Edwin Ackerman

Edwin Ackerman uses comparative-historical methods to understand how political identities are formed, articulated, and become operative. He has studied this process in three contexts: the historical trajectory of debates over ‘illegal’ immigration in the U.S., the relationship between political economy and political party formation in Latin America, and the rise of transnational grass-roots right-wing mobilization against “gender ideology” in Latin America and the U.S.

He is the author of "Origins of the Mass Party" (Oxford Press), and his work has been published in Social Science History, Ethnic and Racial Studies, the Journal of Language and Politics, and Contexts, and has been featured on Jacobin and National Public Radio (NPR), among other media outlets.

Edwin is a former ASA MFP Fellow and Ford Fellow and was a Global History Fellow at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center (2018-19). He received a Ph.D. in sociology from UC Berkeley.

Book 

Ackerman, Edwin. 2022. Origins of the Mass Party: Dispossession and the Party-form in Mexico and Bolivia in Comparative Perspective. Oxford University Press.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Ackerman, Edwin. “The Two Primitive Accumulations Behind Political Articulation: A Case Study of Bolivia’s MNR (1952-1964).” Conditionally Accepted in American Journal of Sociology.

Ackerman, Edwin. 2020. “Mass Party Formation and Incorporation: Land, Civil Society, and Party in Post-Revolutionary Mexico” in Social Science History, 44(2), 275-300.

Ackerman, Edwin. 2014.“‘What part of illegal don’t you understand?:’ Bureaucracy and Civil     Society in the Shaping of the Immigration Debate in the U.S.” in Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 37, Issue 2.

* Honorable Mention, Best Graduate Student Paper Award in Political Sociology, American Sociological Association 2013.

* Featured in National Public Radio, Pacific Standard Magazine, Danish Public Radio, and half a dozen other media outlets.

Ackerman, Edwin. 2014. “The ‘Illegal Alien’ As a Category of Analysis: A Methodological Intervention” in Journal of Language and Politics, Issue 13:3.

Ackerman, Edwin. 2011. “NAFTA and Gatekeeper: A Theoretical Assessment Of Border - Enforcement In The Era Of The Neoliberal State” in Berkeley Journal of Sociology, Vol. 55.

Book Chapters

Ackerman, Edwin. Forthcoming. “The Political Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu and Antonio Gramsci” in Dylan Riley and Marco Santoro (eds.), The Sociological Uses of Gramsci. Anthem Press/Cambridge University Press.

Ackerman, Edwin. 2021. “¿Corrupción cómo economía política?” (“Corruption as Political Economy?”) in Heredia, Blanca, and Hernán Gomez (eds.), La 4T: Claves Para Descifrar el Rompecabezas. Penguin Random House.

Ackerman, Edwin. 2019. "Alt-Right: El surgimiento y desarrollo de la 'Derecha Alternativa' en    E.E.U.U" (“The Alt-right: The Emergence and Development of the ‘Alternative Right’ in the U.S.”) in Fernandez de Castro, Rafael (ed.), La Diplomacia Consular en los tiempos de Trump. Colegio de la Frontera Norte: Mexico.

Reports, Reviews, Commissioned Texts

Ackerman, Edwin. 2021. “Actually Existing Post-neoliberalism in Mexico.” Politica y Gobierno, Vol. 28, No. 2.

Ackerman, Edwin. 2021. “Gobierna la izquierda en México?” (“Does the Left Govern in Mexico?” in Jacobin Latinoamerica, January 12th, 2021: <https://jacobinlat.com/2020/12/01/gobierna-la-izquierda-en-mexico/>

Ackerman, Edwin. 2020. Book Review: Paulo Gerbaudo’s The Mask and the Flag:           Populism, Citizenism and Global Protest in American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 125, No. 6, May 2020.

Ackerman, Edwin. 2020. Book Review: Santiago Anria’s When Movements Become         Parties: Bolivia’s MAS in Comparative Perspective in Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, Vol. 49, Issue 2, 2020.

Ackerman, Edwin. 2019. “Neoliberalism and Corruption in Mexico: A Wolf in Sheep’s    Clothing” in NACLA Report on the Americas, 51:2.

Ackerman, Edwin. 2013. “The Rise of the ‘Illegal Alien’” in Contexts, Vol. 12, Issue 3.