Gay Seidman

Gay W. Seidman is an American sociologist and the Martindale Bascom Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research examines labor movements, social movement unionism, transnational activism, gender and citizenship, and development, with a particular focus on comparative studies of Brazil and South Africa.

Early life and education Seidman was born in the United States but attended elementary schools in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zambia (where her parents, Robert B. Seidman and Ann Seidman, taught at various universities) before attending boarding school in the United States. She and her twin sister later attended Harvard University together. She earned a B.A. summa cum laude in Social Studies from Harvard University in 1978, where she was deeply involved with The Harvard Crimson, serving as the first woman president.

After graduation, Seidman taught English, history, and African studies in high schools in Swaziland and co-authored a history textbook used in newly independent Zimbabwe as well as a development studies textbook used in Botswana, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe. She completed her Ph.D. in Sociology in 1990 under the supervision of labor scholar Michael Burawoy. Her 2007 book Beyond the Boycott compares independent labor monitoring schemes in South Africa, India, and Guatemala, exploring some of the tensions and challenges involved in transnational efforts to regulate working conditions along global supply chains.

Books

Selected articles

Awards and honors Beyond the Boycott received an honorable mention for the American Sociological Association's book award in the Sociology of Labor section in 2008 and was the subject of author-meets-critics sessions at the ASA annual meeting and a symposium in the journal Labor History.

Personal life Seidman is married to Heinz Klug, a professor of law at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They have two children.