Fred Block

Fred Block Portrait

Position Title
Professor Emeritus

Bio

Education

  • Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
  • B.A., Columbia College, New York City

About

Fred Block specializes in economic sociology and political sociology. He also leads the Center for Engaged Scholarship http://www.cescholar.org that provides fellowship support for Ph.D. students in the social sciences whose work has the potential to make U.S. society more egalitarian, more democratic, and more environmentally sustainable.

Research Focus

Block’s recent writing focuses on innovation in the U.S. economy, the intellectual legacy of Karl Polanyi, and the critique of free market economics.

Publications

Block, Fred. 2018. Capitalism: The Future of an Illusion. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Block, Fred. 2018. “Karl Polanyi and Human Freedom,” in Michael Brie and Claus Thomasberger, eds. Karl Polany’s Vision of a Socialist Transformation. Black Rose Press, 2018.

Block, Fred. 2017. “Reinventing the Left for a New Historical Epoch” in David Coates, ed., Reflections on the Future of the Left. London: Agenda Publishing.

Block, Fred and Margaret R. Somers. 2017. “Review Essay: Karl Polanyi in an Age of Uncertainty.” Contemporary Sociology.

Block, Fred and Margaret R. Somers. 2014. The Power of Market Fundamentalism: Karl Polanyi’s Critique. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Block, Fred and Matthew R. Keller, eds. 2011. , State of Innovation: The U.S.Government’s Role in Technology Development. Boulder: Paradigm.

Awards

Distinguished Emeriti Award, U.C. Davis, 2016.