Christopher Powell
Associate Professor
Undergraduate Program Director
Faculty of Arts
Department of Sociology
Toronto, Ontario
chris.powell@torontomu.ca
Office:
(416) 979-5000 ext. 557202
Expert In
Bio/Research
I study the emergent forces generated by complex social systems, and the egalitarian or inegalitarian effects of these forces.
In the first part of my career I worked in the field of genocide studies, looking at how genocide results from normal systemic features of modern societies. For...
Click to Expand >>
In the first part of my career I worked in the field of genocide studies, looking at how genocide results from normal systemic features of modern societies. For...
Click to Expand >>
Bio/Research
I study the emergent forces generated by complex social systems, and the egalitarian or inegalitarian effects of these forces.
In the first part of my career I worked in the field of genocide studies, looking at how genocide results from normal systemic features of modern societies. For this work I drew on classical systems thinkers like Marx and Parsons, as well as other relational theorists like Elias, Foucault, Bourdieu, and Dorothy Smith.
Recently I’ve left genocide studies to focus on radical projects of social transformation, from distributed-network models of social movement organizing (Occupy, Idle No More, Black Lives Matter) to worker co-ops (the Mondragon Corporation) to participatory budgeting (the Porto Alegre model) and others. I plan to analyze the mechanisms of egalitarian collective decision making using tools from systems thinking (Donella Meadows), general systems theory (Ludwig von Bertalanffy), and complex systems theory (e.g. Hartmut Bossel, Stefan Thurner, etc.).
I’m aiming to use these theories to produce analyses and tools that would aid social movement actors in extending the scope and effectiveness of radically democratic collective action.
Click to Shrink <<
In the first part of my career I worked in the field of genocide studies, looking at how genocide results from normal systemic features of modern societies. For this work I drew on classical systems thinkers like Marx and Parsons, as well as other relational theorists like Elias, Foucault, Bourdieu, and Dorothy Smith.
Recently I’ve left genocide studies to focus on radical projects of social transformation, from distributed-network models of social movement organizing (Occupy, Idle No More, Black Lives Matter) to worker co-ops (the Mondragon Corporation) to participatory budgeting (the Porto Alegre model) and others. I plan to analyze the mechanisms of egalitarian collective decision making using tools from systems thinking (Donella Meadows), general systems theory (Ludwig von Bertalanffy), and complex systems theory (e.g. Hartmut Bossel, Stefan Thurner, etc.).
I’m aiming to use these theories to produce analyses and tools that would aid social movement actors in extending the scope and effectiveness of radically democratic collective action.
Click to Shrink <<