Professor Lawrence J Saha

Larry received his MA and PhD in Sociology from the University of Texas (Austin). He has spent most of his academic career at the Australian National University, where he has been both Head of Department (Sociology) and Dean of the Faculty of Arts. He has published books and articles in the fields of sociology of education, comparative education, student career plans, and student political socialisation. He is currently joint chief investigator for the ongoing Youth Electoral Study (YES), which is partnered with the Australian Electoral Commission.

His recent publications in this field have been Youth Participation in Politics (Sense Publishers, 2007) and Nation-Building, Identity and Citizenship Education (Springer Publishers 2009. He is currently researching the importance of school elections for political socialisation, and also how political party identity among youth is transmitted by parents, and the impact this has for adult political participation.