Biography
David Pettinicchio joined the Sociology Department as assistant professor in 2014. After receiving his PhD from the University of Washington in 2012, Professor Pettinicchio took a two-year position as sociology postdoctoral fellow at Nuffield College, University of Oxford. At UTM, Professor Pettinicchio currently teaches Measuring the Social World, Quantitative Analysis, and Disability, Politics and Society. He is currently serving as Associate Graduate Chair, Sociology. His first book, Politics of Empowerment (Stanford University Press), examines the back-and-forth dynamics between political mobilization and policymaking. His second book, Sixty Years of Visible Protest (Cambridge University Press) traces the successes and failures of disability protests across time and across issue areas. Professor Pettinicchio is currently serving as Executive Co-Editor of the Canadian Review of Sociology, the flagship journal of the Canadian Sociological Association.
As a political sociologist, Professor Pettinicchio is interested in the development of political constituencies and their ongoing interaction with political institutions. His current work lies at the intersection of inequality and politics. More recently, he has embarked in a nationwide study about how policy responses to COVID-19 have shaped public perceptions about government and policy, as well as the ways in which people with disabilities and chronic health conditions are economically impacted by the pandemic. He is currently also writing on diversity and inclusion in fashion and beauty using original survey data linking production and consumption of diversity.