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Scott Schaffer

Photo by Eric Simard

Scott Schaffer, Associate Professor

PhD, York University Full CV
BA, MA, University of California

Core Faculty Member, Centre for the Study of Theory and Criticism
Member, The Millennium Project: Global Futures Studies & Research
Associate Editor, Sociology Theory

Recent Activities

June 3 discussant in Part I: Ethics & Expertise session of CSA Symposium for Early Career Theorists

Research

Dr Schaffer’s primary research interests lie in the fields of contemporary and global social theory, social ethics and social inclusion, and processes of social change. He has done a wide variety of work on public sociology, cultural critique, studies of everyday life, social development, and resistance movements.

His current work is focused on developing a normatively-based conception of sociology and social ethics that can be used to evaluate current societal phenomena and social policy, anticipate future social problems, and develop proactive solutions to those future societal threats.

Recent Publications (Past 5 Years)
>for more see Full CV

Book Chapters

(2018) "Cosmopolitanism and an Ethics of Sacrifice" in Ananta Kumar Giri (ed.), Beyond Cosmopolitanism: Toward Planetary Transformations , Palgrave Macmillan

(2017) "Kairos and an Ethics of Space: Toward reconceptualising conversations and their loci," in A.K. Giri (ed.), Pathways of Creative Research: Toward a Festival of Dialogues , Primus Books.

(2016) "The Past as Product in the Present: Disney and the Imagineering of Histories," in D. Brode and S.T. Brode (eds.), Debating Disney: Pedagogical Perspectives on Commercial Cinema, Rowman and Littlefield

(2014) "L’Ouverture des bouches: The Social and Intellectual Bases for Engaged and Public Social Theory," in Ariane Hanemaayer and Christopher J. Schneider (eds.), The Public Sociology Debate: Ethics and Engagement , UBC Press.

(2012) "Cosmopolitanising Cosmopolitanism? Cosmopolitan Claims Making, Interculturalism, and the Bouchard-Taylor Report," in Will Kymlicka and Kathryn Walker (eds.) Rooted Cosmopolitanism: Canada and the World , UBC Press

Teaching

  • 1020 - 001 Introduction to Sociology
  • 2270A - 001 Foundations of Social Theory
  • 2271B - 001 Survey of Contemporary Theory
  • 4405G-001 Seminar in Sociological Theory / 9192B-650 Bordieu

Thesis Supervision

Supervisory Status:  MA, PhD 

Sociology

MA Theses

Adam Jog, The Value of Postsecondary Education: Human Capital Theory in Ontario’s Postsecondary Education Discourse, 1962-2005

Caylee Cody, The Social Costs of Industrial Growth in the Sub-Arctic Regions of "Canada" (second reader)

Rory Davis, A Taste for Distinction: Food Representation in Popular Canadian Magazines (second reader)

Daniel Kudla, Who Produces Urban Space?: Gentrification and Contestations Over Urban ‘Authenticity’

Hart Walker, A Mile in My Shoes: A Prolegomenon for an Empathic Sociology

Theory & Criticism

MA Theses

David Miller, Guilty Subjects: The Biopolitical Function of Guilt in Neoliberal States

William Rankin, Experiencing Nothing: Anxiety and the Philosophy of Alain Badiou (second reader)

Thomas Wormald, Sculpted Selves, Sculpted Worlds: Plasticity and Habit in the Thought of Catherine Malabou (second reader)

William Samson, Rights as Praxis: Jean-Paul Sartre and Human Rights

PhD Theses

Trevor Smith, Theorizing an Online Politics: How the Internet is Reconfiguring Political Space, Subjectivity, Participation, and Conflict (second readers)