 The journal was established in 1988 by anthropologists Carol Breckenridge and Arjun Appadurai.Professor of Sociology and Director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University Eric Klinenberg served as Public Culture's editor-in-chief from 2010 to 2015, during which time he initiated the online book review offshoot "Public Books".From 2015 to 2019, "Public Culture" was edited by Shamus Khan, Professor of Sociology at Columbia University.