Eric Malczewski
Eric Malczewski is a social theorist working in the areas of social and political theory, philosophy of the human sciences, sociological theory, sociology of knowledge, and culture.
He has published on the organizing principles of social science, epistemological issues in social and sociological theory, nationalism, culture, and conceptions of nature in American culture and 19th century American landscape painting. He develops the thought of Max Weber, Émile Durkheim, and Ferdinand Tönnies. Lately, he thinks a lot about King Lear, a certain “crew of patches, rude mechanicals,” and Ivan Karamazov.
Presently, he is a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University in The Bill Lane Center for the American West. He also is a Faculty Fellow at Yale University in the Center for Cultural Sociology (with which he has been affiliated since 2014) and a Miller Fellow at the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America's Founding Principles and History.
He is a Member of The Ciceronian Society and The Civil Sphere Theory Network and a Contributor to Front Porch Republic.
Recently, he was elected Council Member of the History of Sociology and Social Thought section of the ASA. He has chaired and served on several prize committees for the American Political Science Association and the American Sociological Association.
From 2018 to 2026 he was an Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech. From 2009 to 2018 he was at Harvard University, where he was a Lecturer on Social Studies teaching social and political theory. He also taught Freshman Seminars, served on the Board of Advisors, and advised honor’s theses. His primary affiliation was with Quincy House from 2009-2017. From 2013-2018 he oversaw Harvard's Visiting Undergraduate Student Program.
He received awards at Harvard for Distinction in Teaching in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2017. In 2013 he received Social Studies' highest accolade for advising – the Harvard University Barrington Moore Award for Excellence in Advising. In 2015 he was awarded the Harvard University Star Family Prize for Excellence in Advising (Harvard’s highest award for advising).
He lives in San Francisco, CA.
