Randall Collins - Early Life

Early Life

Collins spent a good deal of his early years in Europe where his father was part of military intelligence during WWII and also a member of the state department. Collins attended a New England prep school, afterward studying at Harvad and University of California Berkeley, where he was encountered with the work of Herbert Blumer and Erving Goffman who were professors at Berkeley at the time. He completed his Ph.D in 1969 and has taught at numerous universities such as University of Virginia, the Universities of California Riverside and San Diego and has been a visiting professor at Chicago, Harvard, Cambridge as well as various schools in Europe, Japan and China. He is currently teaching at the University of Pennsylvania.