John D. Skrentny
Department of Sociology 0533
UC-San Diego
9500 Gilman Dr.
La Jolla, CA 92093-0533
Ph: 858-534-0484
Education
1994 Harvard University, Ph. D., Sociology
1990 Harvard University, A.M., Sociology
1988 Indiana University, B.A., Sociology and Philosophy
Professional Experience
2002-present Professor of Sociology, University of California, San Diego
2000-02 Associate Professor of Sociology, University of California,
San Diego
2001 Visiting Professor, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea (UC Education Abroad Program)
1999-00 Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of California,
San Diego
1998 Janice and Julian Bers Assistant Professor of the Social Sciences, University of Pennsylvania
1994-1998 Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania
1991-94 Teaching Fellow, Harvard University, 1991-1994
Research Interests and Courses Taught
Research Interests:
American Political Development/Policy-Making
East Asian Politics and Society
Human Rights
Law and Society
Race/Ethnicity/Immigration
Courses Taught:
Classical Sociological Theory (undergraduate and graduate courses)
Immigration
Political Sociology (undergraduate and graduate)
Law and Society; Law and Culture, Sociology of Law, Comparative Law
Modernization and Globalization in East Asia
Honors and Awards
2006 Guggenheim Fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (for "The New Racial Division of Labor")
2006 Social Science Research Council Korean Migration and Development Postdoctoral Fellowship
2005 Author-Meets-Critics sessions at meetings of American Sociological Association, Midwest Political Science Association, Western Political Science Association for The Minority Rights Revolution
2003 The Minority Rights Revolution, Outstanding Book, Political Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association; Finalist, Liberty Legacy Foundation Award, Organization of American Historians
2002 Institute of Labor and Employment Targeted Research Grant for “The Social and Political Bases of Equal Employment Opportunity Law”
2001 University of California-San Diego Committee on Research Grant for “The Twilight of Asian Exceptionalism?” Part II
2000 University of California-San Diego Committee on Research Grant for “The Twilight of Asian Exceptionalism?” Part I
1998 Janice and Julian Bers Assistant Professorship, University of Pennsylvania (endowed chair)
1998 Moody Research Grant, Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library
1997-98 Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Fellow at the Princeton
University Center for Human Values
1997Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Fellowship (declined)
1996 University of Pennsylvania Faculty Research Fellowship
1996 University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation Grant
1996 Claire Levy Schwartz and Cary M. Schwartz Foundation Grant for Course Development (Law and Society Program)
1993 Mark DeWolfe Howe Fund Research Grant, Harvard Law School
1991-93 Derek Bok Certificate of Distinction Teaching Award; Harvard University
1988-91 National Science Foundation Fellow
1990 Winner, Society for the Study of Social Problems student paper competition in environment and technology
1988 Phi Beta Kappa
“The Social and Political Bases of Equal Employment Opportunity Law”: This research focuses on how discrimination laws designed in the middle 1960s to prevent discrimination against African Americans in the southern states are being changed or challenged by the post-1965 immigration and perceived organizational imperatives. Agencies or courts originally ruled some practices illegal that are now widespread though often still of questionable legality. These changes are manifested in shifting rationales for affirmative action and new understandings of the relevance of race in employment. Special focus on employment of police officers, teachers and journalists in cities with large numbers of minorities or immigrants. Expected publication: articles and a book.
“Globalization, Human Rights and East Asia”: Most studies of human rights take for granted their global acceptance and influence. This research challenges that premise by examining differences in policy between east Asian nations and those in North American and western Europe, focusing on the actions and factors influencing policymaking elites in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. Topics include the rights of immigrants and women. Expected publication: articles and a book.
“The Impact of Social Movements on Policymaking”: A project with Amy Binder on the nature of social movements and another drawing out implications of data from The Minority Rights Revolution for research on when, how and why social movements matter for policymaking. Expected publication: articles
Scholarly Publications
2006 “Law and the American State.” Annual Review of Sociology 32: 213-44
2006 “Policy-Elite Perceptions and Social Movement Success: Understanding Variations in Group Inclusion in Affirmative Action,” American Journal of Sociology. 111 (May): 1762-1815
2004 “Policy-Making is Decision-Making,” Studies in American
2004 With Dong-Hoon Seol. “South Korea: Importing Undocumented Workers.” In Wayne A. Cornelius, Takeyuki Tsuda, Philip L. Martin, and James F. Hollifield, eds., Controlling Immigration: A Global Perspective [second edition], Stanford University Press, pp. 475-513
2004 With Paul Frymer. “The Rise of Instrumental Affirmative Action:
Law and the New Significance of Race in America.” In Connecticut Law Review 36: 677-723
2002 The Minority Rights Revolution, the Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Reviewed in Washington Post Book World, The Nation, and The Boston Globe
2002 With Dong-Hoon Seol and Catherine Lee. “International Norms and Domestic Politics: A Comparison of Migrant Worker and Women’s Rights in South Korea,” in Korean Studies Forum 1: 139-64.
