Education

• Ph.D., Northwestern University
• A.M., University of Chicago
• M.A., University of Texas at Dallas
• B.A., New Mexico State University

Specialization
Alfonso Morales' research analyzes the social organization and institutional context of entrepreneurship. The research context is the street market and the business organizations and households found in markets and other non-retail means of earning income. His work analyzes the social, political and economic processes that produce street-level businesses. His research was inspired by pragmatist theory and an interest in public policy. He purses this interest in the social organization and institutional context of entrepreneurship through three interrelated strands of research: Decision-making in Organizational and Institutional Context; Transformations of Self and Society, and Entrepreneurship in Organizational, Institutional and Policy Context.

Research and Teaching Interests: Social Organizations: community and urban life, community based, informal and formal organizations. Law and Society: race and the law, taxation, property, the legal profession. Political Sociology: borders and borderlands, social movements, immigration and citizenship. Economic Sociology: community development, health care and access to health, markets and economic transformations.

Selected Publications

• Wealth Creation and Business Formation Among Mexican-Americans: History, Circumstances and Prospects. Co-edited with J. Butler, S. John, & Torres, D. West Lafayette, Purdue University Press, (286 pages), 2009.
• A Woman’s Place is on the Street: Purposes and Problems of Mexican American Women Entrepreneurs. In Wealth Creation and Business Formation Among Mexican-Americans: History, Circumstances and Prospects. West Lafayette, Purdue University Press, 2009.
• Butler, John S., Alfonso Morales and David Torres. 2009. Introduction: An American Story: Mexican American Entrepreneurship and Wealth Creation. /Wealth Creation and Business Formation Among Mexican-Americans: History, Circumstances and Prospects/. West Lafayette, Purdue University Press.
• Morales, Alfonso, John S Butler, and David Torres. 2009. Title TBD – conclusion. /Wealth Creation and Business Formation Among Mexican-Americans: History, Circumstances and Prospects/. West Lafayette, Purdue University Press
• Pathways to Meaning: Advancing the Study of Workplace Emotions. Co-authored with D. Grant and J. Sallaz. American Journal of Sociology. V115:2 , 2009.
• Public Markets as Community Development Tools. Journal of Planning Education and Research. 28:4 pages 426-440, 2009.
• Zoning for Markets and Street Merchants. Co-authored with G. Kettles. Zoning Practice. 25:1, 2009.
• A Social Currency Approach to Improving the Health Related Quality of Life for Migrant Workers. Journal of Southern Rural Sociology. 24:1 92-112, 2009.
• Street Entrepreneurs: People, Place, & Politics in Local and Global Perspective. Edited by John Cross and Alfonso Morales, London, Routledge, 2007.
• Morales, Alfonso. 2007. “Conclusion: Law, Deviance and Defining Vendors and Vending.”  Street Entrepreneurs: People, Place, & Politics in Local and Global Perspective.  Edited by John Cross and Alfonso Morales, London, Routledge.
• John Cross and Alfonso Morales. 2007. “Introduction: Locating Street Markets in the Modern/Postmodern World.” Street Entrepreneurs: People, Place, & Politics in Local and Global Perspective.
• Journal of Borderlands Studies 17 (1:79-102).
• Morales, Alfonso. 2001. “Policy from Theory: A Critical Reconstruction of Theory on the ‘Informal’ Economy,” Sociological Imagination, 38 (3): 190-203.

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