Emily Erikson is assistant professor of sociology at UMass. Her research interests include economic integration, the role of eastern markets in the development of capitalism, the relationship between organizational and network structure, and network dynamics. Her research incorporates multiple methods and uses a social mechanism-based explanatory approach to social processes. Recent research includes how organizations shape the expansion of foreign trade, the indirect effects of centralized authority on community-level relations, and the role of decentralized Asian markets in 17th-century market expansion. Her most recent publication, co-authored with Peter Bearman and published in AJS, traced the positive impact of employee malfeasance in the English East India Company on organizational growth and the construction of the first global trade network. This research was covered by UPI and Scientific American. In addition to her teaching and research activities, Professor Erikson serves as Associate Editor for Social Science History.

Areas of Interest:
Network Analysis, Historical Comparative Methods, Organizations, Economic Sociology

Current Grants:
2008-10. Andrew Mellon Foundation. Mutual Mentoring Initiative Grant. With Anna Branch, David Cort, Dani Lainer-Vos, Andrew Papachristos, Wenona Rymond-Richmond, Amy Schalet, and Melissa Wooten.

Recent Publications:
"Central Authority and Order." Sociological Theory 25(3):245-67. With Joseph Parent.

"Malfeasance and the Foundations for Global Trade: The Structure of English Trade in the East Indies, 1601-1833." American Journal of Sociology 112(1):195-230, 2006.

"Taboo." In Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History, 2003. With Harrison White.