Randall Collins is the Dorothy Swaine Thomas Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. He is, most recently, the author of Violence: A Micro-sociological Theory (2008). Interaction Ritual Chains (2004), and The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change (1998). He was president of the American Sociological Association from 2010 - 2011.Randall Collins is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. His books include The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change (1998), Interaction Ritual Chains (2004), and Violence: A Micro-sociological Theory (2008). He is a former president of the American Sociological Association.

Paul DiMaggio, New York University:
Randall Collins's The Credential Society is a theoretical and empirical tour de force, a brilliant study of the expansion of schooling in twentieth-century America that goes well beyond its central topic to illuminate connections between educational change and the world of work, the nature of status, and the role of knowledge and technology in modern life. Discovering it in graduate school was a transformative experience, and I'm delighted that it is available once again to inspire new generations of students and scholars as it inspired me.