3/25/2015
Joseph Klett
Department of Sociology
Yale University
493 College Street
New Haven, CT 06511-8933
[email protected] | josephklett.com | (510) 502-4974
Education
May 2015
Dissertation
Committee
Ph.D.
Sociology, Yale University
‘The Social Life of Noise’
Ron Eyerman (Chair), Jeffrey Alexander, Phil Gorski, and Fred Wherry
My dissertation concerns the social processes that produce noise over signal in different cultural
organizations. I use ethnographic studies of music education classrooms and an audio engineering
firm in the United States to describe this sonic phenomenon and to understand the relational
practices and technologies that generate noise in interactive situations.
2010
M.Phil.
Field Exam
Readers
Sociology, Yale University
Environmental Sociology and Critical Theory
Ron Eyerman and Phil Smith
2008
M.A.
Sociology, Yale University
2006
B.A.
Sociology (with highest distinction) and Music (minor),
University of California, San Diego (cum laude)
Areas of Research and Teaching
Cultural sociology; Science & Technology Studies; Work & Organizational Culture; Art & Music;
Design; Social Movements; Environmental Sociology; Social Theory; Qualitative Methods
Publications
Peer-reviewed Articles
Klett, Joseph. 2014. ‘Sound on Sound: Situating Interaction in Sonic Object Settings’. Sociological
Theory 32 (2): 147-161.
Klett, Joseph and Alison Gerber. 2014. ‘The Meaning of Indeterminacy: Noise Music as
Performance’. Cultural Sociology 8 (3): 275–290.
Submitted
Klett, Joseph. ‘Variations in Music Education Curriculum and the Organization of Listening’ (under
review, American Sociological Review)
Klett CV 2
Gerber, Alison and Joseph Klett. ‘The Teacher, the Artist, the Art Teacher’ (equal co-authorship;
under review, Professions & Professionalism)
Guhin, Jeffrey and Joseph Klett. ‘Coercion in Practice: Skills and Virtues in the Pedagogies of Liberal
Education’ (equal co-authorship; under review, Theory & Society)
In Preparation
‘The Deep Meaning of Noise in an Emerging Audio Platform’ (for Science, Technology & Human
Values)
Book Reviews
Klett, Joseph. 2013. Review of ‘Lobbying for the Ear’ by Alexandra Supper in Dissertation Reviews,
http://dissertationreviews.org/archives/5963
Klett, Joseph. 2009. Review of ‘Current of Music’ by Theodor W. Adorno in Canadian Journal of
Sociology, Vol. 34 No. 4, Pp. 1165-1167
Awards and Honors
2011-2012
National Science Foundation, Dissertation Improvement Grant, Sociology
2012
Tilly Travel Grant, Social Science History Association
Spring 2011
Graduate Exchange Scholar, Department of Sociology, Stanford University
2011
University Dissertation Fellowship, Yale University
Fall 2011
Select participant, Incubator Breakfasts (with James Scott), Yale University
2009, 2010
George M. Camp Grant, Department of Sociology, Yale University
2008, 2010
Fellow, Konstanzer Meisterklasse, Konstanz University
2007-2014
Junior Fellow, Center for Cultural Sociology, Yale University
2007-2012
Doctoral Fellowship, Yale University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
2006
Outstanding Academic Paper Award, Department of Sociology, University of
California, San Diego
Academic Work Experience
2014-2015
Visiting Assistant Professor, UC Santa Cruz, courses: “Contemporary Social Theory,”
“Issues and Problems in American Society,” “Popular Music,” and “Sociology of
Social Problems”
Klett CV 3
2014
Adjunct Faculty, Fairfield University, course: “Introduction to Sociology”
Fall 2013
Teaching Fellow, Yale University, course: “Public Health in America,” Dr. Naomi
Rogers.
Fall 2012
Teaching Fellow, Yale University, course: “New Haven and the American City,” Dr.
Alan Plattus and Dr. Elihu Rubin.
Fall 2011
Teaching Fellow, Yale University, course: “Urban Sociology,” Dr. Marcus Hunter.
Fall 2010
Teaching Fellow, Yale University, course: “Social Movements,” Dr. Ron Eyerman.
Spring 2010
Teaching Fellow, Yale University, course: “Sociology of Crime and Deviance,” Dr. Phil
Smith.
Fall 2009
Teaching Fellow, Yale University, course: “Foundations of Modern Social Thought,”
Dr. Ivan Szelenyi.
