Faculty Bio

Max Pfeffer

Professor and Chair, Department of Development Sociology

133a Warren Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-7801
Email: mjp5@cornell.edu
Phone: (607) 255-1676

Training

Ph.D. 1986 University of Wisconsin, Madison (Sociology)
M.S. 1979 University of Wisconsin, Madison (Rural Sociology)
B.A. 1976 University of Colorado, Boulder (Sociology)

Areas of Interest

» environmental sociology
» rural development
» sociology of labor markets
» ethnicity and immigration

Research

My teaching concentrates on environmental sociology and sociological theory. My research spans several areas including land use and environmental planning, rural labor markets, rural to urban and international migration. The empirical work covers a variety of rural and urban communities, including rural/urban fringe areas. Research sites include rural New York, Mexico and Central America. I have been awarded competitive grant awards from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Research Initiative, and the Fund for Rural America. I have published a wide range of scholarly articles, and have co-edited two books and co-authored three National Research Council Reports.

Selected Publications

Max J. Pfeffer, John Schelhas and Catherine Meola. 2006. “Environmental Globalization, Organizational Form, and Expected Benefits from Protected Areas in Central America.” Rural Sociology (forthcoming).

Max J. Pfeffer, Joe D. Francis and Zev Ross. 2006. “Fifty Years of Farmland Change: Urbanization, Population Growth and the Changing Farm Economy.” Pp. in David L. Brown and William Kandel, Population Change and Rural Society in the 21st Century. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers (forthcoming).

Max J. Pfeffer, Linda P. Wagenet, John Sydenstricker-Neto, and Catherine Meola. “Reconciling Different Land Use Value Spheres: An Example at the Rural/Urban Interface.” 2005. Pp. 186-201 in Stephan Goetz, James Shortle and James Bergstrom (eds.), Land Use Problems and Conflicts: Causes, Consequences and Solutions. London: Routledge.

John Schelhas and Max J. Pfeffer. 2005. “Forest Values of National Park Neighbors in Costa Rica.” Human Organization (forthcoming).

Pfeffer, Max J., John Schelhas, Stephen DeGloria and Jorge Gomez. 2005. “Population, Conservation, and Land Use Change in Honduras.” Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 110 (1-2):14-28.

Pfeffer, Max J. and J. Mayone Stycos. 2002. "Immigrant Environmental Behaviors in New York City." Social Science Quarterly 83(1):65-81.

Pfeffer, Max J., J. Mayone Stycos, Leland Glenna and Joyce Altobelli. 2001. "Forging New Connections Between Agriculture and the City." In Otto Solbrig, Rob Paarlberg and Francesco DiCastri (eds.), Globalization and the Rural Environment. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Pfeffer, Max J., John Schelhas, and Leyla Day. 2001. "Forest Conservation, Value Conflict, and Interest Formation in a Honduran National Park." Rural Sociology 66(3): 382-402.

Rutherford H. Platt, Paul K. Barten and Max J. Pfeffer. 2000. "A Full, Clean Glass? Managing New York City's Watersheds." Environment 42(5): 8-20.

Pfeffer, Max J. 2000. "Class, Ethnicity and Marginal Employment: African-American and Cambodian Day-Haul Farm Workers in Philadelphia." Research in the Sociology of Work: Marginality 9: 73-93.

Pfeffer, Max J. and Linda Wagenet. 1999. "Planning for Environmental Responsibility and Equity: A Critical Appraisal of Rural/Urban Relations in the New York City Watershed." Pp. 179-205 in Mark B. Lapping and Owen Furuseth, Contested Countryside: The Rural Urban Fringe of North America. Brookfield: Ashgate.

Pfeffer, Max J. 1997. "Welfare versus Work in the Ethnic Transformation of a Philadelphia Labor Market." Social Science Quarterly 78(2): 452-470.

Pfeffer, Max J. and Mark Lapping. 1995. "Prospects for Sustainable Agriculture in the Northeast's Rural/Urban Fringe." Research in Rural Sociology and Development 6: 67-93.

Pfeffer, Max J. and Mark Lapping. 1994. "Farmland Preservation, Development Rights and the Theory of the Growth Machine: The Views of Planners." Journal of Rural Studies 10(3): 233-248.

Pfeffer, Max J. 1994. "Low-Wage Employment and Ghetto Poverty: A Comparison of African American and Cambodian Day Haul Farmworkers in Philadelphia." Social Problems 41(1):401-421.

Pfeffer, Max J. and Jess Gilbert. 1991. "Gender and Off-Farm Employment in Two Regional Farming Systems: Responses to Farm Crisis in the Cornbelt and the Mississippi Delta." The Sociological Quarterly 34(4): 593-610.

National Research Council Reports:

2000: Watershed Management for Potable Water Supply: Assessing New York City's Approach. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. With Water Science and Technology Board Committee to Review the New York City Watershed Agreement.

1999: New Strategies for America's Watersheds. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. With Water Science and Technology Board Committee on Watershed Management.

1995: Criteria for Watershed Sustainability: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, D.C.: National Research Council. With Water Science and Technology Board Workshop on Sustainable Watershed Development.