Robert C. Bulman, Ph.D.
Saint Mary’s College of California
Department of Sociology
1928 Saint Mary’s Road
Moraga, CA 94575
925-631-8321 (office) rbulman@sbcglobal.net or rbulman@stmarys-ca.edu
Current Position
Professor, Sociology, Saint Mary's College of California, 2009 - present
Previous Positions
Associate Professor, Sociology, Saint Mary’s College of California, 2004-2009
Assistant Professor, Sociology, Saint Mary’s College, 2001 – 2003
Lecturer, Sociology, Saint Mary’s College, 1999 – 2000
Lecturer, Sociology, U.C. Davis, 2000 – 2001
Lecturer and Teaching Assistant, Sociology, U.C. Berkeley, 1991 – 2000
Teaching Assistant, Sociology, U.C. Santa Cruz, 1989 – 1990
Research Assistant, Sociology, U.C. Santa Cruz, 1989 - 1990
Education
1999 Ph.D. in Sociology, University of California, Berkeley
1992 M.A. in Sociology, University of California, Berkeley
1989 B.A. in Sociology with highest honors, U.C. Santa Cruz
Publications
2015 Hollywood Goes to High School: Cinema, Schools and American Culture , Second edition. New York: Worth.
2013 Book review of Dance With Me: Ballroom Dancing and the Promise of Instant Intimacy in Social Forces
2012 “A Win-Win: Helping the Poor and Helping Ourselves.” The Davis Enterprise . March
11, 2012, page B7
2010 “Class in the Classroom: Hollywood’s Distorted View of Inequality” In Cinematic
Sociology: Social Life in Film.
. Jean-Anne Sutherland and Kathryn Feltey, eds. Sage.
2008 Book review of The First Year Out: Understanding American Teens after
High School . In Teaching Sociology . V. 36. no. 3 July

2008 “Sensitive New-Age Misogynists: A Review of Superbad
,” with Nicole
S. McCants, in
Summer
Contexts: Understanding People in Their Social Worlds .
2007 “The Choreography of Gender: Masculinity, Femininity, and the Complex Dance of
Identity in the Ballroom” with Allison Yamanashi in Men and Masculinities
2007 Response to the essay “One Nation, Slightly Divisible” by David Brooks in Lunsford and
Ruszkiewicz (eds.) The Presence of Others: Voices and images that call for response.
Fifth edition. Bedford/St. Martins
2007 “Can a ‘Living Legend’ be Inauthentic?” Contexts: Understanding People in Their Social
Worlds .
2006 “Building Bridges: A Report on the Colloquium on School Choice, Napa, California –
June, 2005.” In Family Choice in Education and the Lasallian Educational Mission.
Prepared by the School Choice Study Committee and published by The Brothers of the
Christian Schools, District of San Francisco.
2006 Book review of Ronald Chennault’s Hollywood Films About Schools: Where Race,
Politics, and Education Intersect.
Published on-line by Teachers College Record , www.tcr.org
2006 “Shall We DanceSport? The World of Competitive Ballroom Dancing.” Contexts:
Understanding People in Their Social Worlds . Vol. 5, no. 1. Winter.
2005 Hollywood Goes to High School: Cinema, Schools, and American Culture . New York,
New York: Worth Publishers.
2005 “Coach Carter: The Urban Cowboy Rides Again.” Contexts: Understanding People in
Their Social Worlds . Vol. 4, no. 3. Summer.
2004 “School Choice Stories: The Role of Culture.” Sociological Inquiry . Vol 74, No. 4,
November:492-519
2002 “Teachers in the ‘Hood: Hollywood’s Middle-Class Fantasy.” The Urban Review .
Volume 34, No. 3, September:251-276
2000 "The Shifting Politics of School Choice" with David Kirp, in School Choice and Social
Controversy: Politics, Policy, and Law edited by Stephen Sugarman and Frank Kemerer,
The Brookings Institution Press.

Selected Paper Presentations
2014 “Hollywood Still Goes to High School” at the Teachers, Teaching and the Media conference at Saint Mary’s College of California, October 17, 2014
2012 “A Win-Win: Helping the Poor to Help Ourselves.” Paper presentation at the meetings of the American Sociological Association, Denver, Colorado. August 17.
2007 “Sex and Gender on the Dance floor” with Allison Yamanashi, presented at the American
Sociological Association Meetings in New York City, August.
2007 “Having Fun but Taking it Seriously: Using film in the classroom.” Presentation at the
American Sociological Association meetings in New York City, August.
2006 “The Progressive Potential of School Vouchers.” Paper presented at the meetings of the
American Sociological Association in Montreal, Canada. August 13.
2006 “Notes Toward a Sociology of Film.” Paper presented at the meetings of the Pacific
Sociological Association in Hollywood, CA. April 21.
2005 “Building Bridges: What do Sociology, Chemistry, and Religious Studies Have in
Common?” Paper co-authored with Phylis Martinelli and presented November 12 at the
California Sociological Association Meetings in Sacramento, CA.
2005 “The Cultural Calculus of School Choice.” Paper presented at the “Colloquium on School
Choice,” organized by the Christian Brothers of the District of San Francisco. June 28.
2005 “Hollywood Goes to High School.” Public lecture delivered at Saint Mary’s College of
California. February 18.
2004 “Returning from Study Abroad: The High School Film in Comparative Perspective.”
Presented at the American Sociological Association annual meeting in San Francisco in
August.
2004 Challenging the Culture of Privilege: Class Conflict in the Private School Film.”
Presented at the annual meetings of the Pacific Sociological Association in San Francisco on April 16.
2003 “Hollywood Goes to High School: Cinema, Schools, and American Culture.”
Faculty Research Forum presentation, Saint Mary’s College. Spring.
2003 “Fighting the Culture of Poverty: Contradictions in Adolescent Cinema.”
Presented at the 2003 Meetings of the California Sociological Association.