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Solon Simmons

Solon Simmons
Associate Professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution and Interim Vice President, Office of Global Strategy, Office of the Provost, George Mason University, 2006-present

Ph.D., Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
M.A., Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Minor Certificate, Finance, Investment and Banking, University of Wisconsin-Madison
B.A., History, Philosophy & Social Studies of Science & Medicine (HIPSS), University of Chicago

Biography

A professional sociologist, Solon is an intellectually polyglot and humanistic social scientist with formal training in sociology, the history and philosophy of science and business and informal training in just about everything else. Once aptly described as the ur-type of the University of Chicago undergrad, Solon's interests span the range of disciplinary knowledge with special focus on political ideas, social stratification, cultural sociology, collective memory, and the symbolic history of political dysfunction. His first book The Eclipse of Equality: Arguing America on Meet the Press tells the story of the atrophy in post World War II America of one of the canonical categories of the moral imagination, equality. In this book Solon, explores the progressive articulation of the American idea as the the core values freedom and tolerance find ready advocates and rhetorical supports in postwar America, while equality thought of in non-ascriptive and universal terms stagnates and falls out of our collective vocabulary. The story is not a happy one. Americans now confront one another over a dysfunctional divide, lacking the intellectual tools they need to confront their most dire social problems.

In a forthcoming book, co-authored with Neil Gross, Professors and their Politics, Solon explores questions of the genesis of ideas with a more direct look at their producers--the professors. Building on a widely recognized set of surveys of American college and university professors, along with contributions from a wide array of scholars interested in the rise of the new politics of higher education, this book demonstrates what can be revealed about the politics of



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Analyzes theoretical basis undergirding methods of research in conflict resolution. Explores how theory is built...
Building on logic of inquiry, introduces steps in research process to prepare dissertation and implement published...
Understanding social conflict and potential for conflict resolution requires that both conflict and cooperation be...
These 1- and 2-credit courses are scheduled non-conventionally using weekends, concentrated presentations, and intersession periods to develop...
Introduces students to study design, data collection, and measurement. Teaches students how to identify research...
Topics vary; they are announced each academic year.
Taken in last semester of master’s student course work. Assists in developing students’ own theories of conflict and conflict...
Examines major theories of conflict causation and motivation. Emphasizes need for theories to inform processes of conflict resolution. Weaves...
Examines selected topics relating to analysis or resolution of conflict. Topics vary but may include historical...
Covers conflict at macro level, introducing theories of international and global violence and conflict, drawing from...
Through this course students will utilize critical thinking and analytical skills to begin an in-depth examination of the major theories of...
Brief history of field, survey of key conflict resolution themes and theories, and intervention methods. Overview includes general factors of...
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Title Published Date
April 15, 2016
The chapter explores the path to an Arab enlightenment which may provide startling new templates for conceptualizing human freedom. IT proposes a set of organizing principles based on his philosophical reflections on the history of power drawing on the works of...
Category: Book Chapter
July 10, 2014
Professors and Their Politics tackles the assumption that universities are ivory towers of radicalism with the potential to corrupt conservative youth. Neil Gross and Solon Simmons gather the work of leading sociologists, historians, and other researchers...
Category: Book
March 05, 2013
Red state vs. blue state. Republican vs. Democrat. Fox News vs. The Daily Show. The so-called culture wars have become such a fixture of American politics that dividing the country into rival camps seems natural and political gridlock seems inevitable. Entering...
Category: Book
May 08, 2012
Solon Simmons explores one of the central assumptions of a science of conflict analysis and resolution that the more escalated and deeply entrenched a conflict is, the more tightly bound it is likely to be in rival moral projects — projects that draw their...
Category: Book Chapter
September 09, 2008
Enough progress has been made in thinking about conflict from the perspective of social identity, that it is time to move that point of view forward by revisiting the psychological underpinnings of identity theory. At its heart, identity-based conflict imagines...
Category: Book Chapter
October 20, 2006
While less religious than most Americans, professors are more religious than might be commonly assumed, according to a new survey.The survey -- described in a working paper titled "How Religious Are America's College and University Professors?" -- was...
Category: Journal Article
June 01, 2006
Much has been written about the effect of Ralph Nader's recent experience in Presidential politics—in particular about the consequential election of 2000. The general view is that Nader's direct effect on that contest was to cost Gore the election and the...
Category: Journal Article
December 01, 2004
A surprising number of modern American cities are experiencing efforts to drastically alter or even abandon their forms of local government. We discuss the major perspectives on municipal structural choice and then use both survey and census data in an attempt to...
Category: Journal Article
December 01, 2002
In a series of books published since 1990, Anthony Giddens has explored the impact of globalization on the personal relationships and inner lives of those living in the advanced capitalist societies of the West. Of particular interest to him have been intimate,...
Category: Journal Article
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November 05, 2012
Solon Simmons, Professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University discusses the
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October 29, 2012
Solon Simmons, Professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University discusses how
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October 23, 2012
Solon Simmons, Professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University says Barack
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October 09, 2012
Solon Simmons, Professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, discusses Mitt
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October 08, 2012
Solon Simmons, Professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, discusses the
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September 22, 2012
Solon Simmons discusses controversial video "Innocence of Muslims" with Al Jazeera (Arabic) 
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April 2012
According to the myth, in the late summer of 1862, President Lincoln faced a dire challenge. His valiant effort to
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April 11, 2012
Solon Simmons, Professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, says no one
Category: Television Appearances

