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Last updated 18th April 2024

Jeff Hearn is originally from London, and studied Geography at Oxford, Urban Planning and Sociology at Oxford Brookes, and Organisation Studies at Leeds Universities, before teaching sociology, social policy, organisations and groups, men and masculinities, and social theory at Bradford University. It was at Bradford that he also completed in 1986 his PhD on social planning, social theory and theories of patriarchy, and later ended 21 years working there as head of department. In 1995 he moved to a Faculty of Social Sciences at Manchester University based in Social Policy, the first Professsorial Research Fellow (full professor) awarded in the faculty.

He moved to his Professorship of Sociology at the University of Huddersfield in 2003.

Hearn has been Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Research Fellow, Visiting Professor, Professor and the like at universities in Bradford, Manchester, Sunderland, Åbo Akademi and elsewhere. He is also Professor Emeritus at the "Hanken School of Economics" in Helsinki and Senior Professor, Örebro University, Sweden. He is UK Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences, an honorary doctor in Social Sciences, Lund University, and Professor Extraordinarius, University of South Africa.

Jeff Hearn is a member of the British Sociological Association and the International Sociological Association He has been co-editor of Men and Masculinities, and is currently co-editor of Norma: The International Journal for Masculinity Studies, and managing co-editor of Routledge Advances in Feminist Studies and Intersectionality, and associate editor and board member of many other journals.

Having worked over many years in gender studies, organisation and management studies, social policy, and sociology, he has a broad critical approach to questions of social and political change. However, the area he is probably most known for is research in the sub-field of critical studies on men and masculinities. There are two other major areas he has worked on for a long time, namely, organisations, management and work, with special emphasis on gender, sexuality, diversity and intersectionality in and around organisations; and violence and violations, especially men’s violence to women and children. Beyond those areas, his research interests are rather wide and include: postcolonialism and transnationalisations; social theory, methodology, material-discursive analysis; autoethnography, memory work; information society and ICTs; cultural studies; embodiment and ageing. His current research focuses mainly on transnationalisations, men and masculinities, sexuality, violence, work, and organisations. The book, Rethinking Transnational Men, co-edited with Marina Blagojević and Katherine Harrison, was published 2013 with Routledge, the authored book, Men of the World: Genders, Globalizations, Transnational Times in 2015 with Sage on these issues. A collective book based on memory work with older men, Men’s Stories for a Change, was published in 2016, with the US publisher Common Ground Publishing, and Aging & Society. The book, Revenge Pornography: Gender, Sexuality, and Motivations, with Matthew  Hall, was published with Routledge 2017.

Other recent books include: Engaging Youth in Activist Research and Pedagogical Praxis: Transnational Perspectives on Gender, Sex, and Race, edited with Tamara Shefer, Kopano Ratele and Floretta Boonzaier was published in 2018 with Routledge; The Unsustainable Institutions of Men, edited with Ernesto Vasquez del Aguila, and Marina Hughson Blagojević on men and transnational institutions, for Routledge, 2019; Age at Work: Ambiguous Boundaries of Organizations, Organizing and Ageing, authored with Wendy Parkin for Sage, 2021; Knowledge, Power and Young Sexualities: A Transnational Feminist Engagement, authored with Tamara Shefer, Routledge, 2022; Digital Gender-Sexual Violations: Violence, Technologies, Motivations, authored with Matthew Hall and Ruth Lewis, Routledge, 2023; Routledge Handbook on Men, Masculinities and Organizations: Theories, Practices and Futures of Organizing, with Kadri Aavik, David Collinson and Anika Thym, 2024; and Routledge International Handbook of Feminisms and Gender Studies: Convergences, Divergences and Pluralities, with Anàlia Torres, Paula Pinto and Tamara Shefer; and Interconnecting the Violences of Men: Continuities and Intersections, edited with Kate Seymour, Bob Pease and Sofia Strid, Routledge, 2025.

Hearn's research interests range from critical studies on men, including men's violences to women and children; Sociology of organisations and management, including gender, sexuality and violence in and around organisations; Globalisation and transnationalism, with a focus on men, organisations, management and social welfare; and social theory; to sociology of culture.