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Dr Benjamin Abrams
Lecturer in Sociology and Leverhulme Early Career Fellow
IOE - Education, Practice & Society
UCL Institute of Education
- Joined UCL
- 7th Jan 2019
Research summary
Benjamin's research focuses on exploratory macro-causal comparisons and case studies, designed to generate new, durable theoretical insights. His approach fuses these macro-level techniques with in-depth investigative within-case methods, with a specialism in the analysis of ethnographic interviews and archival sources. His research covers the following topics:
Mass Mobilization
Benjamin's first monograph, The Rise of the Masses: Spontaneous Mobilization and Contentious Politics, tackles the question of why and how people spontaneously protest, riot and revolt en-masse. Drawing on in-depth interviews and historical research across four cases, the book builds an entirely new theory to explain spontaneous mass mobilization, Affinity Convergence Theory. The book sheds light on the puzzle of mass spontaneous protest in cases ranging from the 1789 French Revolution, through the 2011 Egyptian Revolution and Occupy movement, all the way to the recent 2020 Black Lives Uprising in the United States. The Rise of the Masses will be published by the University of Chicago Press in June 2023.
Populism and Democracy
Benjamin's current major research project concerns the dynamics of government and contention in contemporary democratic politics, and is funded by the Leverhulme Trust. The 'Responses to Populism' project examines how modern societies have responded to the rise of populist governments. This project spans research on governance, systems design, and social and cultural currents of 21st century political societies. In addition to his empirical work on the subject, Benjamin also writes on the political and social theory of modern democracy.
Revolutions and Resistance Movements
Benjamin's research on revolutions has answered questions such as: how the shape of revolutionary coalitions prefigures revolutionary outcomes; how revolutionary waves initiate new protests elsewhere; and how revolutionary movements demobilise after contentious conflicts. He also has an interest in broader questions of revolutionary theory.
In addition to his work on revolution, Benjamin also works on the theory and comparative history of resistance movements from 1870 to the present.
Contentious Politics
Alongside his work on mobilization, revolutions and resistance, Benjamin maintains a strong research interest in the study of contentious politics. His recent book on this topic, in collaboration with Peter R. Gardner, is called Symbolic Objects in Contentious Politics. Bringing together an international and interdisciplinary community of scholars, this book is available open access.
In addition to his research in this area, Benjamin is editor in chief of Contention: The Multidisciplinary Journal of Social Protest.
Teaching summary
Current Teaching:
- EDPS0238 Work-based projects: Collaborative Sociological Inquiry to Develop Solutions
- SESS0092 Revolutions and Society: Revolutions in the Modern World 1600-2021.
Past Teaching:
Benjamin has previously served as the convener for SSESS0014: Understanding Society: Introduction to Political Sociology, SEES0106: Introduction to Discourse Analysis, and taught on SESS0034: Researching Politics and Society, and SEES0128: Qualitative Methods. He also served as co-convener for SESS0092 Revolutions and Society: Revolutions in the Modern World 1600-2021.
Dissertations:
Benjamin also supervises dissertations on topics relating to his research interests.
Biography
Benjamin came to UCL in the 2018/19 academic year, and was first based at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), where he lectured on a variety of topics in Politics and Sociology. In 2019/20 he won a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship to fund four years of full time research, which he held first at SSEES, and then later at IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society. Benjamin joined the Department of Education, Practice and Society as a Lecturer in Sociology in 2023. Prior to joining UCL, Benjamin was based at the University of Cambridge, where he was Director of Studies for Social and Political Sciences at St Catharine's College.
Education
- King's College, University of Cambridge
- PhD, Political Sociology | 2017
- King's College, University of Cambridge
- MPhil, Modern Society and Global Transformations (Political Sociology) | 2013
- King's College, University of Cambridge
- BA/MA, Politics | 2012
