Steeh, Charlotte (1997). ''[https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674745698 Racial Attitudes in America: Trends and Interpretations]''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|9780674745698}}.
=== Book chapters === * {{citation | last1 = Bobo | first1 = Lawrence D. | last2 = Smith | first2 = Ryan A. | contribution = Antipoverty policy, affirmative action and racial attitudes | editor-last1 = Danziger | editor-first1 = Sheldon H. | editor-last2 = Sandefur | editor-first2 = Gary D. | editor-last3 = Weinberg | editor-first3 = Daniel H. | title = Confronting poverty: prescriptions for change | pages = 365–395 | publisher = Russell Sage Foundation Harvard University Press | location = New York Cambridge, Massachusetts | year = 1994 | isbn = 9780674160811 | postscript = .}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://scholar.harvard.edu/bobo/home Harvard University Scholar Profile] *[https://sociology.fas.harvard.edu/ Harvard University Department of Sociology]
{{Subject bar |portal1 =Biography| portal2 =Society| portal3 = United States }} {{Racism topics|collapsed}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bobo, Lawrence D.}} [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:African-American sociologists]] [[Category:American sociologists]] [[Category:African-American psychologists]] [[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]] [[Category:University of Michigan alumni]] [[Category:Harvard University faculty]] [[Category:Stanford University faculty]] [[Category:1958 births]] [[Category:21st-century African-American academics]] [[Category:21st-century American academics]] [[Category:20th-century African-American academics]] [[Category:20th-century American academics]] [[Category:21st-century American psychologists]]