Professor Emeritus, Social Theory and Practice
tomw@umich.edu
Education/Degree:
PhD, MIT, 1966Tom’s early teaching and research focused on issues of third world development and underdevelopment, with particular attention to India. In the late 1970s, his interests shifted to the macroeconomic problems of advanced capitalist economies; he co-authored a book about democratizing the U.S. economy and he undertook studies of trends in productivity growth and profitability from a neo-Marxian political-economic perspective. In the 1990s he worked primarily on problems of economic transition and institutional development in the formerly socialist economies of the East, concentrating especially on the interaction between political and economic change in Russia.Over the past 10 years he has been working on affirmative action in higher education in the comparative context of the United States and India. In recent years he has also done some work on globalization and its effects on social welfare, both in advanced and in developing economies.
“Left Perspectives on Long-Term Trends in Capitalism,” in Robert Pollin (ed.), Capitalism, Socialism and Radical Political Economy: Essays in Honor of Howard J. Sherman, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham (U.K.), 2000, pp. 30-47.
“Globalization and Affirmative Action,” Economic and Political Weekly (Bombay, India), Vol. 38, No. 27, July 5, 2003, pp. 2818-2819; reprinted in Sukhadeo Thorat et al., “Reservation and Private Sector, Indian Institute of Dalit Studies & Rawat Publications, New Delhi (India), 2005, pp. 263-266.
“Is Positive Discrimination a Good Way to Aid Disadvantaged Communities?,” Economic and Political Weekly (Bombay, India), Vol. 41, No. 8, February 25, 2006, pp. 717-726.
“Reflections on Globalization, Discrimination and Affirmative Action,” paper presented to a conference on “Global Studies of Discrimination,” sponsored by the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, at Princeton University, May 18-19, 2007; forthcoming.
“Rethinking Affirmative Action in Admissions to Higher Educational Institutions,” paper presented to a conference on “Affirmative Action in Higher Education in India, the United States and South Africa” organized by the Programme for the Study of Discrimination and Exclusion, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and the Centre for Comparative Constitutionalism, University of Chicago, in New Delhi, March 19-21, 2008; forthcoming.
Tom’s early teaching and research focused on issues of third world development and underdevelopment, with particular attention to India. In the late 1970s, his interests shifted to the macroeconomic problems of advanced capitalist economies; he co-authored a book about democratizing the U.S. economy and he undertook studies of trends in productivity growth and profitability from a neo-Marxian political-economic perspective. In the 1990s he worked primarily on problems of economic transition and institutional development in the formerly socialist economies of the East, concentrating especially on the interaction between political and economic change in Russia.Over the past 10 years he has been working on affirmative action in higher education in the comparative context of the United States and India. In recent years he has also done some work on globalization and its effects on social welfare, both in advanced and in developing economies.
“Left Perspectives on Long-Term Trends in Capitalism,” in Robert Pollin (ed.), Capitalism, Socialism and Radical Political Economy: Essays in Honor of Howard J. Sherman, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham (U.K.), 2000, pp. 30-47.
“Globalization and Affirmative Action,” Economic and Political Weekly (Bombay, India), Vol. 38, No. 27, July 5, 2003, pp. 2818-2819; reprinted in Sukhadeo Thorat et al., “Reservation and Private Sector, Indian Institute of Dalit Studies & Rawat Publications, New Delhi (India), 2005, pp. 263-266.
“Is Positive Discrimination a Good Way to Aid Disadvantaged Communities?,” Economic and Political Weekly (Bombay, India), Vol. 41, No. 8, February 25, 2006, pp. 717-726.
“Reflections on Globalization, Discrimination and Affirmative Action,” paper presented to a conference on “Global Studies of Discrimination,” sponsored by the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, at Princeton University, May 18-19, 2007; forthcoming.
“Rethinking Affirmative Action in Admissions to Higher Educational Institutions,” paper presented to a conference on “Affirmative Action in Higher Education in India, the United States and South Africa” organized by the Programme for the Study of Discrimination and Exclusion, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and the Centre for Comparative Constitutionalism, University of Chicago, in New Delhi, March 19-21, 2008; forthcoming.