Her book Regulating Human Research (Stanford University Press, 2020) analyzes the historic transformation of American Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) from academic committees to compliance bureaucracies--non-governmental offices where specialized staff define and apply federal regulations. In the book, Babb argues that compliance bureaucracy is an adaptive response to the dynamics and dysfunctions of American governance. Yet this solution has had unforeseen consequences, including the rise of a profitable ethics review industry.
Sarah Babb
Boston College
Research Interests:
Sarah Babb is Professor of Sociology at Boston College. She is author of many published works exploring the connections among organizations, professions, and the state. She served on the Boston College IRB for three years.
