Sarah Whetstone
Associate Professor of Sociology
Bradley Hall 113
(309) 677-2390
swhetstone@bradley.edu
Ph.D., Sociology, University of Minnesota
Biography
Dr. Whetstone joined Bradley in 2016 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Criminology & Social Work. Her interest areas include social inequalities; sociology of the body; social theory; punishment, deviance & social control; drugs & society; addiction studies; and qualitative & ethnographic methods. When she’s not doing sociology, she enjoys running, yoga, karaoke, and concerts.
Teaching
Dr. Whetstone teaches a range of different courses for the sociology program including core courses like Intro to Sociology (SOC 100) and Social Theory (SOC 320); upper-level electives such as Social Inequalities (SOC 312) and Race, Ethnicity & Power (SOC 313); and special topics courses like Drugs & Society (SOC 390). Her courses contribute to the Women’s and Gender Studies program, the African American Studies program, the Bradley Honors Program, and the LAS First Year Seminar Program.
In 2024, she will serve as the faculty mentor for Bradley’s new Social Justice Living Learning Community and teach the introductory common course, SOC 105: Foundations of Social Justice.
Scholarship
Dr. Whetstone’s previous research was a comparative-ethnographic study of the American recovery scene that focused on how inequalities shaped access to addiction treatment for people across the social structure. The project included years of fieldwork and hundreds of interviews with recovering people. With co-author Teresa Gowan, research from this project has been published in leading sociology journals including Social Problems, Sociological Forum, Social Justice, Punishment & Society, and Social Science & Medicine.
Dr. Whetstone’s latest project, with co-editor Jackie Hogan, is the volume Consuming Bodies: Body Commodification and Embodiment in Late Capitalist Societies, forthcoming with Routledge Press in 2024. Research from her new project on gender, identity and belonging in recreational pole dancing communities will appear in this volume.
She also contributed a chapter on the sociology of deviance to Thinking Outside the Book, an introductory sociology textbook coming out with Top Hat Publishers in 2024.
Service
In her service work, Dr. Whetstone has focused on advancing Bradley’s mission of diversity, equity, and inclusion; mentoring students to support their growth as scholars and professionals; and creating campus programming around social justice issues.