I received my Ph.D. in political science from UCLA in 2010 with a specialization in political theory. My research focus involves the foundational principles of social institutions, but while my methodological approach is rooted in the history of political thought, my questions look to the present and future. More specifically, my interest in identifying ways to extend and more deeply embed democratic practices in social institutions in our own society and around the world leads me to research into the theoretical foundations of cooperatives. As socio-economic institutions founded on principles of democracy that claim nearly a billion members worldwide and are well-established in all of the advanced democracies, this interest in cooperatives connects me to research in democratic theory, political economics, organization theory, community theory and utilitarianism, drawing from an interdisciplinary array of fields including political theory, economics, philosophy and sociology.

In Fall, 2011, I joined the faculty of the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Brownsville. Started 20 years ago in partnership with an existing community college, Texas Southmost College, UTB is going through a significant transition as that partnership is in the process of being dissolved. My department is also a dynamic environment, as the faculty is mostly made up of young scholars pursuing innovative research and with a strong interest in strengthening the program. The student body at UTB, 95% Hispanic and mostly drawn from two of the poorest urban counties in the U.S., presents particular challenges, especially for such a traditionally difficult area as political theory, since it includes large numbers of students for whom English is a second language. Nonetheless, I have had good success, with both drop rates and pass rates above my department's average for my Introduction to American and Texas Politics course. This is a hybrid course, meaning that students do some work on-line, including reading the news every week and writing short paragraphs that connect what they read to the major themes of the course. In my upper-division political theory courses, I connect the ideas of the ancients and moderns to contemporary political debates. My graduate seminar on community and economic development has the students explore a variety of approaches to the subject, involving a critical approach to the core notions of "community" and "economic development." Many of our readings are drawn from literature connected to the solidarity economy, which includes a variety of approaches to altering the fundamental institutions of the economy. (Links to syllabi for these courses can be found below.)

In my teaching I draw from my own practical experience, including an extensive career in non-profit administration and governance, to help students connect the philosophical and theoretical ideas discussed in their reading with contemporary questions including the nature and function of political, economic and other social institutions. Although I have not had an opportunity to pursue this at UTB, I am interested in community-based learning, both to provide students with opportunities to gain experience that can help them connect the classroom to the real world, and to give them tools by which they can reflect on the political and ethical implications of their chosen careers.

I currently hold a non-residential Huber Fellowship with Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations. Part of a constellation of fellowships and grants put together by Prof. Joseph Blasi on issues related to employee ownership, the Huber Fellowship is specifically oriented around questions of workplace democracy. The fellowship, which includes semi-annual meetings of Fellows for workshops and presentations, has proven to be immensely valuable as a means for connecting with an interdisciplinary group of scholars involved in an array of related projects.

“The Politics of Happiness and the Practice of Democracy”
(Carole Pateman, chair; Ray Rocco and Guilia Sissa, Political Science; Perry Anderson, History)
My dissertation, The Politics of Happiness and the Practice of Democracy, is concerned with different ways of conceptualizing happiness and the political implications of those concepts for the social structures around which society functions. The dissertation proceeds through a close examination of the work of William Thompson and his mentor Jeremy Bentham. What is clear is that, while both seek “the greatest happiness,” the conclusions they reach are radically different: Bentham’s theory is an important contribution to liberal capitalist ideology and mainstream democratic thought, while Thompson lays the foundations for cooperative socialism and radical democracy. The question I sought to explore was why, if Bentham and Thompson start from the same premise, they end up in such different places. I conclude that the differences arise because, in contrast to Bentham’s individualistic hedonism, Thompson understands happiness as a deeply social concept, the nature of which is strongly affected by the institutions that structure social interaction. Maximizing happiness, in Thompson’s view, requires that social institutions be based on principles of voluntarism, equality and democracy, with democratic practices embedded in their very structure. I argue in the dissertation that Thompson’s work forms the ideological basis for the modern cooperative movement—which, with some 800 million members worldwide (including 130 million Americans), may be considered the world’s largest social movement.

Click here to view a detailed abstract and sample chapters.