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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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Title
Date
Titlesort icon Semester
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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February 07, 2012
SAN ANTONIO — Some of the world’s pre-eminent experts on bias discovered an unexpected form of it at their
Category: Newspaper Article

 
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January 31, 2012
Solon Simmons, a professor at George Mason University, says the Florida primary is a 'make it or break it situation'
Category: Television Appearances

January 28, 2012
Unsuccessful GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer thought he had an offer last year to teach at Hamline University.
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January 19, 2012
Solon Simmons, Professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, says Rick Perry
Category: Television Appearances

 
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December 05, 2011
Solon Simmons, Professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, discusses
Category: Television Appearances

November 01, 2011
Let me begin this essay with a riddle: what is the difference between Ron Paul and Ralph Nader? They are both
Category: Magazine Article

 
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October 18, 2011
Solon Simmons, Professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, discusses the
Category: Television Appearances

October 14, 2011
Para algunos son la nueva cara de la democracia en acción, para otros son una muchedumbre de desocupados que deberían
Category: Newspaper Article

September 04, 2011
Capitol Hill politicians love the American middle class - or at least they always say that they do.Yet, while the
Category: Newspaper Article

 
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August 16, 2011
Solon Simmons explains why Michele Bachman's advancements indicate the election will be philosophical, and explains how
Category: Television Appearances

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Professor Simmons will be speaking about his recent work on the rise of movements of conservatism in America. 
March 31, 2011
Please join PhD student Rawhi Afaghani as he defends his dissertation, entitled:"News Media and Peacebuilding: Uncovering Opportunities That Can Facilitate Cooperation." Abstract:
March 30, 2011
Please join us as we explore issues and concerns related to the ongoing controversy over the proposed Islamic Center in New York CityPanelist:Solon Simmons, Institute for Conflict Analysis and ResolutionCo-sponsored by the ICAR Undergraduate Program, Dialoge & Difference Project, and
September 23, 2010
The end of the Cold War created an impression that liberal democracy has become the paramount political system of human society. Between the periods from 1955 to 2007, eighty-six countries attempted 115 transitions to democracy. Despite the growth in quantities of democratic countries worldwide,
April 29, 2010
Panelists: Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, President, Kashmir American Council Dr. Vijay K. Sazawal, International Coordinator, Indo-American Kashmir Forum Mr. Muhammad Aslam Khan, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Pakistan Ambassador John McDonald, Chairman, Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy Mr.
November 08, 2007
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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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