I graduated Summa Cum Laude from Harvard before gaining my doctorate at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. I am now Emeritus Professor of Cultural Sociology at King’s College London.

I have also been Visiting Fellow, Exeter College, University of Oxford; Visiting Research Fellow, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford; Visiting Scholar, St John's College, University of Oxford.

Before entering academe, I was a print journalist, radio producer and presenter, most recently with the BBC.

My recent journalism includes articles and reviews for the New Criterion, the Oldie, the Independent, the Conversation, and the Times Higher Education. As a cultural commentator I have been interviewed by organizations including BBC Television and Radio, ABC Television (USA), ABC (Australia), ZDF (Germany), NBC (USA), Libération (France), Radio France, and the New Yorker.

My TEDx talk, given at Somerset House in London in collaboration with the Courtauld Institute of Art at ashttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FHsKQZ_-r8