Research

Works in progress

What are social groups?

What is it that a reading group, a chess club, and a debate team have in common? Like companies and committees, and unlike genders and races, they are things with members that seem to be organized, or structured. I argue for a structuralist view about the nature of social groups on which groups such as these are primarily characterized and individuated by what roles they have and how those are related, as opposed to, say, which people are in them.

(Draft available upon request. Presented at USC/Shandong Conference 2022 in Los Angeles, California. To be presented at Social Ontology 2024 in Durham, North Carolina.)

Where are social groups?

Where is the United States Supreme Court, right now? Is the answer always that it is in Washington, D.C., or does it depend on where the individual Supreme Court Justices are at the moment? I discuss a puzzle about the location of social groups, propose a simple solution, and explore how different theories about groups can adopt it and what issues may arise in each case.

(Draft available upon request. To be presented in a symposium at the APA Central Division Meeting 2024 in New Orleans, Louisiana.)

How do social groups change?

The United States Supreme Court has not always had the same Justices. Nor has it always had the same number of seats. How are we able to say that it is one and the same Supreme Court that has persisted since its creation in 1789 and through many a change in both its membership and structure? The problem is even more pressing for structuralists about social groups. I present some refinements of structuralist views that can accommodate both kinds of change.

(Draft available upon request. Presented at Social Ontology 2023 in Stockholm, Sweden.)