Benjamin Cornwell

Benjamin Thomas Cornwell (born April 30, 1978) is an American sociologist. He is Professor and Chair of Sociology at Cornell University. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 2007, where he studied under Edward Laumann, Linda Waite, and Jason Beckfield. He works on methods to study issues involving social inequality, the epidemic spread of disease, and collective behavior.

Benjamin Cornwell
Benjamin Cornwell (Ithaca, New York, 2023)
Born (1978-04-30) April 30, 1978
Huntington, West Virginia
Alma materUniversity of Chicago
Known forContributions to social network analysis, sequence analysis
SpouseErin York Cornwell
Scientific career
FieldsSociology, Social epidemiology
InstitutionsCornell University
Doctoral advisorEdward Laumann
Other academic advisorsLinda Waite, Jason Beckfield

Biography

Benjamin Cornwell was born to Thomas and Susan (Smith) Cornwell in 1978 in Huntington, West Virginia. Through his maternal great-grandmother, Edna Alice (Hatfield) Smith, he is a cousin of Devil Anse Hatfield and Henry D. Hatfield. His paternal 4th great-grandfather is Thomas Hannan, a revolutionary war soldier and the first Anglo settler of the Kanawha River region of Virginia (now West Virginia)[1]

Scholarly career

He earned his B.A. in sociology in 2000 at the University of Cincinnati, his M.A. at Ohio State University (with James Moody) in 2001, and his Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Chicago in 2007. His dissertation was titled Physical Function and Social Action, which argues that health is an important factor in determining individuals' positions within larger social networks.[2] During his time as a student at Chicago, he was a research assistant for the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, on which he eventually became a co-investigator.

He also served for several years as a teaching intern and research assistant for Donald N. Levine while at Chicago.[3] He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center on the Demography and Economics of Aging. He was hired as an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Cornell in 2008, and was appointed as chair of that department in 2020, during the height of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

His research has advanced sociological methods, particularly in the areas of social network analysis and sequence analysis.[4] One of his most important papers, co-authored with Kim Weeden, used data on the networks of students on college campuses to demonstrate that the risk of the epidemic spread of SARS-CoV-2 could be curbed by shutting down particularly large classes and moving them online.[5][6][7][8]

He used national survey data to show that while older adults tend to have smaller social networks than do younger adults (e.g., due to repeated personal losses), they are generally more involved in community activities than are younger people.[9][10][11] As a result, they are usually able to replace lost network ties with new ones, leading to homeostasis in their social networks.[12][13][14][15][16][17]

His work on the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire has shown how people's risk of dying in an emergency evacuation is associated with how they are tied to the other people who are present when the disaster occurs.[18][19][20] Those who are present with a larger group, and/or with closer contacts whom they are less willing to abandon, are more likely to die.[21] This work emphasizes that the popular concept of "panic" rarely shapes behavior in emergencies, and that people instead tend to work rationally to maintain preexisting social roles and connections during these situations.[22][23][24]

In 2017, the American Sociological Association's section on methodology awarded Cornwell the Leo Goodman award for distinctive contributions to sociological methodology, in recognition of his work in social network analysis and sequence analysis. He is an inaugural member of the international Sequence Analysis Association's advisory board.

Selected scholarly works
  • Carr, Deborah, Shelley Correll, Robert Crosnoe, Jeremy Freese, Mary C. Waters, Benjamin Cornwell, and Elizabeth Boyle. 2017. The Art and Science of Social Research. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
  • Cornwell, Benjamin. 2015. Social Sequence Analysis. New York: Cambridge.
  • Cornwell, Benjamin, Jonathan Gershuny, and Oriel Sullivan. 2019. “The Social Structure of Time: Emerging Trends and New Directions.” Annual Review of Sociology 45:301-320
  • Cornwell, Benjamin, and Jing-Mao Ho. 2022. "Network Structure in Small Groups and Survival in Disasters." Social Forces 100:1357-1384.
  • Cornwell, Benjamin, Edward Laumann, and L. Philip Schumm. 2008. “The Social Connectedness of Older Adults: A National Profile.” American Sociological Review 73:185-203.
  • Weeden, Kim, and Benjamin Cornwell. 2020. “The Small World Network of College Classes: Implications for Epidemic Spread on a University Campus.” Sociological Science.