2002 With Clark Cunningham and Glenn Loury. “Passing Strict
Scrutiny: Using Social Science to Design Affirmative Action Programs,” Georgetown Law Journal. 90: 835-82
2001 “Affirmative Action and the Failure of Presidential Leadership,” in Stanley Renshon, ed., One America? Presidential Leadership and the Dilemmas of National Diversity, Georgetown University Press, 103-29
2001 "Republican Efforts to End Affirmative Action: Walking a Fine Line," in Marc Landy, Martin Levin and Martin Shapiro, eds., Seeking the Center : Politics and Policymaking at the New Century, Georgetown University Press, 132-71
2001 (editor) Color Lines: Immigration, Affirmative Action and Civil Rights Options for America, University of Chicago Press
1999 With Robin Rogers-Dillon. "Administering Success: The Legitimacy Imperative and the Implementation of Welfare Reform," Social Problems 46: 13-29.
1998 "The Effect of the Cold War on African-American Civil Rights:
America and the World Audience, 1945-1968," Theory and Society 27: 237-85
1998 "State Capacity, Policy Feedbacks, and Affirmative Action for
Blacks, Women and Latinos," Research in Political Sociology, 8:279-310
1998 With Paul Frymer. "Coalition-Building and the Politics of
Electoral Capture During the Nixon Administration: African-Americans, Labor, Latinos," Studies in American PoliticalDevelopment 12: 131-161
1998 Invited editor of special issue of American Behavioral Scientist on
"Affirmative Action: Dynamics of Policy Development." The issue contains an essay, "Affirmative Action: Some Advice for the Pundits." American Behavioral Scientist, 41: 877-85
1996 The Ironies of Affirmative Action: Politics, Culture and Justice in
America, University of Chicago Press. Reviewed in American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, American Political Science Review, New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, Philadelphia Inquirer, Publishers Weekly (starred review), Booklist (starred review), Kirkus. A recommended book in Society
1994 "Pragmatism, Institutionalism and the Construction of
Employment Discrimination," Sociological Forum,9: 343-369
1993 "Concern for the Environment: A Cross-National Perspective,"
International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 5: 335-352
2005 Review of Cynthia Estlund, Working Together: How Workplace Bonds Strengthen a Diverse Democracy for Work and Occupations 32: 369-70
2005 “South Korea, Immigration to,” entry for Immigration and Asylum: From 1900 to the Present volume 3 (Oxford: ABC-CLIO)
2004 Review of Michael K. Brown, et al, Whitewashing Race: The Myth of a Color-Blind Society for Journal of American History 90: 1109-10
2004 Review of Richard L. Pacelle, Between Law and Politics: The Solicitor General and the Structuring of Race, Gender and Reproductive Rights Litigation for American Historical Review 109: 942-3
2003 “Égalité Devant L’Emploi aux USA: Une Politique Frileuse et Incohérente,” Hommes & Migrations November-December, No. 1246: 28-43
2003 Review of Heather Ann Thompson, Whose Detroit? Politics, Labor and Race in a Modern American City for Left History 8: 154-8
2003 “What’s Still Unsaid,” Newsday, “Currents,” June 29, 2003, p. A26-7
2002 “The Future of Civil Rights: A Dialogue.” Participant. Focus on Law Studies. 27: 1-12
2002 “Judges in U. of Michigan Case Skirted the Thorniest Issues.” Chronicle of Higher Education. May 31, B20
2002 “Inventing Race” ThePublic Interest No. 146 (Winter): 97-113
2001 Review of Peter Skerry, Counting on the Census? for Transaction: Social Science and Society 38: 86-90
2001 “Affirmative Action and New Demographic Realities,” Chronicle of Higher Education, February 16, B7-B10
2000 “The Origins and Politics of Affirmative Action,” in Peter Kivisto and Georganne Rundblad, eds., Multiculturalism in the United States (Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press), 269-86
1998 Review of Barbara R. Bergmann, In Defense of Affirmative Action (New York: Basic Books, 1996). Contemporary Sociology 27: 350-51
1998 Review of Paul D. Moreno, From Direct Action to Affirmative Action: Fair Employment Law and Policy in America, 1933-1972 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1997). Journal of Southern History 64: 786-88
Institutions and Affirmative Action in the United States and India (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997) and Richard F. Tomasson et al., Affirmative Action: Pros and Cons (Washington, DC: American University Press, 1996). Contemporary Sociology 27: 121-123
