Erik Olin Wright is Vilas Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin. Hi... more
Erik Olin Wright is Vilas Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin. His academic work has been centrally concerned with reconstructing the Marxist tradition of social theory and research in ways that attempt to make it more relevant to contemporary concerns and more cogent as a scientific framework of analysis. His empirical research has focused especially on the changing character of class relations in developed capitalist societies. Since 1992 he has directed The Real Utopias Project which explores a range of proposals for new institutional designs that embody emancipatory ideals and yet are attentive to issues of pragmatic feasibility. His principle publications include Class, Crisis and the State (Verso: 1978), Classes (Verso, 1985), The Debate on Classes (Verso, 1990), Reconstructing Marxism: essays on Explanation and the Theory of History (with Elliott Sober and Andrew Levine. Verso, 1992); Interrogating Inequality (Verso, 1994); Class Counts: Comparative Studies in Class Analysis (Cambridge University Press, 1997); Deepening Democracy: institutional innovations in empowered participatory governance (with Archon Fung. Verso, 2003); Envisioning Real Utopias (Verso, forthcoming 2010); American Society: how it really works (with Joel Rogers, forthcoming, W.W. Norton, 2010). Website: www.ssc.wisc.edu/~wright
