Joshua Woods, Ph.D.
Josh Woods is a professor of sociology. He received a B.A. in political science and a Ph.D. in sociology from Michigan State University, specializing in social psychology. Josh’s teaching and research examine relationships between society and the individual. As a generalist, he has studied a range of interdisciplinary topics and social problems, including terrorism, immigration, violence on college campuses, social movements, lifestyle sports, social inequality on social media, and an array of other media studies.
He is the author of five academic books, two dozen peer-reviewed journal articles and numerous publications in popular media, such as USA Today, Christian Science Monitor, The New Republic, The Conversation, Moscow Times, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Josh is editor at Parked, an academic blog devoted to research on emerging sports.
Selected Publications
Woods, Joshua, Matthew Hartwell, Leah Oldham, and Stephanie House-Niamke (2023). Centering the Self, Doing the Sport and Being the Brand: The Self-Branding of Lifestyle Athletes on Instagram, International Journal of Sport Communication, https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.2022-0168.
Woods, Joshua, and Matthew Hartwell (2023). What Color is a Golden Boy? The Glorification and Disparagement of Male Superstar Athletes in Sports Illustrated, Social Currents, https://doi.org/10.1177/23294965231159312.
Woods, Joshua (2022). Introduction to the Special Issue on Emerging Sports. Sociological Focus, 55(3): 213-219, https://doi.org/10.1080/00380237.2022.2081003.
Woods, Joshua (2022). Red Sport, Blue Sport: Political Ideology and the Popularity of Sports in the United States. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 14(3): 489-505. https://doi.org/10.1080/19406940.2022.2074516.
Woods, Joshua (2021). Emerging Sports as Social Movements: Disc Golf and the Rise of an Unknown Sport. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Woods, Joshua, and C. Damien Arthur (2017). Debating Immigration in the Age of Terrorism, Polarization, and Trump. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Woods, Joshua (2012). Freaking Out: A Decade of Living with Terrorism. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
Courses Taught
Social Psychology
Social Research Methods
Quantitative Analysis and Statistical Reasoning
Complex Organizations
Introduction to Sociology
Media and Popular Culture
Media and Society
Content Analysis