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Peer-Reviewed Publications
"'Secrecy or Silence with Her Finger on Her Mouth': Jeremy Bentham's Other Model of Visibility and Power." Political Theory 50 no. 4 (2022): 596-620.
Best known for his panopticon prison designs, Jeremy Bentham has long been associated with the use of surveillance as a tool for social control. To recover Bentham’s sensitivity to power relations in his approach to publicity, I examine a different model of visibility and power in his manuscripts: his designs for the Sotimion, a residence for unmarried, pregnant women. What I call the “soteric model” would have enabled residents to evade social censure while continuing to meet with friends, family, and even lovers. By comparing the Sotimion to eighteenth-century charitable institutions and Bentham’s discussions of panoptic institutions for women, I illuminate the Sotimion’s distinctiveness while acknowledging that it would have had normalizing effects for residents from lower socioeconomic classes. While the panopticon magnifies Bentham’s commitment to publicity, applying the soteric principle to Bentham’s theory of public opinion enables us to better appreciate his commitment to secrecy for protecting critics of government abuses from retribution.
"Observed without Sympathy: Adam Smith on Inequality and Spectatorship." American Journal of Political Science 64 no. 4 (2020): 1034-1046.
Responding to socioeconomic inequality and the decline of political participation, theorists of “audience democracy” emphasize citizens’ spectatorship of political leaders but neglect how citizens experience being watched themselves. I turn to Adam Smith's arguments about the effects of inequality on spectatorship, highlighting his criticisms of the public's disdain for people living in poverty. By comparing Smith's arguments about misperceptions of people living in poverty to his discussions of an innocent man accused of a crime, I show how mistaken spectators demoralize even morally judicious individuals. I also expand on an example of unjust censure that Smith suggests but does not discuss in detail: the social shame directed at a survivor of rape. I uses Smith's insights to reflect on the social and interpersonal dynamics of surveillance that render contemporary welfare programs degrading for many participants and help transform socioeconomic inequality into political inequality.
This article won the 2021 Prize for the Best Article in Austrian Economics from the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics. An in-depth summary can be read at the AJPS Editor's Blog. I've also published related essays, "Adam Smith's Critique of the Public's Scrutiny of the Poor," (Parts I and II) at the Adam Smith Works' Speaking of Smith blog.
"Sensibility and Self-Command in Adam Smith's Approach to Political Judgment." Political Science Reviewer. 47 no 1. (2023): 351-380.
Contrary to accounts that characterize Smith as idealizing a masculine and martial political ideal, Smith’s theory of self-command is intertwined with his understanding of sensibility and what he terms the virtues of humanity. Even his concept of “self-command,” which scholars often treat as distinctly masculine, depends on a keen humane sensibility, for our own suffering and the suffering of others. I show how humane sensibility and self-command work together to support a sense of responsibility as well as Smith’s political judgment and leadership.
Best known for his panopticon prison designs, Jeremy Bentham has long been associated with the use of surveillance as a tool for social control. To recover Bentham’s sensitivity to power relations in his approach to publicity, I examine a different model of visibility and power in his manuscripts: his designs for the Sotimion, a residence for unmarried, pregnant women. What I call the “soteric model” would have enabled residents to evade social censure while continuing to meet with friends, family, and even lovers. By comparing the Sotimion to eighteenth-century charitable institutions and Bentham’s discussions of panoptic institutions for women, I illuminate the Sotimion’s distinctiveness while acknowledging that it would have had normalizing effects for residents from lower socioeconomic classes. While the panopticon magnifies Bentham’s commitment to publicity, applying the soteric principle to Bentham’s theory of public opinion enables us to better appreciate his commitment to secrecy for protecting critics of government abuses from retribution.
"Observed without Sympathy: Adam Smith on Inequality and Spectatorship." American Journal of Political Science 64 no. 4 (2020): 1034-1046.
Responding to socioeconomic inequality and the decline of political participation, theorists of “audience democracy” emphasize citizens’ spectatorship of political leaders but neglect how citizens experience being watched themselves. I turn to Adam Smith's arguments about the effects of inequality on spectatorship, highlighting his criticisms of the public's disdain for people living in poverty. By comparing Smith's arguments about misperceptions of people living in poverty to his discussions of an innocent man accused of a crime, I show how mistaken spectators demoralize even morally judicious individuals. I also expand on an example of unjust censure that Smith suggests but does not discuss in detail: the social shame directed at a survivor of rape. I uses Smith's insights to reflect on the social and interpersonal dynamics of surveillance that render contemporary welfare programs degrading for many participants and help transform socioeconomic inequality into political inequality.
This article won the 2021 Prize for the Best Article in Austrian Economics from the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics. An in-depth summary can be read at the AJPS Editor's Blog. I've also published related essays, "Adam Smith's Critique of the Public's Scrutiny of the Poor," (Parts I and II) at the Adam Smith Works' Speaking of Smith blog.
"Sensibility and Self-Command in Adam Smith's Approach to Political Judgment." Political Science Reviewer. 47 no 1. (2023): 351-380.
Contrary to accounts that characterize Smith as idealizing a masculine and martial political ideal, Smith’s theory of self-command is intertwined with his understanding of sensibility and what he terms the virtues of humanity. Even his concept of “self-command,” which scholars often treat as distinctly masculine, depends on a keen humane sensibility, for our own suffering and the suffering of others. I show how humane sensibility and self-command work together to support a sense of responsibility as well as Smith’s political judgment and leadership.
Co-Edited Book
Market Process and Market Order: From Human Action, But Not of Human Design, ed. Rosolino A. Candela, Kristen R. Collins, and Christopher J. Coyne (Lexington Books, 2022).
Book Reviews
Review of Political Theory of the Digital Age: Where Artificial Intelligence Might Take Us by Mathias Risse (2023) in Review of Politics.
"Jeremy Bentham's Democratic Liberal Constitutionalism: Review of Bentham on Democracy, Courts, and Codification, edited by Philip Schofield and Xiaobo Zhai (2022)"in Metascience.
Review of Beyond Self-Interest: Why the Market Rewards Those Who Reject It by Krzysztof Pelc (2022), in World Trade Review.
Review of Recognizing Resentment: Sympathy, Injustice, and Liberal Political Thought by Michelle Schwarze (2020), in The Review of Austrian Economics.
Review of Trust in a Polarized Age by Kevin Vallier (2021), in The Independent Review.
"Jeremy Bentham's Democratic Liberal Constitutionalism: Review of Bentham on Democracy, Courts, and Codification, edited by Philip Schofield and Xiaobo Zhai (2022)"in Metascience.
Review of Beyond Self-Interest: Why the Market Rewards Those Who Reject It by Krzysztof Pelc (2022), in World Trade Review.
Review of Recognizing Resentment: Sympathy, Injustice, and Liberal Political Thought by Michelle Schwarze (2020), in The Review of Austrian Economics.
Review of Trust in a Polarized Age by Kevin Vallier (2021), in The Independent Review.