CLARENCE M. BATAN, PhD is a Professor of Sociology, Chair of the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts and Letters, and former Director of the Research Center for Culture, Education, and Social Issues (RCCESI) from 2015 to 2016 at the University of Santo Tomas (UST), Manila, Philippines. Clarence was instrumental in reorganizing the RCCESI, which led to the establishment of two multi-disciplinal-based centers, namely, the Research Center for the Social Sciences and Education (RCSSED) and the Research Center for Culture, Arts, and Humanities (RCCAH) in 2017.
Clarence was President of the Philippine Sociological Society (2017-2018) and Vice President for Asia in the Research Committee on the Sociology of Youth (RC34) (2014-2018) of the International Sociological Association. His research interests are the sociology of childhood and youth; sociology of work and employment; sociology of Filipino Catholicism; Global South scholarship; and qualitative and mixed methods.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts major in Sociology at the University of Santo Tomas (1995) and an MA in Sociology from the University of the Philippines-Diliman. Having completed his graduate studies in North America (including a PhD in Sociology at Dalhousie University in Canada and an international research fellowship at Brown University in the USA), he has been challenged through his involvement in the Global South youth studies project to center the works of Southeast Asian theorists and Filipino academics in his sociological research.
He continues his istambay (on standby) research on the phenomenon of “waithood and precarity” through the project Pilipinong Kabataang Naghahabi ng Buhay (Filipino Youth Weaving Lives) and led The National Catechetical Study (NCS): Pastoral Action Research and Intervention (PARI) Project in partnership with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in the Philippines – Episcopal Commission on Catechesis and Catholic Education.
He authored and edited several books, book chapters, journal articles, modules, such as TALIM: Mga Kwento ng Sampung Kabataan (TALIM: Life Stories of Ten Young People)(2000); Batong-bahay: Naratibo ng Kahirapan at Tagumpay ng Isang Karaniwang Pamilyang Pilipino (Stone house: A Filipino family’s narrative of poverty and success) (2010); Katekista: Mga Tulang Pananaliksik Hango Sa National Catechetical Study (NCS) 2016-2018 (2020); and Katekista Findings and Insights from the National Catechetical Study (NCS) 2016-2021: Pastoral Action Research and Intervention (PARI) Project (A Research Monograph) (2021).
Clarence is fondly called “Yayet” by his family, friends, colleagues, and students and actively serves as a policy consultant for the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education. Yayet spends most of his creative energies with his parents and loved ones, where he finds joy, fulfillment, and meaning in leading a simple life as a testimony to God’s blessings.
