Thomas Medvetz, Assistant Professor

Ph.D. - UC Berkeley, 2007

Areas of Specialization:

Sociology of knowledge and intellectuals; classical and contemporary theory; political sociology; cultural sociology

Personal Webpage

Email Address: tmedvetz@ucsd.edu
Office location: 485 Social Science Building

Office Hours

Biography:

Tom Medvetz received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley in 2007. Before joining the UCSD faculty, he was a Postdoctoral Associate at the Institute for the Social Sciences at Cornell University. His research on think tanks, the American conservative movement, and the public role of intellectuals has appeared in journals such asActes de Recherche en Sciences Sociales, theAnnual Review of Sociology, Politics & Society, and Qualitative Sociology. His first book, The Rise of Think Tanks in America: Merchants of Policy and Power, will be published by University of Chicago Press in 2012.

Curiculum Vitae

Classes to be taught in 2011/12:

Winter 2011

SOCI 160 - Sociology of Culture

SOCI 179 - Social Change

Spring 2012

SOCI 100 - Classical Social Theory

SOCG 290 - Graduate Seminar

Selected Publications:

Gross, Neil, Thomas Medvetz, and Rupert Russell. 2011. “The Contemporary American Conservative Movement.” Annual Review of Sociology 37: 325-354.

Medvetz, Thomas. 2010. “‘Public Policy is Like a Having a Vaudeville Act’: Languages of Duty and Difference Among Think Tank-Affiliated Policy Experts.” Qualitative Sociology 33(4): 549-562.

 

Medvetz, Thomas. 2010. “Terra Obscura: Vers une Théorie des Think Tanks Américains.” [“Terra Obscura: Toward a Theory of American Think Tanks.”] Pp. 139-157 in Yann Bérard and Renaud Crespin, eds. Aux Frontières de L’expertise: Dialogues Entre Saviors et Pouvoirs. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes.

 

Medvetz, Thomas. 2009. “Les think tanks aux États-Unis: L’émergence d’un sous-espace de production des savoirs.” [“Think Tanks in the United States: The Emergence of a Subspace of Knowledge Production.”] Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 176-177: 82-93.

Medvetz, Thomas. 2008. “Think Tanks as an Emergent Field.” New York: Social Science Research Council.

Medvetz, Thomas. 2006. “The Strength of Weekly Ties: Relations of Material and Symbolic Exchange in the Conservative Movement.” Politics & Society 34(3): 343-368.