1996 Review of Stephen Steinberg, Turning Back: The Retreat from Racial Justice in American Thought and Policy (Boston: Beacon Press, 1995). Social Forces 75:752-3
Conference Presentations
2005 Author, “Author Meets Critics” sessions at the meetings of the American Sociological Association, Midwest Political Science Association, and Western Political Science Association for The Minority Rights Revolution
2005 With Stephanie Chan, Jon E. Fox, and Denis Kim. “Defining Nations Across Borders: State Preferences for Co-Ethnic/Return Migrants in Europe and East Asia.” Presented to the meetings of the American Sociological Association.
2005 With Paul Frymer. “Race-Based Hiring and Police Departments.” Presented at the meeting of the Law and Society Association
2004 With Paul Frymer. “Law and the Changing Meaning of Race in the Workplace.” Presented at the meeting of the American Sociological Association.
2004 Panelist at Plenary Session, “The Scholarship and Legacy of Hugh Davis Graham,” Policy History Conference
2003 With Paul Frymer. “Affirmative Action and Race as a Bona Fide Occupational Qualification: The Difference and the Difference It Makes.” Presented at “The Color Lines Conference,” Harvard University Law School
2003 “When Race-Based Hiring is not Affirmative Action.” Presented at the meeting of the Law, Culture and Humanities Association
2002 With Catherine Lee. “Why No Family Reunification Rights for Immigrants to East Asia?” Presented at the meeting of the American Sociological Association
2002 “The State Related Consequences of Social Movements,” presented at the meeting of the American Sociological Association
2002 Organizer, panel on Affirmative Action: Domestic and International Perspectives. Meeting of the American Sociological Association
2001 “Minority Rights as National Security Policy,” presented at the meeting of the American Political Science Association
2001 With Dong-hoon Seol. “How Do International Norms Affect Domestic Politics? A Comparison of Migrant Worker and Women’s Rights in South Korea,” presented at the meeting of the American Sociological Association
2000 “Cold War Effects on Domestic Policy: Winners and Losers,” presented at the meeting of the Social Science History Association
1999 “The Cold War, Black Civil Rights, and the Origins of Bilingual Education,” presented at the conference of the Journal of Policy History, St. Louis
1998 “The Cold War Effects on Civil Rights: Some Comparisons and Qualifications,” presented at the meeting of the Social Science History Association
1998 With Robin Rogers-Dillon. “Administering Success: The Legitimacy Imperative and the Implementation of Welfare Reform,” presented at the meeting of the American Sociological Association
1997 "The Culture of American Government," presented at the meeting of the Social Science History Association
1997 "Affirmative Action Law and Policy: Is There Really a Principle at Stake?" presented at the meeting of the American Political Science Association
1996 With Paul Frymer. "Group Capture During the Nixon
Administration: The Impact of Race and Electoral Laws on African-American Interests in the Party System," presented at the meeting of the American Political Science Association
1996 "The Politics of Affirmative Action: Who Benefits and the
Difference It Makes," presented at the meeting of the Social Science History Association
1996 "Cultural Analysis and the Administrative Origins of Affirmative
Action," presented at the meetings of American Sociological Association
1996 With Paul Frymer. "Playing by the Rules: The United States, the
Soviet Union, and the Cold War Human Rights Culture," presented at the meeting of American Sociological Association
1996 With Paul Frymer. "Captured Minorities and the Rise of the
Republican Coalition," presented at the meeting of the Western Political Science Association
1995 "The New Institutionalism and Political Change: The Case of Affirmative Action for Women," presented at the meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society
1992 "Pragmatism, Institutionalism and the Construction of Employment Discrimination," presented at the meeting of the American Sociological Association
1990 "Variations in Concern for the Environment in Industrialized Nations," presented at the meeting of the American Sociological Association
Invited Presentations and Speaking Engagements
2005 With Stephanie Chan, Jon Fox and Denis Kim. “Defining the Nation in East and West: A Comparative Analysis of Return Migration Policy.” Invited presentation at Diasporic Homecomings: Ethnic Return Migrants in Comparative Perspective, conference held at UCSD Center for Comparative Immigration Studies
