Corsaro Lecture

Big Ideas from Little Kids

What Research with Children Contributes to the Social Sciences and Education

Join us for a special evening with William A. Corsaro (B.A. ’70, Sociology), one of the world’s leading scholars in the sociology of childhood.

In his lecture, "Big Ideas from Little Kids: What Research with Children Contributes to the Social Sciences and Education," Corsaro will reflect on the arc of his career and explore what decades of ethnographic research with children can teach us about friendship, culture, learning, and social reproduction.

"Big Ideas from Little Kids," a lecture by William A. Corsaro

Wednesday, October 8

4:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

Indiana Memorial Union (IMU)
State Rooms East and West
900 E. 7th St.
Bloomington, IN 47405

RSVP below

Drawing on comparative studies in the United States, Italy, and Norway, Corsaro introduces key concepts such as interpretive reproduction and priming events, which illuminate children’s agency during crucial life transitions.

Honoring a distinguished career

In addition to his lecture, the College will present Corsaro with its inaugural Distinguished Scholar Award, recognizing his extraordinary contributions to sociology and education. A former Robert H. Shaffer Class of 1967 Endowed Chair and Professor Emeritus at Indiana University, Corsaro has been celebrated internationally for his groundbreaking research and influential books, including The Sociology of Childhood (6th edition, 2024). Read more about his career and publications below.

We hope you'll join us for this event! If you have any questions, please contact Director of Alumni Engagement Vanessa Cloe.

RSVP for the event

More about William A. Corsaro

William A. Corsaro was Robert H. Shaffer Class of 1967 Endowed Chair and is now Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology at Indiana University Bloomington, where he won the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1988. He was the first recipient of the Distinguished Career Award for the Section on Children and Youth of the American Sociological Association in 2013 and recipient of the Cooley-Mead Award for the Section on Social Psychology of the American Sociological Association in 2018.

At Indiana University, he taught courses on the sociology of childhood, childhood in contemporary society, and ethnographic research methods. His primary research interests are the sociology of childhood, children’s peer cultures, comparative early education, and ethnographic research methods.

Corsaro is the author of The Sociology of Childhood (6th edition, 2024) with Judson Everitt; Friendship and Peer Culture in the Early Years (1985); and We’re Friends, Right: Inside Kids’ Culture (2003). Corsaro is also coauthor with Luisa Molinari of I Compagni: Understanding Children’s Transition from Preschool to Elementary School (2005). He is the coeditor with Jens Qvortrup and Michael-Sebastian Honig of The Palgrave Handbook of Childhood Studies (2009).

Corsaro was a Fulbright Senior Research Fellow in Bologna, Italy, in 1983-84 and a Fulbright Senior Specialist Fellow in Trondheim, Norway, in 2003. He received an honorary doctorate from Uppsala University, Sweden in 2016.

Questions?

If you have any questions about this event, please e-mail Director of Alumni Engagement Vanessa Cloe.