Summary
Ben Fields is an assistant professor of sociology and a core faculty member in the Interdisciplinary Social Psychology Ph.D. Program at the University of Nevada, Reno. Prior to his appointment, he was a visiting assistant professor of sociology at the University of Redlands from 2024 to 2025. Fields received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Riverside in 2025.
As an organizational social psychologist, Fields draws on theories of self, identity and emotions to investigate the interrelationships between micro-level interactions, meso-level communities and organizations, and macro-level institutions and cultures. His research primarily draws on mathematical social psychological theories, such as affect control theories to investigate self and identity processes as they relate to institutional settings. This work is defined by three key areas: (1) self, identity, and authenticity; (2) organizational meanings, interaction systems, and deviance; and (3) higher education success and persistence. In the first area, Fields uses affect control theory of self (ACT-S) to understand how individuals' fundamental selves relate to the roles they play in their daily lives. Currently, he is investigating the relationship between self-role authenticity and workplace burnout. The second area draws from affect control theory of institutions (ACT-I) to understand how both organizations and institutions make meanings and how these meanings lead to successes or failures. Finally, in the third area, he investigates various issues in higher education, including enrollment, persistence and retention, and student-faculty relationships.
Fields’ work has been supported through various fellowships and grants from the University of California, Riverside. He has received awards and grants from the ASA Section on Mathematical Sociology and the American Sociological Association. His research has been published in peer-reviewed journals including Socius, Sociological Forum, Society and Mental Health, and The Journal of Higher Education.
Research interests
- Sociological social psychology
- Higher education
- Self, identity and emotions
- Organizations, occupations and work
- Mathematical sociology
- Survey research, design and analysis
Selected publications
- Fields, Benjamin C. and Justin Huft. 2024. "'Troubled' Meanings: An Affect Control Exploration of the Conflict in Northern Ireland." Social Currents.
- Brint, Steven G., Megan Webb, and Benjamin C. Fields. 2024. "An Uneasy Peace: How STEM Progressive, Traditionalist, and Bridging Faculty Understand Campus Conflicts over Diversity, Anti-Racism, and Free Expression." Minerva.
- Stets, Jan E., Emily Angelo, Benjamin C. Fields, and Peter Burke. 2024. "Identity Nonverification, Coping, and Depression and Anxiety During the Pandemic." Society and Mental Health. 14(2):198-215.
- Fields, Benjamin C. 2023. "ACTing Like a Lawyer: An Affect Control Explanation of Gender Gaps in Law." SOCIUS 9:1-14.
- Fields, Benjamin C. and Steven G. Brint. 2023. "The Disruption in U.S. Public Higher Education Enrollments, 2009-2018 Sources of Inter-State Variation by Tier." The Journal of Higher Education. 94(2):256-285.
Education
- Ph.D., Sociology, University of California, Riverside, 2025
- M.A., Sociology, University of California, Riverside, 2021
- M.Ed., Higher Education Administration, Vanderbilt University, 2018
- A.B., World Politics, Hamilton College, 2015