Welcome. I am a lecturer in the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University this Fall (2017). I received my doctorate in politics from the University of Virginia in May 2017. I research contemporary political theory, with interests in freedom, inequality, and the authority of the state. What ties my work together is an interest in how various political values are realized through the actions of individuals both within and without more formal political and legal structures.

My book project, titled The Sociality of Freedom, argues that the ideal of the free society is incomplete without an understanding of the role of social norms in that ideal. By social norms, I mean the informal rules individuals use to evaluate and sanction the behavior of other members in their society. I argue that neglecting social norms in the pursuit of freedom risks frustration, at best, and self-defeat, at worst.