John Carroll is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at La Trobe University in Melbourne. He has degrees in mathematics, economics, and sociology from the universities of Melbourne and Cambridge. His work over four decades has focussed on developing a theory of culture, with special reference to the modern West. The theory is presented in a sequence of books: The Wreck of Western Culture—Humanism Revisited (1993; 2004), Ego and Soul—the Modern West in Search of Meaning (1998; 2008), The Western Dreaming (2001), The Existential Jesus (2007), Greek Pilgrimage: In Search of the Foundations of the West (2010), Land of the Golden Cities: Australia’s Exceptional Prosperity and the Culture that Made It (2017), On Guilt: The Force Shaping Character, History, and Culture (2020) and The Saviour Syndrome (2023). A book on his work, titled Metaphysical Sociology, edited by Sara James, was published in 2018.
John Carroll is a frequent writer of essays and newspaper articles. He chaired a Panel commissioned by the Australian Government to review the National Museum of Australia in 2003.