Rogers M. Smith
Christopher H. Browne Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Political Science
Phone: 484-343-0334
rogerss@sas.upenn.edu
School: Arts & Sciences
General Topic Areas: citizenship and immigration; civil rights and civil liberties; American constitutionalism; American political thought; racial and ethnic politics
Sample Talk Topics or Titles:
- Toward Better Stories of National American Identity
Drawing on That Is Not Who We Are!, his book derived from his Castle Lectures in Ethics, Politics, and Economics at Yale University, political scientist Rogers M. Smith argues that Americans will inevitably embrace differing narratives of what it means to be American—but that there are elements that most Americans can agree all good accounts of American national identity should possess. - America’s Conflicting Constitutional Visions: The Quest for Common Ground
America’s severe political polarization is fueled in part by clashes over two rival visions of the American Constitution, one traditionalist, one progressive. Both visions, however, are embedded in the text of the Constitution as amended, and the Reconstruction era amendments—the 13th, 14th, and 15th—share features of each. Rogers M. Smith argues that if Americans wish to find more common ground, they can find a basis for doing so in the sense of national purpose those amendments embody. - America’s New Racial Divides: Protect versus Repair
American history has long been shaped by clashes over racial issues, but the 21st century has given rise to a new era of those conflicts. Late 20th century battles over whether the nation’s policies should be “color-blind” to prevent all forms of discrimination or “race-conscious” to achieve the integration of all major American institutions have given way to a more polarized opposition. Conservatives now insist that traditionalist Americans, particularly white Christian men, need to be protected against a militant radical woke Left. Progressives now insist that integration into existing American institutions is not enough: those institutions display so much systemic racism that they need more radical repair. Drawing on his recent book with Desmond King, America’s New Racial Battle Lines: Protect versus Repair, Rogers M. Smith explores what these new and deeper divisions mean for the present and future of American life.
Bio: Rogers M. Smith has been Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Penn since 2001, after 21 years teaching at Yale. His many publications include Civic Ideals, a 1998 Pulitzer Prize Finalist. Smith has been Penn’s Associate Dean for Social Sciences and President of the American Political Science Association. He was founding director of the Penn DCC Program, the forerunner of the Andrea Mitchell Center, and co-founder of the Teachers Institute of Philadelphia. He received five teaching prizes from Penn and Yale. Smith is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and the American Philosophical Society.
