John Arena

John Arena is Professor of Sociology at the City University of New York's College of Staten Island and member of the Graduate Faculty in the Doctoral Program in Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center. He also served as visiting professor at Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia.

• PhD, Tulane University
• MA, Tulane University
• BA, Le Moyne College

Professor Arena's research focuses on post-civil rights Black politics, class analysis, Luxemburgism, and social movements within urban struggles against neoliberal capitalist restructuring. His work critically examines how anti-racist politics can inadvertently enable privatization agendas in public institutions. His scholarship appears in American Behavioral Scientist, Science & Society, Journal of Labor & Society, Nonsite, Jacobin, Black Agenda Report and Counterpunch.

His publications reveal consistent analysis of privatization mechanisms in urban settings, particularly examining the intersection of race, class, and housing/education policy. Arena's work demonstrates how ostensibly progressive movements can be co-opted to advance neoliberal agendas.

• American Sociological Association Race and Ethnicity Section Oliver Cromwell Cox Book Award
• American Sociological Association Marxist Sociology Section Paul Sweezy Outstanding Book Award

Arena maintains active engagement with labor movements as a community and labor activist, participating in rank-and-file reform efforts within the Professional Staff Congress (AFT Local 2324) representing CUNY education workers. His office is located in Building 4S, Room 225 at CSI.