 In 2006–2010, he was vice-president for the Committee of National Associations of the International Sociological Association (ISA).In the XVII ISA World Congress of Sociology he was elected the 17th President of the International Sociological Association (ISA) for the period 2010–2014.Graduating as a mathematics student from the University of Cambridge in 1968, Burawoy went on to pursue post-graduate study in the newly independent African nation of Zambia, while simultaneously working as a researcher for Anglo American PLC.