Clarissa Rile Hayward

Clarissa Rile Hayward is a political theorist whose research and teaching focuses on questions central to understanding and  evaluating political life: "What is social power," for instance, "and how does it shape human freedom?" "What does democratic government entail, and what are its practical and institutional implications?" "How do social actors create and maintain identities?" Unlike theorists who attempt to answer such questions  by relying exclusively on what Rawls called "ideal theory," Hayward approaches these problems by examining their concrete manifestations, writing theoretical work that is grounded in the analysis of institutions and practices.  The result is an engaged form of political theory, addressed not only to other specialists in the field, but more generally to social and political theorists and social scientists who are concerned with questions of power, democracy, and identity.

Hayward's publications include De-Facing Power, which was published by Cambridge University Press, and articles in edited  volumes and in journals, such as the American Political Science Review, Constellations, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, Polity, and Theory and Event. She is completing a second book, with the working title Stories and Spaces: How Americans Learn Race. Research for this project has been supported by the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.