About Prof. David Pettinicchio
I am associate professor of sociology at the University of Toronto. I am also associate member of the Oxford department of sociology and affiliated faculty in the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. My research lies at the intersections of policy, disability, race, class, gender, health, politics, and inequality.
I am interested in the development of political constituencies and their ongoing interaction with political institutions. More specifically, I focus on the ways in which political institutional arrangements shape policy agendas. One of the main objectives of my work is situating the role of organizational spaces and citizen participation in producing and/or challenging inequality regimes. In related projects, I extend this framework to include the ways in which consumption and production dynamics in cultural spheres like the fashion and beauty industries (re)produce inequality while seeking to become "more inclusive and diverse."
My work inherently addresses the gendered, racialized, a classed dimensions of disability-based inequality. I've published widely on the topic of employment and economic inequalities among people with disabilities, and how these intersect with race and gender. More recently, my colleagues and I conducted a two-wave national survey on how people with disabilities and chronic health conditions have managed during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as in-depth qualitative interviews with participants. Published work stemming from this data has focused on numerous outcomes, including policy and political attitudes, financial insecurity, and mental health outcomes.
I have published in Law and Policy, Sociological Inquiry, British Journal of Social Psychology, Canadian Review of Sociology, The Sociological Quarterly, Sociological Perspectives, Canadian Public Policy, Disability and Health Journal, Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology, Journal of Consumer Culture, and Gender & Society.
In 2013-2014, I was a postdoctoral fellow in sociology and research fellow at Nuffield College, University of Oxford. I hold a PhD in sociology from the University of Washington (2012) as well as a BA (2003) and MA (2004) in sociology from McGill University.
I recently edited "Research in Political Sociology: Politics of Inequality (Emerald) and co-edited the Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Disability (OUP).
My book, Politics of Empowerment: Disability Rights and the Cycle of American Policy Reform (2019, Stanford University Press), offers a timely explanation for how the United States is both policy innovator and laggard. Why are decades-old disability rights policies like the ADA facing political threats which undermine their ability to help people with disabilities? In the 1970s, “political entrepreneurs” led a movement within the government turning clients of social services into citizens entitled to civil rights. But, as these institutional activists increasingly faced obstacles in expanding and enforcing their legislative intentions, nascent disability advocacy and protest groups took the cause to the American people forming the basis of the contemporary disability rights movement. I chart the symbiotic relationship that developed between policymakers and activists. By placing the movement in a broader sociological, political and historical context, the book helps redefine the relationship between grassroots advocacy and institutional politics, revealing a cycle of progress and back-stepping embedded in the American political system.
Book Reviews:
In American Journal of Sociology by Jeremy Levine
In Social Forces by Didem Turkoglu
In Law and Society Review by Doron Dorfman
In Mobilization by Stephen J. Meyers
New Edited Volume (2023): The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Disability
The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Disability provides a timely and comprehensive overview of the wide range and depth of sociological theory and research on disability—brought together for the first time in one volume. Each section of the Handbook incorporates a uniquely sociological perspective, presented by experts on intersecting social, economic, political, and cultural dimensions of disability and complementing disability scholarship. The 37 chapters in this Handbook, organized into three major sections, provide an assessment of where we have been, where we are now, and where we must go with research on and in the sociology of disability. The first section, Defining, Measuring, and Understanding Disability, reviews frameworks foundational to the study of disability, pushes for the inclusion of broader global perspectives, and addresses important dimensions of representation. The second section, Experiencing Disability across the Life Course, presents a combination of perspectives that tie together individual biography, societal, and historical contexts, while emphasizing continuity and change in the dynamic processes linking individuals, institutions, and structures over time. In the third section, Disability, Policy, and the Law, chapters investigate the reproduction of inequality through law, policy, and related institutions and systems, while highlighting how social and political participation empowers people with disabilities and helps to mitigate inequalities and social marginalization. The chapters included in this volume offer a multifaceted resource for students and experienced scientists alike on historical developments, main standards, key issues, and current challenges in the sociological study of disability at the global, national, and regional levels.
Book: Politics of Empowerment (Stanford University Press, 2019)
Despite the progress of decades-old disability rights policy, including the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act, threats continue to undermine the wellbeing of Americans with disabilities. The U.S. is, thus, a policy innovator and laggard in this regard. In Politics of Empowerment, David Pettinicchio offers a historically grounded analysis of the singular case of US disability policy, countering long-held views of progress that privilege public demand as its primary driver. By the 1970s, a group of legislators and bureaucrats came to act as "political entrepreneurs." Motivated by personal and professional commitments, they were seen as experts leading a movement within the government. But as they increasingly faced obstacles to their legislative intentions, nascent disability advocacy and protest groups took the cause to the American people forming the basis of the contemporary disability rights movement. Drawing on extensive archival material, Pettinicchio redefines the relationship between grassroots advocacy and institutional politics, revealing a cycle of progress and backlash embedded in the American political system.
Stanford University Press, forthcoming late-summer 2019. Now available for pre-order on amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk.
News & Media
Royal Society of Canada Policy Brief - Women with Disabilities and the Hierarchies of Disadvantage/Les femmes handicapées et la hiérarchie des désavantages
The Conversation - For Canadians with disabilities, multiple types of support were important during COVID-19
Hamilton Spectator - Who will vulnerable Canadians vote for?
The Conversation - Victoria’s Secret joins the ‘inclusive revolution,’ finally realizing diversity sell
The Toronto Star - COVID-19 affects the mental health of those already most vulnerable in society
The Toronto Star - Do Canadians trust where they get their news about the COVID-19 pandemic?
The Conversation - COVID-19: Financial future grim for Canadians with disabilities, health conditions
New Op-ed in the Toronto Star: Canadians with disabilities, chronic health conditions feel left behind by pandemic
The Toronto Star - COVID-19 affects the mental health of those already most vulnerable in society
The Toronto Star - Do Canadians trust where they get their news about the COVID-19 pandemic?
The Conversation - COVID-19: Financial future grim for Canadians with disabilities, health conditions
New Op-ed in the Toronto Star: Canadians with disabilities, chronic health conditions feel left behind by pandemic
