Barkan served as president of the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP)from 2008 to 2009, a position that has been held previously by such notables as Gary Alan Fine and Alvin Ward Gouldner.
His other areas of interest include the death penalty, feminist activism, public opinion about crime and punishment, and racial attitudes, and household crowding and child well-being.
Using the title movements as case studies, Barkan concluded that the government publicizes trials to exert social control on society in general.
Barkan uses criminology as a means to understand deviant behavior on an individual and social level rather than as a tool for law enforcement.
In addition to numerous journal articles and essays on the subject, Barkan has written two popular and widely adopted introductory textbooks.