2005 Invited manuscript review panelist for James T. Patterson, Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush v. Gore (Oxford University Press), Miller Center Fellowship Conference, University of Virginia
2005 “The Ironies of Affirmative Action in the Post-Civil Rights Era,” Notre Dame University, African-American Studies Speakers Series
2004 “The Minority Rights Revolution: How Weak Groups Can Win Big in American Politics,” presented at Cambridge University and Oxford University, American History faculty
2004 With Dong-Hoon Seol. “Joseonjok Migrant Workers’ Identity and National Identity in Korea.” Presented at the Korean Identity Conference, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
2004 “The Rise of Instrumental Affirmative Action: Law and the New Significance of Race in America,” Miller Center of Public Affairs, American Political Development Seminar, University of Virginia
2003 Panelist, “Affirmative Action: The Legitimacy of an International Comparison,” Connecticut Law Review Symposium: “Affirmative Action: An International Perspective on a Global Dilemma,” University of Connecticut Law School
2003 “Civil Rights Policies for the 21st Century,” presented to Middlebury College
2003 Workshop Organizer, “Studying Immigration Politics and Law,” Summer Institute on International Migration, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, UCSD and Social Science Research Council
2003 Panelist, “Diverse Approaches to Affirmative Action in University Admissions,” Program in Ethics in Society and the Stanford Center on Ethics, Stanford University
2003 “An Elite Perceptions Theory of Social Movement Success,” Department of Sociology, University of Washington, Seattle
2002 Chair of Panel (Immigration), Law and the Disappearance of Class in Twentieth Century America, University of Pennsylvania Law School
2002 “Equal Employment Opportunity Policy in the US: Half-Hearted and Incoherent,” Conference on French and U.S. Anti-Discrimination Policy, Winthrop-King Institute, Florida State University
2001-02 “The Minority Rights Revolution,” presented to the Department of Sociology, UCLA; Institute for Governmental Studies, University of California-Berkeley; Department of Sociology, Stanford University; Department of Political Science, Brandeis University, Department of Government, Harvard University
2002 With Dong-Hoon Seol. “How Do International Norms Affect Domestic Politics? A Comparison of Migrant Worker and Women’s Rights in South Korea,” presented to the Korean Studies Program, Graduate School of International Studies, Yonsei Univeristy
2001 “Who Are America’s Minorities and How Was that Decided?” presented to the Institute on Race and Social Division, Boston University
2000 “A Primer on Affirmative Action,” presented as part of the Policies of Opportunity: Fairness and Affirmative Action in the 21st Century conference series, Center for Policy Studies, Case Western Reserve University
1999 "The Minority Rights Revolution: How War and the Black Civil Rights Movement Changed American Politics," Sociology Brown-Bag Lecture Series, University of Arizona
1998 "Two Roads to New Rights: Democracy, Bureaucracy and the
Accommodation of Language Difference," Workshop on Organizations, Institutions and Economic Sociology, Department of Sociology, Princeton University
1998 "Uncontentious Politics: Title IX and Women's Equality in Education," Workshop on Contentious Politics, Columbia University. Also presented to Indiana University in 1999
1998 "Affirmative Action: Some Advice for the Pundits," presented at Barnard College, jointly sponsored by departments at Barnard and Columbia University
1997 Panelist at the Issues Conference of the Congressional Hispanic
Caucus Institute, Issues Conference
1997 "Policy-making and Policy-Rescinding: Affirmative in the 1960s and 1990s," presented at the Conference on the New Politics of Public Policy, Gordon Public Policy Center, Brandeis University
1997 "Race, Gender and the Pragmatics of Justice," presented to the Princeton Society of Fellows, Princeton University
1997 "The Political Origins of Bilingual Education," presented to the Institute on Race and Social Division, Boston University
1997 "The Ironies of Affirmative Action," presented to the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University
1997 "Minority Rights and the American State," presented to the Fifth Annual Conference on the Individual vs. The State: Financing Constitutional Identity: How Taxation and Spending Determines Citizens' Identity, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
1996 "The Rights Revolution and the American Community," presented to the Penn National Commission on Society, Culture and Community
1996 "The Origins and Resilience of Affirmative Action," presented to the Gordon Public Policy Center, Brandeis University
1995 "The Civil Rights Movement in Global Context," presented at the University of Pennsylvania Department of Sociology Culture Cluster
Professional Activities
University of California-San Diego Academic Service:
2005-06 Recruitment Committee, UCSD Department of Sociology
2004-05 Chair, UCSD Committee on Affirmative Action and Diversity
2003-04 Chair, Recruitment Committee, UCSD Department of Sociology
2003-04 UCSD Committee on Affirmative Action and Diversity
2003-present Member, Advisory Committee of the Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies, UCSD
2003-present Faculty Advisory Committee Member, UCSD Center for Comparative Immigration Studies
2000-present Research Associate, UCSD Center for Comparative Immigration
Studies
2002-03 Chair, Graduate Program Committee, and Department Vice-Chair, Department of Sociology
2002 Graduate Admissions Committee, Department of Sociology, member
2000-01 Chair, Recruitment Committee, Department of Sociology
1999-00 Chair, Undergraduate Program Committee, Department of Sociology
University of Pennsylvania Academic Service:
1996-97 Organizer, Department of Sociology Colloquium Series
1996-97 Faculty Advisor, Sociology Undergraduate Advisory Board
1996-97 Search Committee for Lauder Chair in International Relations
1996 Instructor for University of Pennsylvania Washington Semester Program, Spring
1996- Faculty Committee on Joint Degree Program in Law and Sociology
1995-96 Co-Organizer, Workshop in American Political Development
1995-96 Adviser, Freshman Advising Program
1995-96 Graduate Program Committee
1994-96 Executive Committee
1994-95 Undergraduate Program Committee
Harvard University Academic Service:
1993 Panelist, Derek Bok Center Teaching Symposium
1992-93 Department of Sociology, Colloquium Committee
1990-91 Department of Sociology, Graduate Student Admissions Committee
General Professional Service and Activity:
Reviewer for American Behavioral Scientist,American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, Business History Review, Cambridge University Press (Political Science), Columbia University Press (Political Science), Harvard University Press (Legal Studies; Sociology), The Historian, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, Journal of American History, Journal of Policy History, National Science Foundation (Sociology), Policy Studies Journal, Oxford University Press (History), Princeton University Press (Political Science, Sociology), Social Problems, Social Science Quarterly, Sociological Theory, Stanford University Press (Sociology), State University of New York Press (Political Science), University of California Press (Political Science), University Press of Kansas (History) and the University of Chicago Press (Sociology and Political Science)
American Sociological Association (ASA), member, 1989-present
Member of Culture Section, 1989-present
Member of Political Sociology Section, 1992-present
1999 Book Award Committee
2000 Book Award Committee
Member of Race and Ethnic Relations Section, 1991
Member, Sociology of Law Section, 1996-present
Chair, Nominations Committee, 2005
American Political Science Association, member, 1995-2004
Social Science History Association, member, 1996-2000
Eastern Sociological Society, member, 1994-96
Participant, Seminar on Contentious Politics, Columbia University, 1997-98
Participant, Workshop on Politics, Power and Protest, New York University, 1997-98
Member of Amicus Group, Brief Amicus Curiae of Social Science and
Comparative Law Scholars (Filed June 1, 2001), Adarand Constructors v. Mineta, argued October, 2001
Radio and television appearances: 1996: Chicago NPR, Minnesota NPR, New Mexico NPR, Houston commercial radio (to discuss The Ironies of Affirmative Action); 2002: Illinois NPR, Philadelphia commercial radio (to discuss The Minority Rights Revolution); 2003: KGTV-San Diego, KUSI-San Diego (to discuss Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action); KPBS-San Diego “Full Focus” (to discuss California referendum to ban collection of racial data by state government); 2004: KGTV-San Diego (discussing minority access to UC’s), San Diego NPR (discussing 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education decision)