Position
Academic Background
Sample Courses
Teaching Philosophy
Research & Interests
Notable Academic Appointments & Awards
Publication Highlights
Selected Scholarly Presentations

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Position            

• Assistant Professor of Sociology

Academic Background      

• University of Michigan,  Ph.D. in Sociology, 2004   
• Cambridge University, First-Class, M.Phil. in Social and Political Sciences, 1998
• Yale University, Distinction, B.A. in Sociology, 1996   

Sample Courses Taught at Providence College   

• Sociological Theory
• Introductory Sociology

Teaching Philosophy       

My approach to teaching is three-fold. First, I believe in a rigorous curriculum consisting of primary texts. Students will not read about the leading theorists in sociology - they will read the theorists themselves. Second, like C. Wright Mills, I believe that sociology is meaningless unless it is used to explain the leading challenges of our day. I therefore do my best to link sociological readings to current issues. Third, I believe that sound pedagogy must incorporate "active" or "experiential" learning techniques that encourage students to take ownership of their education and have a hand in teaching themselves. To that end, I do my best to include group exercises, problem-solving sessions, and simulations in the courses I teach. In sum, I stress the fundamental, the contemporary, and the active dimensions of sociology.

Research & Interests               

My research agenda is to bring political parties back into sociology. Sociologists vacated the scholarly terrain of party politics in the late 1960s. After such a long hiatus, and with political parties front and center in the public imagination again, I believe it is high time that sociologists direct their attention toward the unique role that parties play in social change. The central theoretical preoccupation of my research program is to explain how political elites relate to race, class, gender, and religious groups on the ground. Are "the people" the prime movers of social change? Are the elites? Is the answer, "both at the same time," and if so, what then is the relationship between the two? Currently, I address these formidable questions by examining the political origins of liberal democracy in the United States.

Notable Academic Appointments and Awards

• Best Article in Comparative Historical Sociology for "'No Bourgeois Mass Party, No Democracy': The Missing Link in Barrington Moore's American Civil War," American Sociological Association, 2009
• Co-Chair, Program Committee, Social Science History Association, 2008-2009
• Member, Executive Committee, Social Science History Association, 2008-2009
  

Publication Highlights

Articles and Book Chapters

• "Political Articulation: Parties and the Constitution of Cleavages in the U.S., India, and Turkey" (with Manali Desai and Cihan Tugal) at Sociological Theory (forthcoming), 2009
• "'No Bourgeois Mass Party, No Democracy': The Missing Link in Barrington Moore's American Civil War" in Political Power and Social Theory 19: 39-82, 2008
• "Class" in the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2nd edition, William A. Darity ed., Macmillan, 2007

Revise and Resubmit

• "Vicarious Revolutionaries: Martial Discourse and the Origins of Mass Party Competition in the United States, 1789-1848" at Studies in American Political Development

Works in Progress

• "The Sectionalization of American Empire: Articulation, Interpellation, and the Transformation of Electoral Coalitions, 1828-1860" (Working Paper)
• "The Disruption of American Empire: Political Origins of Liberal Democracy in the United States, 1828-1861" (Book Manuscript)

Selected Scholarly Presentations and Activities

• "The Disruption of American Empire: Political Origins of Liberal Democracy in the United States, 1828-1861." Paper presented at the Paper Session on "The Limits of American Empire" at the Social Science History Association Annual Meeting, November 12-15, 2009, Long Beach
• Organizer for the Thematic Session on "Political Parties and the Formation of New Communities" at the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 8-11, 2009, San Francisco
• "Vicarious Revolutionaries: the Discursive Origins of Mass Party Formation in the United States, 1789-1848." Paper presented at the Comparative and Historical Refereed Roundtable Session at the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 11, 2009, San Francisco
• Discussant for the Regular Session on "American Politics: Political Party Development" at the New England Political Science Association Annual Meeting, April 25, 2008, Providence

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