David Pettinicchio

David Pettinicchio joined the Sociology Department as assistant professor in 2014. After receiving his Ph.D. 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 also regularly teaches in the public policy program in the Munk School.  

Professor Pettinicchio’s research interests lie at the intersection of politics, inequality, health, and culture. His first book, Politics of Empowerment (Stanford University Press), examines the back-and-forth dynamics between political mobilization and policymaking in the United States. He recently published a second book (Cambridge) on the effectiveness of visible protest in the American disability rights movement in shaping various social, political, economic, and cultural outcomes. He also co-edited the Handbook of the Sociology of Disability (Oxford). More recently, he and his co-author are investigating the rise of diversity and inclusion in the historically exclusionary multi-billion-dollar fashion and beauty industry.