Robert M Fishman
Robert M.
Fishman, Professor of Sociology and Fellow of the Kellogg and Nanovic
Institutes at the University of Notre Dame, is a comparativist who works on
democracy and democratic practice, politics and culture, and consequences of inequality. Prior to coming to the University of Notre
Dame, Fishman was Associate Professor of Government and of Social Studies at
Harvard University. He has also been a
visiting professor at the Center for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences of
the Juan March Institute (Madrid) and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra
(Barcelona). Fishman earned his Ph.D. in
Sociology from Yale University and is a member of the American Sociological
Association and the American Political Science Association.
Fishman is currently
writing a book analyzing differences in democratic practice and societal
outcomes between “third wave” pioneers Portugal and Spain, the Iberian
Peninsula neighbors which, through nearly polar opposite pathways of change,
initiated the late twentieth century’s worldwide expansion of democratic
rule. This work takes the juxtaposition
between numerous historical and structural similarities of these neighboring
societies and their major divergence after returning to democracy in the 1970s
as the basis to pose a series of large theoretical questions on the functioning
of democracy and the dynamics determining how well representative systems
approximate the democratic goal of full political equality among citizens.
Fishman’s books
include Democracy’s Voices, winner in 2005 of
Honorable Mention for Best Book in Political Sociology, The Year of the Euro (with Anthony
Messina), and Working-Class Organization and the Return to Democracy in
Spain. Both Democracy’s Voices and Working-Class Organization
have also been published in Spanish.
Fishman’s
published papers, a selection of which appears below, include theoretical
analyses – differentiating
between states and regimes in democratization and critiquing the
concept of social capital – as well as methodological work on the Weberian
approach to social science and on the rationale for studying labor movements from the
perspective of workplace leaders.
Fishman has also published papers on European integration and on
sociological determinants of priestly vocations as well as other themes.
E-mail: rfishman@nd.edu
Selected
publications:
Books:
The Year of the Euro: The Cultural, Social and Political Import
of Europe’s Common Currency. (Co-edited
with Anthony Messina). University of
Notre Dame Press, 2006.
Democracy’s Voices: Social Ties and the Quality of Public
Life in Spain. Cornell University Press,
2004.
Working-Class
Organization and the Return to Democracy in Spain. Cornell University Press, 1990.
Selected articles,
essays and book chapters:
“Rethinking the Iberian Transformations: How Democratization Scenarios Shaped Labor Market Outcomes,” forthcoming in Studies in Comparative International Development. Expected in V45 (3), Fall 2010.
“On the Costs of Conceptualizing Social Ties as Social Capital”, Chapter three in Viva Bartkus and Jim Davis, (eds.) Social Capital: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Edward Elgar Press, 2009. (.pdf)
“Civic Engagement and Church Policy in the Making of Religious Vocations: Cross-National Variation in the Evolution of Priestly Ordinations.” With Keely Jones, Chapter six in Giuseppe Giordan (ed.) Vocation and Social Context. Brill Academic Publishers and Association for the Sociology of Religion, 2007. (.pdf)
“Triumphs,
Failures and Ambiguities in Democratization: Juan Linz and the Study of Regime
Change”, Chapter Two in Joan Marcet and José Ramón Montero (eds.) Roads to
Democracy: A Tribute to Juan J. Linz.
Institut de Ciències Polítiques I Socials,
“On Being a
Weberian (After Spain’s March 11 - 14): Notes on the Continuing Relevance of
Weber’s Methodological Approach”, Chapter eleven in Laurence McFalls (ed.) Max Weber’s “Objectivity” Revisited.
“On the Significance of Public Protest: Puzzles and Challenges of Spanish Politics (Along with some explanations)”, in Newsletter of Iberian Politics, Vol. 2, N.1, Summer 2007. (Publication of Iberian Politics Group, APSA). (.pdf)
“Shaping, not making democracy: the European
Union and the post-authoritarian political transformation of
Also in:
Sebastian Royo and Paul Manuel (eds.) From
Isolation to Integration: Fifteen Years
of Spanish and Portuguese Membership in
“Workplace Leaders and Labour Organisation: Limits on the Mobilisation nad Representation of Workers”, co-authored with Carol Mershon, in International Contributions to Labour Studies, N3, 1993. (.pdf)
"Rethinking
State and Regime: