Research

Professor Mooney‘s research has primarily been in rural sociology with emphases on rural class structure, social movements, and agricultural cooperatives. This research focuses on social change, often from the perspective of political economy.

Selected Publications

Professor Mooney is the author of:

• My Own Boss? Class, Rationality, and the Family Farm (1988)
• Farmers and Farm Workers Movements: Social Protest in American Agriculture (with Theo J. Majka, 1995)

Dr. Mooney has also published in numerous journals, including Rural Sociology, Polish Sociological Review and Sociological Quarterly. He currently serves on the editorial board of the journal Rural Sociology and the interdisciplinary Journal of Rural Studies and has recently edited (with Paul Cloke and Terry Marsden) the forthcoming Handbook of Rural Studies for Sage Publications (London). He recently served as the Rural Sociological Society’s representative to the Board of Directors of the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST). Dr. Mooney has held a Fulbright Research Fellowship and a German Marshall Fund Fellowship for his research in Poland. His current work on Poland addresses issues associated with impacts of unification with the European Union on rural Poland. In addition, his most recent work focuses on the ways in which social movements and other institutions align the framing of food security to mobilize resources around distinct interests such as hunger, sustainability, risk management and counter-terrorism. Dr. Mooney teaches social movements, sociological theory, rural sociology, and has offered innovative courses in neighborhood organization and food security.