BIO
Dr. John Asimakopoulos is founding Executive Director of the scholar-activist Transformative Studies Institute (TSI) and works with a highly underprivileged student population at the City University of New York as an Full Professor of Sociology. He also edits Theory in Action, an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal. His work focuses on labor, globalization, and sociological theory. His publications include articles and books on the history of social movements and how they can inform a new global working class movement for the ushering of epochal change toward a just society. His works champion the formation of a counter ideology, independent working class media and educational institutions, and direct action toward this end. He is currently working with his colleagues at TSI to establish a new free, accredited, and progressive university operated by scholar-activists. John’s interest in the working-class stems from his parents who obtained only third grade educations. They worked as landless farmers in Greece and later as immigrant factory workers in the United States. Early on in life, John observed that his parents’ hard work was never rewarded pushing him to think of social justice. Ever since, he has dedicated his life to promoting equality and social justice for all peoples.
Personal website: click here.
EDUCATION
The Graduate Center, City University of New York, Ph.D. in Sociology, 2000
Dissertation: Comparative Analysis of European and American Working Class Attainments
Dissertation Committee: Paul Attewell (advisor), Stanley Aronowitz, Lindsay Churchill (sitting in for Bogdan Denitch)
The Graduate Center, City University of New York, M.Phil., 1998
Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, M.A. in Political Science, 1994
Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, M.A. in Economics, 1993
Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, B.A. with High Honors in Economics and Sociology, 1992
32nd Highschool, Athens, Greece, 1989
EXPERIENCE
City University of New York, New York, 2004 – present
Tenured Full Professor of Sociology, Department of Social Sciences
Transformative Studies Institute a NJ Nonprofit Educational Corporation, 2007 – present
Executive Director
Numerous New Jersey and New York Colleges and Universities, 1994 – 2004
Adjunct Professor
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Theory in Action quarterly peer-reviewed; Print ISSN: 1937-0229, e-ISSN: 1937-0237, 2007 – present
Journal of Social Justice, peer-reviewed; e-ISSN: 2164-7100, 2011 – present
TSI Press, Co-Founder, 2010
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Books
Asimakopoulos, John. Forthcoming, 2022. Why the Oppressed Hate the Left.
Asimakopoulos, John . 2020. The Political Economy of the Spectacle and Postmodern Caste. Series: Studies in Critical Social Sciences. Leiden: Brill (Hardcover). Paperback edition published by Haymarket Books, 2021.
Asimakopoulos, John and Richard Gilman-Opalsky. 2018. Against Capital in the Twenty-First Century: A Reader of Radical Undercurrents. Temple University Press. Hardcover and paperback.
Asimakopoulos, John. 2014. Social Structures of Direct Democracy: On the political economy of equality. Series: Studies in Critical Social Sciences. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill (Hardcover). Paperback edition published by Haymarket Books, 2016.
Asimakopoulos, John, Deric Shannon, and Anthony J. Nocella. 2012. The Accumulation of Freedom. Oakland, CA: AK Press.
Asimakopoulos, John. 2011. Revolt! The Next Great Transformation from Kleptocracy Capitalism to Libertarian Socialism through Counter-Ideology, Societal Education, & Direct Action. NJ: Transformative Studies Institute Press.
Peer Reviewed Journal Publications
A Radical Proposal for Direct Democracy in Large Societies. April-June 2016. Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, Volume 36, 2(143):430-447. http;//dx.doi.org/10.1590/0101-31572016v36n02a10
Bridging Utopia and Pragmatism to Achieve Direct Economic Democracy. Autumn 2013. Anarchist Studies, 21(2):48-73.
The Civil Rights-Black Power Era, Direct Action, and Defensive Violence: Lessons for the Working-Class Today. 2010. Theory in Action, 3(3):42-62. http://dx.doi.org/10.3798/tia.1937-0237.10026
Globally Segmented Labor Markets: The Coming of the Greatest Boom & Bust, Without the Boom. 2009. Critical Sociology, 35(2):175-198. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0896920508099191
Counter Ideology and Evolutionary Change. 2008. Theory in Action, 1(1):1-22. http://dx.doi.org/10.3798/tia.1937-0237.08001
Societal Education, Direct Action, and Working-Class Gains. 2007. Journal of Poverty, 11(2):1-22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J134v11n02_01
Book Chapters
Globally Segmented Labor Markets. 2014. In Terrence McDonough, David M. Kotz, and Michael Reich (Eds.), Social Structure of Accumulation Theory. Series: The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Putting Theory in Action. 2011. In Kathleen Odell Korgen, Jonathan M. White, and Shelley K. White (Eds.), Sociologists in Action. Pine Forge Press.
The Role of Free Universities in Creating Free Societies. 2009. In Anthony J. Nocella II, Steven Best, and Peter McLaren (eds.), Academic Repression: Reflections from the Academic Industrial Complex. Oakland: AK Press.
The Private Property Elephant. 2006. In McDonough, Terrence, Michael Reich, David M. Kotz, and Maria-Alejandra Gonzalez-Perez (eds.) Growth and Crisis: Social Structure of Accumulation: Theory and Analysis. Galway, Ireland: Centre for Innovation & Structural Change at the National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.nuigalway.ie/ssrc/documents/SSA_Conference_E-Book.pdf
Book Reviews
Castoriadis and Critical Theory: Crisis, Critique and Radical Alternatives by Christos Memos. Autumn 2015. Anarchist Studies, 23(2)
Precarious Communism: Manifest Mutations, Manifesto Detourned by Richard Gilman-Opalsky. Autumn 2014. Anarchist Studies, 22(2).
British Workers & the US Civil War: How Karl Marx and the Lancashire Weavers Joined Abraham Lincoln’s Fight against Slavery 150 Years Ago by James Heartfield. 2013. Theory in Action, 6(2):179-182. http://dx.doi.org/10.3798/tia.1937-0237.13017
Rebuild America: Solving the Economic Crisis through Civic Works by Scott Myers-Lipton. 2010. Theory in Action, 3(1):125-127. http://dx.doi.org/10.3798/tia.1937-0237.10009
Labor, Loyalty, Rebellion: Southwestern Illinois Coal Miners & World War I by Carl R. Weinberg. 2006. Labor History Journal, 47(3):472-74.
Encyclopedia Entries
Transnational Labor Organizing. 2008. In John Hartwell Moore (ed.), Encyclopedia of Race and Racism, 3:152-54. Detroit: Macmillan Reference.
Deviance. 2008. In Vincent N. Parrillo (ed.), Encyclopedia of Social Problems. Sage Publications.
Social Stratification. 2008. In Vincent N. Parrillo (ed.), Encyclopedia of Social Problems. Sage Publications.
Other
Crushing Capitalism with Dr. Asimakopoulos. June, 2010–2012. Video e-journal, ISSN: 2155-8086. http://www.youtube.com/user/TSIMedia1
Comparative Analysis of European and American Working Class Attainments: Equality, Living Standards, and Social Structures of Accumulation. 2000. Dissertation Abstracts International.
