I am Associate Professor in the Social Justice and Peace Studies Department at King’s University College at Western University (territory of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak and Attawandaron).
My research interests are interdisciplinary, crisscrossing contemporary political theory, feminist theory, political economy, philosophy, and sociology. One strand of research revolves around the study of Real Utopias, which are institutions designed to be both normatively emancipatory and empirically grounded. My interests in this area include economic democracy, workplace democracy, basic income, citizens’ assemblies, wealth taxes, universal caregiving, good quality part-time work, and so on. Another strand of research focuses on contemporary debates over distributive justice, with interest in questions of egalitarianism, economic desert, autonomy, time sovereignty, and the culture of consumerism.
Since the passing of my mentor, Erik Olin Wright, I have taken over as Coordinator of the Real Utopias Project in collaboration with the Havens Wright Center.
Current projects include:
- Editing (with Isabelle Ferreras and Joel Rogers) the next volume of the Real Utopias Project, entitled Democratizing the Corporation.
- Journal articles on egalitarianism and meritocracy; sufficientarianism; justice and part-time work; the optimal financial arrangements for worker cooperatives; representative democracy and sortition; effective policies for enhancing gender equality
- Non-academic book on the history of hierarchy
I am also a longtime anti-authoritarian activist and organizer. I have worked with migrant justice, anti-poverty, global justice, anti-war, and solidarity economy groups. Most recently I have been organizing with Black Lives Matter and am co-founder of the Toronto chapter of Showing Up For Racial Justice. I am also White, a settler on stolen Indigenous lands, queer, and gender non-conforming.
I can be reached at tommalleson [at] gmail.com
Follow me on twitter at @Tom_Malleson