March 03, 2012
The Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum recently called President Obama a “snob” for supporting
Category: Newspaper Article

February 21, 2012
Rick Santorum made the transition yesterday from theology, pre-natal care, and
Category: Newspaper Article

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Thesis Defense by Grace Chau There is a dominant narrative promoted by the PRC that advocates “Harmony.” This project examines the nature of this “harmony narrative” as the case background, and then explores and compares examples of the fragments of the counter-
April 16, 2013
The relatively recent plague of political incivility and deadlock in America has been attributed to many factors, ranging from the ill temper of certain politicians to the extremism of certain political and religious groups. But conflict analysts and resolvers think that the problem runs deeper and
March 05, 2013
 Researchers and experts on Arab politics have often debated the role of political Shiism as a source of regional instability and conflict following the 2003 U.S-Iraq war. Some argue that the expansion of political Shiism in the Arab world is a quest for political leadership resulting from a
November 05, 2012
ELEVATE OUR NATION Why has the presdiential contest of 2012 proven so disappointing?  What prevents the candidates and their parties from discussing so many vital issues?  Why is the level of political rhetoric so mean-spirited?  For discussion of these and other questions of
November 02, 2012
There are numerous professional groups and individuals working for world peace. The reality is, however, that wars between nations or within nations still cause untold human deaths and casualties. World peace, a condition where war no longer affects human societies, is a long way off. This research
October 03, 2012
Please join Ph.D Candidate James Filipi while he defends his dissertation proposal on Friday September 28, 2012 - 10:00AM - Arlington Truland Building Room 700A.His project is looking at the conflicts of thepost-industrial Midwestern urban space in order to understand the structural and direct
September 28, 2012
This research focuses on how we should define the energy that empowers rebellion and generates appealing frames and imposes change, and whether one can claim some correlation between this bottom-up shift and weak leadership, institutional fatigue, public discontent, or social malaise. As seen now
April 26, 2012
Join Unrest Magazine (www.unrestmag.com) and The School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution for a spirited debate on the future of the Occupy Movement and the American Left. Occupy Wall Street and the growth of the Occupy Movement have launched the issue inequality back into the political
December 06, 2011
This research is a comparative case study of eight states in Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East assessing the impact of external military interventions in response to the perceived threat of state failure in the post Cold War, post 9/11 landscape. The study is guided by the concern that
July 21, 2011
Join ICAR PhD Student David G Alpher as he defends his dissertation entitled:"Developmental Politics: The Minnow and the Leviathan."Question and Answer Session to follow presentationAll are welcome to attendAbstract:
April 12, 2011
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The study seeks to develop a comparative approach that will help to understand the plight of the victims of human rights abuses during periods of unconstitutional (military) rule and how they develop principled ways to “live with perpetrators” in West Africa. During conflict resolution
March 08, 2017
Join our new undergraduate program director, Dr. Solon Simmons, discuss American foreign policy in the postwar period.
September 11, 2012
Many scholar-practitioners have studied gender mainstreaming as a policy tool to help achieve gender equality, but their work does not consider how the related gender equality change and its implementation impact men at a socio-psychological level in male-dominated societies. The impact of such a
April 11, 2012
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