Drawing from two decades of globe-spanning photographic projects, the book Social Landscapes articulates a visual sociological perspective on the evolving but central role of place in contemporary life. Fundamental to Schalliol’s approach is highlighting the tangible consequences of amorphous structural forces and emphasizing the small- and large-scale actors that mediate and define them. The book does so in four distinct sections—The Physical Form of Change; The Landscape of Shifting Production; Displacement by Policy; and Environmental Threat and Adaptation—each of which is anchored by two major projects in dialogue with photographs from around the world. Through this approach, Social Landscapes investigates the connections between such phenomena as how inequality manifests in the vernacular architecture of the Midwestern United States and how social and environmental changes interplay to radically reshape Japan’s Tōhoku coast.

David Schalliol is an associate professor of sociology at St. Olaf College who is interested in the relationship between community, social structure, and place. He exhibits widely, including in the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the CRP/ Hauts-de-France, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography. His work has been supported by institutions including the Graham Foundation and the European Union and featured in publications including MAS Context, The New York Times, and Social Science Research. Schalliol is the author of Isolated Building Studies (UTAKATADO, 2014) and coauthor, with Michael Carriere, of The City Creative (University of Chicago Press, 2021). He additionally contributes to such films as Almost There and Highrise: Out My Window, which won an International Digital Emmy for Non-Fiction. His directorial debut, The Area, premiered at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Schalliol earned his bachelor’s from Kenyon College and his master’s and doctorate from the University of Chicago.