UC Merced Expert 

Collective action and social movements have long affected the world around us, and Simón Weffer studies how they work. He looks at race and ethnic identities and relations, political sociology and immigration as he examines social stratification and urban inequality.

 

His research leads him to examine the dynamics of social movements and collective action during specific time periods and in and between cities. He and other professors are conducting a 10-year, real-time study of mobilization in California, particularly in the San Joaquin Valley . His project is a real-time study of collective action and social movements in the Valley, interviewing people and organizations involved in social movements to help quantify how people perceive quality-of-life issues here. He and others will look at how residents perceive their communities when it comes to the economy, poverty, unemployment, social services, homeownership, family, education and local government. The study is designed to help local and state agencies see how well their programs targeted at low-income residents in both rural and urban areas are working, and to help communities understand how their citizens see their lives there.

 

Weffer looked at similar topics in Chicago as part of a larger study on protest and civic activity there, and comparing Chicago with Boston, exploring the dynamics that space and place play in mobilization and looking at how protest mobilization affects voter participation at the neighborhood level and what roles race and ethnicity play.

 

Weffer earned his Ph.D. in sociology in 2004 from and his master`s in sociology in 1997, both at Stanford, and his bachelor’s in sociology in 1996 from the University of Chicago.