Patricia A. Banks

  • Professor of Sociology
  • on leave spring 2024
Patricia A. Banks is a sociologist whose research focuses on the intersection of culture, consumption and markets.

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Patricia A. Banks (/Spelman College B.A.) is a sociologist whose research program lies at the intersection of culture, consumption, and markets. In 2018-2019 Banks was in . With a focus on the African Diaspora, she studies the determinants, consequences, and meanings of cultural consumption and the processes underlying the emergence and growth of cultural markets. Some of the topics she explores are the bi-directional relationship between art collecting and identity, structural and cultural explanations of museum philanthropy, and the influence of consecration on the art market. At Mount 51²Ö¿â she is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and a faculty member in the Program in Africana Studies and the Program in Entrepreneurship, Organizations, and Society.

Banks is author of the books (Routledge 2019) and (Routledge 2010). She has published articles in journals such as Poetics, the Journal of Consumer Culture, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Cultural Sociology, and Qualitative Sociology. Her research involves various methods including in-depth interviews, visual analysis, participant observation, and archival research. is the first major empirical and theoretical analysis of art collecting as a practice of black identity construction. She is currently working on the book Race, Ethnicity, and Consumption: A Sociological View (Under Contract Routledge) where she brings sociological theory to bear on race and ethnicity in the for-profit and non-profit marketplaces. In other research projects Banks is investigating philanthropy at African American museums, corporate support for the arts, and the global market for contemporary African art.

Banks has been a , and received fellowships or grants from institutions such as the UNCF/Mellon Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, and the American Association of University Women. She was recently elected to serve a three year term as the Secretary-Treasurer of the Sociology of Consumers and Consumption section of the American Sociological Association. Banks is also an elected and has served in an elected position as Secretary-Treasurer of the American Sociological Association Section on Race, Gender and Class. Her work with students has been recognized by a teaching award from the and election as the Junior Faculty Baccalaureate Speaker at Mount 51²Ö¿â. Banks has lectured and given talks on issues related to art and culture internationally and nationally. She is also the creator of the which is a digital archive that allows researchers and other users to search for over 300 African American museums and related organizations across the United States. For more information about how her research on art collecting and racial identity has been incorporated into the sociology of art see Sociology Looks at the Arts (Routledge 2014).

Selected Courses

Selected Past Courses

  • Art and Society (Mount 51²Ö¿â)
  • Black Cultural Production and Consumption (Mount 51²Ö¿â)
  • Class in the Black Community (Mount 51²Ö¿â)
  • Foodies: Taste and Culture in a Global Society (Mount 51²Ö¿â)
  • Introduction to Qualitative Research and Data Analysis (Mount 51²Ö¿â)
  • Introduction to Sociology (Mount 51²Ö¿â)
  • Race in America (Mount 51²Ö¿â)
  • The Business of Culture: Marketing and Selling Symbolic Goods (Mount 51²Ö¿â)

Selected Past Independent Studies

  • The Market for Art by Contemporary African Artists: Artist Histories (Independent Study, Mount 51²Ö¿â)
  • Fashion, Business, and Society (Independent Study, Mount 51²Ö¿â)
  • Social Entrepreneurship at Mount 51²Ö¿â (Independent Study, Mount 51²Ö¿â)
  • African Immigrants and Assimilation in the United States (Independent Study, Mount 51²Ö¿â)

Areas of Expertise

sociology of culture; sociology of art; consumers and consumption; race and ethnicity; philanthropy; qualitative methods

Education

  • Ph.D., Harvard University
  • A.M., Harvard University
  • B.A., Spelman College (valedictorian, summa sum laude)

Happening at Mount Holyoke

Recent Campus News

Mount 51²Ö¿â held its annual Faculty Awards Ceremony and celebrated five faculty members for their teaching, research and service.

Mount Holyoke professor of sociology Patricia A. Banks makes a connection between declining support for the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States and fewer race-related corporate philanthropy commitments.

Mount Holyoke professor Patricia Banks advises on how to have original artwork in your home without breaking the bank.

Recent Publications

Banks, P. A. 2022. Black Culture, Inc.: How Ethnic Community Support Pays for Corporate America. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Banks, P.A. (2020, October 21). “.”&²Ô²ú²õ±è;The New York Times.

Banks, P.A. (2020). . Routledge: London, New York.

Banks, P. New Books Network Podcast (2019)

Banks, P.  podcast (2019)

Recent Honors

Appointed as Co-Editor-In-Chief of .

Presenting-“Diversity Capital: Corporate Support of Black Culture,” Culture, Organizations, and Identities panel. Southern Sociological Society, April 2019, Atlanta, GA

Presenting-“Diversity Capital: How Cultural Patronage Shapes Corporate Identity”, Sociology Department, University of California, Berkeley, March 2019, Berkeley, CA

Presenting-“Diversity Capital: Culture and Racial Signaling in Corporations,” Sociology Department, Stanford University, March 2019, Stanford, CA

Presenting-“Philanthropy and Black Culture,” CASBS, Stanford University, February 2019, Stanford, CA

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