Matthew Baggetta
Graduate Student in Sociology
Biographical Note
Matthew is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2001 with a dual B.A. degree in Sociology and Computer Applications and received his M.A. in Sociology from Harvard in 2005. Matthew's research as a whole is guided by a broad and important question: what are the effects of voluntary associations in society? From Tocqueville onward, scholars have been intrigued by the many roles that associations might play in the social world. Matthew's research approaches the Tocquevillean tradition from several directions.
Matthew's dissertation takes advantage of a natural experiment to test for causal effects of associational form on the political and civic behavior of members as well as identifying the particular organizational mechanisms that might produce these outcomes. His work is based on original data he collected through the Boston Area Choral Societies Study, a multi-level data collection effort focusing on a set of often cited but rarely studied independent community arts associations. Beyond his dissertation, Matthew is a collaborator and coauthor with Kenneth Andrews, Marshall Ganz, Chaeyoon Lim, and Hahrie Han on a major multi-year study of the Sierra Club, one of America's oldest and largest federated environmental associations, seeking to explain why some of the Club's Chapters and Groups are more effective civic associations than others. Several papers from this project are currently under review or in progress. Other works in progress include a sole-authored paper on styles of organizing and mobilization in environmentalist groups in North Carolina and, with Daniel Myers, Keely Jones, and Eugene Walls, a paper on perceptions of race riots in the late 1960s (see link to C.V. for full listing of papers and presentations).
Matthew currently resides in Winthrop House (an undergraduate residence hall) as a Resident Tutor, part of Harvard's in-residence academic and social advising program. There he serves as the Senior Resident Tutor (assisting the Resident Dean), offers academic tutoring to students in the social sciences, and provides general advising to the 28 students in his entryway.
10/22/2008
- Research Interests
- Civic associations; civic engagement; social capital; social movements; research design and methods; political sociology; environmental justice and policy; organizations; media; gender.
- Previous Degrees
-
B.A. Sociology, University of Notre Dame 2001
M.A. Sociology, Harvard University 2005
| Teaching Experience | ||
|---|---|---|
| SOC 98B | Civic Organizations in American Democracy | Instructor, Spring 2007-8 |
| SOC 99s | Senior Thesis Writers' Workshop | Instructor, Fall 2007 |
| ENR 205/ESPP 90d | Environmental Justice as a Public Policy Issue | Teaching Fellow, Fall 2003-7 |
| WGS 99 | WGS Senior Tutorial | Thesis Advisor, 2005-6 |
| WGS 98R | WGS Junior Tutorial | Instructor, Spring 2005 |
| SOC 153 | Media and the American Mind | Teaching Fellow, Spring 2004 |
Presentations and Publications
| Civic Opportunities in Associations: Interpersonal Interaction, Governance Experience, and Institutional Relationships | Social Forces |
Forthcoming
|
Miscellaneous Additional Information
- Conferences at Which I've Made Presentations
-
Inter-Ivy Sociology Symposium, 2007, 2008
American Sociological Association Annual Meeting 2004, 2005, 2008
Eastern Sociological Society Annual Meeting, 2004, 2008
Harvard-Oxford-Stockholm Graduate Student Conference, 2002
Midwest Sociological Society Annual Meeting, 2000, 2001
Contact
617-496-3852
(Phone)
617-496-5794 (FAX)
643 William James Hall
33 Kirkland Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Office Hours
By appointment