Certifications
Winter 2011
Certificate of College Teaching Preparation (CTP), Yale University McDougal
Teaching Center
Research Assistance
2012
Research assistant for Dr. Ron Eyerman (Yale University), archival work and media
analysis for forthcoming project on hurricane Katrina
2008-2009
Research assistant for Dr. Ron Eyerman (Yale University), archival work for
forthcoming project on musician-activist Pete Seeger
2006
Laboratory assistant, departments of psychology and linguistics (University of
California, San Diego), job duties included creation of psycho-linguistic experiments,
running subjects, creation of subject schedules, and analysis of data from multiple
experimental modules
2005
Research assistant for Dr. Gershon Shafir (University of California, San Diego),
reading and time-line creation for conference and book National Insecurity and
Human Rights
Selected Presentations and Invited Commentary
2006-2007
‘A Lossy Medium: Digitized Music and Consumer Meaning-Making’ at Honors
Seminar Mini Conference, Department of Sociology, University of California at San
Diego, San Diego, CA; and Center for Cultural Sociology Workshop, Yale University,
New Haven, CT
Klett CV 4
2007-2008
‘The Ears Remain Open’ at Cold Utopias: New Perspectives on Postwar Musical
Avant-Gardes, Department of Music, Yale University, New Haven, CT ; Center for
Cultural Sociology Spring Conference, Yale University, New Haven, CT; and
Konstanzer Meisterklasse, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
2009
Invited comment on Guhin’s “Tabling Irony” at Comparative-Historical Workshop,
Yale University, New Haven, CT
2009
‘The Noise That Binds’ at American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Section
on Collective Behavior and Social Movements, San Francisco, CA
2010
‘The Meaning of Indeterminacy’ at “Bigger than Words, Wider than Pictures”: Noise,
Affect, Politics, University of Salford and Islington Mill, Salford, UK
2011
‘Negotiating Noise-Cancelling Technology’ at American Sociological Association
Annual Meeting, Section on Environment & Technology, Las Vegas, NV
2011
Invited comment on Lampland’s “The Problem with Money” at Agrarian Studies
Colloquium, Yale University, New Haven, CT
2011
‘Noise and the Persistence of the ‘Black Box’ in Audio Engineering’ and ‘The
Negotiation of “Noise” in Audio Engineering’ at Social Science History Association
Annual Meeting, refereed panels, Boston, MA
2012
‘Noise and the “Object” of Audio Engineering’ at American Sociological Association
Annual Meeting, Section on Science, Knowledge and Technology, Denver, CO
2012
‘”Personalized” Audio and the Changing Meaning of Noise’ at Society for Social
Studies of Science Annual Meeting, refereed panel Displacement and Classification,
Copenhagen, DK
2012
‘Making Space for Sound Out of Place’ at Department of Sociology, Lunds University,
SE; Sounders Workshop, Maastricht University, NL; and Center for Cultural Sociology
Workshop, Yale University, New Haven, CT
2013
‘”Good Noise” in Personalized Audio’ at Media Sociology Pre-conference, and
‘Making Space for Sound Out of Place’ at American Sociological Association Annual
Meeting, Section on Theory, New York City, NY; and Sound Studies Colloquium,
Whitney Humanities Center, New Haven, CT
2013
‘Painting Primates’, refereed panel Animal Designs, and ‘Reflections on Space’ at
Society for Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting, co-chaired panel Making Sense
of Sound, San Diego, CA
2014
‘The Reflective Algorithm’, invited presentation at Algorithmic Cultures conference,
Konstanz University, Konstanz, DE
Klett CV 5
Service
2014-present
Editorial Committee Coordinator, Working Papers in Cultural Sociology
2013-present
Participant, digitalSTS working group
2012-present
Co-organizer, Work/Culture working group
Occasional Referee
2013-present
American Journal of Sociology, Cultural Sociology, Journal of
Contemporary Ethnography
Memberships
American Sociological Association
Sections: Organizations Occupations and Work,
Communication and Information Technologies, Culture,
Scientific Knowledge and Technology, Theory
Social Science History Association
Society for Social Studies of Science
References
Ron Eyerman
Yale University
Department of Sociology
493 College Street
New Haven, CT 06511-8933
[email protected]
Fred Wherry
Yale University
Department of Sociology
493 College Street
New Haven, CT 06511-8933
[email protected]
Jeffrey Alexander
Yale University
Department of Sociology
493 College Street
New Haven, CT 06511-8933
[email protected]
Kurt Schlichting
Fairfield University
Department of Sociology
1073 North Benson Road
Fairfield, Connecticut 06824
[email protected]
Phil Gorski
Yale University
Department of Sociology
493 College Street
New Haven, CT 06511-8933
[email protected]