About Prof. David Pettinicchio
I am assistant 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. I am an associate member of Trinity College, University of Toronto. My research interests include social policy, political sociology, law and society, disability politics and social movements.
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 entrepreneurship and political institutional arrangements shape policy agendas. One of the main objectives of my work is situating the role of grassroots activism and nonprofit advocacy within the political process. In related projects, I extend this framework to examine the economic, social and political impacts of policymaking, enforcement and judicial review on various constituencies.
I have published in Law and Policy, Sociological Inquiry, British Journal of Social Psychology, 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 often write for Mobilizing Ideas created and hosted by the Center for the Study of Social Movements at the University of Notre Dame. I also occasionally write for OpenPop.org as well as Scholars Strategy Network.
I am currently developing an audit study of disability employment discrimination with my colleague, Prof. Michelle Maroto. Read more about it here: "New study to probe disability employment discrimination."
My forthcoming book, Politics of Empowerment: Disability Rights and the Cycle of American Policy Reform (Stanford University Press, Spring 2019) 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.
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 entrepreneurship and political institutional arrangements shape policy agendas. One of the main objectives of my work is situating the role of grassroots activism and nonprofit advocacy within the political process. In related projects, I extend this framework to examine the economic, social and political impacts of policymaking, enforcement and judicial review on various constituencies.
I have published in Law and Policy, Sociological Inquiry, British Journal of Social Psychology, 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 often write for Mobilizing Ideas created and hosted by the Center for the Study of Social Movements at the University of Notre Dame. I also occasionally write for OpenPop.org as well as Scholars Strategy Network.
I am currently developing an audit study of disability employment discrimination with my colleague, Prof. Michelle Maroto. Read more about it here: "New study to probe disability employment discrimination."
My forthcoming book, Politics of Empowerment: Disability Rights and the Cycle of American Policy Reform (Stanford University Press, Spring 2019) 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.
News & Media
The Hill: We can't take civil rights laws for granted
University of Toronto Magazine - When Getting a Job is Mission Impossible
HuffPost: Twenty-Seven Years Later and Disability Rights Are Still Under Attack
University of Toronto Magazine - When Getting a Job is Mission Impossible
HuffPost: Twenty-Seven Years Later and Disability Rights Are Still Under Attack
