Utku Balaban

Utku Balaban is a sociologist specialized in urban, political, and economic sociology. Before he joined Xavier University’s Department of Race, Intersectionality, Gender, and Sociology in 2023, he taught at Ankara University, Tufts University, and Amherst College. Dr. Balaban currently serves as the director of the Sociology program at Xavier University.

In addition to his books on industrialization and social policy, his articles are published in journals such as Urban Studies, Social Research, Journal of World-Systems Research and Environment and Planning A. He is currently working on his third book project, Industrial Islamism, for University of California Press. In this book, he reexamines the relationship between the postwar industrialization and the growing significance of religious motifs in the politics of the Muslim-majority countries with a specific focus on Turkey in the post-Cold War era.