Professor Christel Lane

Christel Lane is Professor Emeritus of Economic Sociology, a member of the Department of Sociology and a Fellow of St John’s College. She gained her PhD at the London School of Economics and held an ESRC post-doctoral award at the University of Cambridge. She came to St John’s in 1990, after holding a teaching post for nine years at the University of Aston in Birmingham.

Her early work has centred on religion and political ritual in the Soviet Union. Most subsequent research has been engaged with the comparative study of varieties of capitalism, focusing particularly on the economy and society of Germany, Britain, France and, in her most recent book, also of the USA. Prof Lane’s latest scholarly interests are haute cuisine restaurants/chefs in Britain and Germany. This work expands her interest in economic sociology with that of cultural economy and sociology of culture.

Christel Lane has published numerous books and papers in a wide range of journals. Among her books are The Rites of Rulers (CUP 1981); Management and Labour in Europe (Edward Elgar 1989); Industry and Society in Europe (Edward Elgar 1995); Trust Within and Between Organizations (with R. Bachmann, OUP  1998); National Capitalisms, Global Production Networks. Fashioning the value chain in the UK, USA and Germany (with Jocelyn Probert, OUP 2009);  Capitalist Diversity and Diversity within Capitalism (edited with Geoffrey Wood, Routledge 2012; and The Cultivation of Taste. Chefs and the Organization of Fine Dining. OUP 2014, paperback 2016.  Christel is currently preparing a book on the history of the pub in England and asking whether gastropubs can reverse the dying of pubs or simply turn pubs into restaurants.  See more at: http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/professor-christel-lane#sthash.WncKIEq2.dpuf

Prof Lane has served on the editorial boards of The British Journal of Sociology, Work, Employment and Society and Socio-Economic Review. She is Past President of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) and has served as a member of its Executive Council of SASE, as well as of the Scientific Advisory Board, Soziologisches Forschungsinstitut Goettingen/Germany.

At St John’s, she has served on various committees, including being a member of the College Council. She currently is enjoying the more relaxed pace of teaching and research which retirement permits.