Ben Marley

Ben Marley is a teaching-focused Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Michigan State University. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Binghamton University (2018), where his dissertation explored the Midwestern family farm's role in American capitalism. His research spans environmental sociology, climate change, and rural development, with recent focus on China's rural revitalization and its socio-ecological impacts. He has published in journals like Journal of Agrarian Change and Environmental Sociology, earning awards including the 2020 Faculty Teaching Innovation Award and the Terence K. Hopkins Award.

Dr. Marley’s teaching emphasizes independent studies with undergraduates, many of whom collaborate with him on fieldwork in rural China. His work bridges agrarian studies, political ecology, and world-systems analysis. He is affiliated with the Center for Gender in Global Context and the Asian Studies Center at MSU.