Alexander M. Hicks (born 1946) is an American sociologist who principally studies the causes and consequences of social democracy, corporatism, the welfare state and the sociology of culture, literature and film.
He received a PhD in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied on fellowships from the National Science Foundation, the Ford Foundations and the National Institute of Mental Health, in 1979.
[4] He is emeritus professor of sociology at Emory University, where he has been since 1986 (as chair of sociology 1988‑91, as full professor 1993-2017, as Winship Distinguished Research Professor of Sociology 2007-10) following an instructorship and assistant professorship at Northwestern Political Science Department and a postdoctoral fellowship at the NORC, University of Chicago.
[1] Graduate students have included Desmond King (Nuffield College, Oxford), Joya Misra (University of Massachusetts, Amherst), 2023-2024 President of the American Sociological Association, Dan Slater (University of Michigan), Christina Steidl, Associate Dean, College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, (University of Alabama, Huntsville) and Duane Swank (Marquette University).
[citation needed] He has been married to Nancy Ellen Traynor Hicks (in corporate communications 1975-2015) since 1970; they have a son, Ryan, working in New York City in the nonprofit promotion of affordable housing.