Research Interests

Almeida’s research centers on the efficacy of collective action at the local, national and global levels of social and political life.  He has empirically examined the timing and distribution of dozens of large-scale campaigns whereby ordinary citizens and excluded social groups mobilized to protect themselves from the loss of vital necessities such as health care, pensions, water services/utilities, environmental quality, and social citizenship rights. These studies are driven by a concern for explaining the conditions under which disadvantaged populations engage in defensive social movements to impede economic, environmental and political threats.

His articles have appeared in the American Journal of Sociology, Annual Review of Sociology, Social Forces, Social Problems, Mobilization, and other scholarly outlets. Almeida’s books include: Social Movements: The Structure of Collective Mobilization (University of California Press, 2019); Mobilizing Democracy: Globalization and Citizen Protest (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014); Waves of Protest: Popular Struggle in El Salvador, 1925-2005 (University of Minnesota Press, 2008); Handbook of Social Movements across Latin America (co-edited with Allen Cordero, 2015); and Latin American Social Movements: Globalization, Democratization and Transnational Networks (co-edited with Hank Johnston, 2006). His research has been funded by the World Society Foundation, UC MEXUS-CONACYT, UC Pacific Rim, and the Fulbright Faculty Fellowship Program. He teaches courses on globalization, organizational behavior, political sociology, sociological theory, environmental sociology, and social movements. 

Honors And Awards

  • 2018 - Author of the Month (November). UCA Editores (Central American University Press), San Salvador, El Salvador.
  • 2016 - American Sociological Association, Best Book Award (Honorable Mention), Section on the Sociology of Development, for Book: Almeida, Paul. 2014. Mobilizing Democracy: Globalization and Citizen Protest. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • 2015-2017 - Fulbright Scholar Award, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras
  • 2015 -Pacific Sociological Association, Distinguished Scholarship Award, for Book: Almeida, Paul. 2014. Mobilizing Democracy: Globalization and Citizen Protest. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • 2014 - American Sociological Association, Best Article Award, Section on the Political Economy of the World-System (PEWS), for: Almeida, Paul D. 2012. “Subnational Opposition to Globalization.” Social Forces 90(4): 1051-1072.
  • 2009 - American Sociological Association, Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Article Award, Section on Labor and Labor Movements, for: Almeida, Paul D. 2008. “The Sequencing of Success: Organizing Templates and Neoliberal Policy Outcomes.” Mobilization 13(2): 165-187.
  • 2008-2009 - Fulbright Scholar Award, Universidad de Costa Rica
  • 2008 - Ray A. Rothrock ’77 Fellowship, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University
  • 2004 - American Sociological Association, Best Published Article Award, Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements, for: Almeida, Paul D. 2003. “Opportunity Organizations and Threat Induced Contention: Protest Waves in Authoritarian Settings.” American Journal of Sociology 109(2): 345-400.

Blogs

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