John Markoff

John Markoff is a Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh, with prior appointments as Professor of Sociology, History, and Political Science. He earned a B.A. from Columbia College in 1962 and a Ph.D. from The Johns Hopkins University in 1972. Markoff joined the University of Pittsburgh in 1972 as Assistant Professor of Sociology and History, advancing to Associate Professor from 1975 to 1989, Professor of Sociology and History from 1990 to 1996, and Professor of Sociology, History, and Political Science from 1996 onward. He also served as Research Professor at the University Center for International Studies from 1999.

Markoff studies the history of democratization as a multi-continental process spanning centuries, focusing on challenges to elite powerholders by resistors, from peasant insurrections to modern social movements. His work covers the French Revolution, Latin American politics, the interplay of social movements and democratization, transnational democratization amid globalization, and shifting meanings of democracy. Key publications include Waves of Democracy: Social Movements and Political Change (1996, second edition 2015), The Abolition of Feudalism: Peasants, Lords, and Legislators in the French Revolution (1997), which received the American Sociological Association's Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award (1998), the Social Science History Association's Sharlin Prize (1997), and the Society for French Historical Studies' Pinkney Prize (1997); Revolutionary Demands: A Content Analysis of the Cahiers de Doléances of 1789 (1998, with Gilbert Shapiro), which won the Pinkney Prize (1999); and recent contributions such as Overflowing Channels: How Democracy Didn’t Work as Planned (Sociological Theory, 2019), Social Movements and World-System Transformation: Prospects and Challenges (2017, co-edited with Jackie Smith et al.), and Creative Disappointment: How Movements for Democracy Spawn Movements for Still More Democracy (Research in Political Sociology, 2021, with Hillary Lazar and Jackie Smith). His scholarship has been honored with the Distinguished Career in Political Sociology Award from the American Sociological Association (2020), University of Pittsburgh Provost's Award for Excellence in Mentoring (2019), Chancellor's Distinguished Research Award (2001), Award for Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship from the Pennsylvania Sociological Society (2005), and election to the Sociological Research Association.

Professional Email: jm2@pitt.edu