Dissertation
Market Society, Open Society? Contemporary Protestant and Catholic Critiques of Market-Oriented Liberalism (Jeff Spinner-Halev (Chair), Susan Bickford, Alex Oprea, Luke Bretherton, Luc Bovens). Advocates of market society maintain it is a distinctly open society allowing many ways of life to coexist. Christian critics disagree: market society privileges ways of life which are friendly to capitalism–it is “open for business” but not much else. My dissertation assesses these contemporary Protestant and Catholic objections to defend a more open, pluralistic social order. Critical analysis of career and consumption, the local church, and the small farm each highlight how market society can limit access to ways of life for all, religious or not. Chapters deal in detail with the way that the market society does—or does not—facilitate the pursuit of a range of ways of life. In the process I reframe and advance liberal ideas around toleration, experiments in living, the formation of self, and association. Ultimately, I argue market society can be salvaged–and openness expanded for all.
Teaching Interests
Contemporary Political Theory, PPE, Modern Political Thought, Ethics of Peace and War, Intro to American, several others.
Teaching Awards
University-Wide Tanner Award, Departmental Hagan Award
Research Interests
Political Theory/American Politics
Publications
Economics and Philosophy (Solo), PS: Political Science and Politics (First Author)