References
  1. National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. 2020. National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution 2019 Member Directory. Dallas, Texas: PCI.
  2. Cornwell, Benjamin. Physical Function and Social Action: Implications for Social Connectedness. The University of Chicago, 2007
  3. Levine, Donald N. 2008. Powers of the Mind. University of Chicago Press.
  4. Skaathun, Britt, Dexter R. Voisin, Benjamin Cornwell, Diane S. Lauderdale, and John A. Schneider. 2018. “A Longitudinal Examination of Factors Associated with Network Bridging among YMSM: Implications for HIV Prevention.” AIDS & Behavior 23:13261338
  5. Gressman, Philip T., and Jennifer R. Peck. 2020. "Simulating COVID-19 in a University Environment." Mathematical Biosciences 328:108436.
  6. Murphy, Michael PA. 2020. "COVID-19 and Emergency eLearning: Consequences of the Securitization of Higher Education for Post-Pandemic Pedagogy." Contemporary Security Policy 41(3):492-505.
  7. Ranoa, Diana Rose E., Robin L. Holland, Fadi G. Alnaji, Kelsie J. Green, Leyi Wang, Richard L. Fredrickson, Tong Wang et al. 2022. "Mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 Transmission at a Large Public University." Nature Communications 13(1):3207.
  8. Rashid, Shazia, and Sunishtha Singh Yadav. 2020. "Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Higher Education and Research." Indian Journal of Human Development 14(2):340-343.
  9. Morgan, Tessa, Janine Wiles, Hong-Jae Park, Tess Moeke-Maxwell, Ofa Dewes, Stella Black, Lisa Williams, and Merryn Gott. 2021. "Social Connectedness: What Matters to Older People?." Ageing & Society 41(5):1126-1144.
  10. Small, Mario Luis. Someone to Talk To. Oxford University Press, 2017.
  11. Wrzus, Cornelia, Martha Hänel, Jenny Wagner, and Franz J. Neyer. 2023. "Social Network Changes and Life Events across the Life Span: A Meta-Analysis." Psychological Bulletin 139(1):53.
  12. Bianchi, Federico, Matteo Piolatto, Alessandra Marengoni, and Flaminio Squazzoni. 2023. "Structure of Personal Networks and Cognitive Abilities: A Study on a Sample of Italian Older Adults." Social Networks 74:71-77.
  13. Das, Aniruddha. 2021. "Is Loneliness Adaptive? A Dynamic Panel Model Study of Older US Adults." The Journals of Gerontology: Series B 76(7):1430-1440.
  14. Roth, Adam R. 2020. "Social Networks and Health in Later Life: A State of the Literature." Sociology of Health & Illness 42(7):1642-1656.
  15. Schafer, Markus H., Haosen Sun, and Jin A. Lee. 2022. "Compensatory Connections? Living Alone, Loneliness, and the Buffering Role of Social Connection among Older American and European Adults." The Journals of Gerontology: Series B 77(8):1550-1560.
  16. Sun, Haosen, and Markus H. Schafer. 2023. "Isolation or Replenishment? The Case of Partner Network Exclusivity and Partner Loss in Later Life." The Journals of Gerontology: Series B 78(4):705-717.
  17. Townsend, Braedon G., Jessamine TH Chen, and Viviana M. Wuthrich. 2021. "Barriers and Facilitators to Social Participation in Older Adults: A Systematic Literature Review." Clinical Gerontologist 44(4):359-380.
  18. Feinberg, William E., and Norris R. Johnson. 1995. "Firescap: A Computer Simulation Model of Reaction to a Fire Alarm." Journal of Mathematical Sociology 20(2-3):247-269.
  19. Johnson, Norris R. 1987. "Panic and the Breakdown of Social Order: Popular Myth, Social Theory, Empirical Evidence." Sociological Focus 20(3):171-183.
  20. Johnston, Drue M., and Norris R. Johnson. 1989. "Role Extension in Disaster: Employee Behavior at the Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire." Sociological Focus:39-51.
  21. Feinberg, William E., and Norris R. Johnson. 2001. "The Ties That Bind: A Macro-Level Approach to Panic." International Journal of Mass Emergencies & Disasters 19(3):1-16.
  22. Drury, John. 2018. "The Role of Social Identity Processes in Mass Emergency Behaviour: An Integrative Review." European Review of Social Psychology 29(1):38-81.
  23. Drury, John, Chris Cocking, and Steve Reicher. 2009. "The Nature of Collective Resilience: Survivor Reactions to the 2005 London Bombings." International Journal of Mass Emergencies & Disasters 27(1):66-95.
  24. Kobes, Margrethe, Ira Helsloot, Bauke De Vries, and Jos G. Post. 2010. "Building Safety and Human Behaviour in Fire: A Literature Review." Fire Safety Journal 45(1):1-11.
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