David Pettinicchio
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Website:
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Room:MN6216
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Mailing Address:
3359 Mississauga Road
Mississauga ON L5L 1C6
Canada
David Pettinicchio joined the Sociology Department as assistant professor in 2014. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 2012, Professor Pettinicchio took a two-year position as sociology postdoctoral fellow at Nuffield College, University of Oxford. At UTM, Professor Pettinicchio currently teaches Measuring the Social World, Crises, Health, and Disability, and Disability, Politics and Society. He has recently published in Gender and Society, Canadian Public Policy, The Sociological Quarterly, Sociological Perspectives, Canadian Review of Sociology, and the Journal of Consumer Culture. His book, Politics of Empowerment (Stanford University Press), examines the back-and-forth dynamics between political mobilization and policymaking. He is currently co-editing the Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Disability (Oxford University Press) scheduled to be released in 2023. His work has also been featured in popular press including the Toronto Star, The Conversation, The Globe and Mail, USA Today, Huffington Post, and the Washington Post.
As a political sociologist interested in health, inequalities, culture, race, gender, and disability, Professor Pettinicchio studies the development of political constituencies and their ongoing interaction with a variety of social institutions. More recently, he has embarked in a nationwide study about how policy responses to COVID-19 shaped public perceptions about government and policy. Part of his focus is the way in which people with disabilities and chronic health conditions are economically impacted by the pandemic and the effects on mental health. Continuing with his focus on social inequalities, Pettinicchio is also working with a graduate student examining how fashion and cosmetic industry insiders in different cultural contexts think diversity should look and how diversity is received by consumers. Drawing from production-consumption dynamics, he seeks to identify mechanisms that lend sustained support for diversity campaigns while uncovering more pessimistic views of diversity around race, age, sexuality, disability, and body size – that these are merely performative and that brands either “get woke or go broke.”
Publications
Books and Edited Volumes
Pettinicchio, David. 2024. Sixty Years of Visible Protest in the Disability Struggle for Equality, Justice, and Inclusion. Cambridge University Press.
Lewis Brown, Robyn, Michelle Maroto, and David Pettinicchio, eds. 2023. The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Disability. Oxford University Press (OUP).
Pettinicchio, David, ed. 2021. The Politics of Inequality. Research in Political Sociology, Volume 28. Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing.
Pettinicchio, David. 2019. Politics of Empowerment: Disability Rights and the Cycle of American Policy Reform. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Recent Peer-Reviewed Publications (since 2021)
Maroto, Michelle and David Pettinicchio. 2025. "First Fired, Last Hired, and Lower Paid: Re-employment Outcomes Among Displaced Workers With Disabilities, 2007–2021." In Disability and the Future of Work, edited by F. Hyseni, L. Schur, D. Kruse, and P. Blanck. Emerald. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-354720250000016003
Prentiss, A. Dantzler, Michelle Maroto, and David Pettinicchio. 2025. “Social Inequalities”. In The Oxford Handbook of Social Policy in Canada, edited by D. Béland. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197766859.013.0012
Foster, Jordan and David Pettinicchio. 2025. “‘This is Real Beauty’: Pushing the Boundaries of Aesthetic Citizenship Online.” Critical Studies in Media Communication 42(1):15–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2025.2463409
Pettinicchio, David and Michelle Maroto. 2024. “Economic Precarity and Changing Levels of Anxiety and Stress among Canadians with Disabilities and Chronic Health Conditions Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie 61(1);22-45. https://doi.org/10.1111/cars.12461
Pettinicchio, David and Michelle Maroto. 2024. “Mitigating Inequalities at Work.” European Trade Union Institute (ETUI Belgium).
Maroto, Michelle and David Pettinicchio. 2024. “From Recession to Pandemic: Displacement Among Workers With Disabilities From 2007 Through 2021.” Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation 61(1). https://doi.org/10.3233/JVR-230064
Foster, Jordan, David Pettinicchio, Michelle Maroto, Andy Homles, and Martin Lukk. 2023. “Trading Blame: Drawing Boundaries Around the Righteous, Deserving and Vulnerable in Times of Crisis.” Sociology 57(5). https://doi.org/10.1177/00380385221137181
Pettinicchio, David. 2023. “Tracing the Welfare-Rights Connection in American Disability Policymaking.” Pp. 346-360 in Research Handbook on Disability Policy, edited by K. Fisher and S. Robinson. Elgar.
Foster, Jordan and David Pettinicchio. 2023. “#DisabilityTikTok.” Pp. 273-291 in The Palgrave Handbook on Disability and Communication, edited by M.S. Jeffress, J.M. Cypher, J. Ferris, J.A. Scott-Pollock. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14447-9_17
Maroto, Michelle, David Pettinicchio, Lei Chai, and Andy Holmes. 2023. “‘A Rollercoaster of Emotions’: Social Distancing, Anxiety, and Loneliness Among People With Disabilities and Chronic Health Conditions.” Pp. 49-73 in Disability in the Time of Pandemic (Research in Social Science and Disability, Vol. 13), edited by A.C. Carey, S.E. Green, and L. Mauldin. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Maroto, Michelle and David Pettinicchio. 2022. “Living on the Edge: Disability, Health, and Experiences of Economic Insecurity During COVID-19.” Sociological Inquiry 93(3):538-570. https://doi.org/10.1111/soin.12504
Pettinicchio, David, Michelle Maroto, and Jennifer L. Brooks. 2022. “The Sociology of Disability-Based Economic Inequality.” Contemporary Sociology 51(4):249-270. https://doi.org/10.1177/00943061221103313
Maroto, Michelle and David Pettinicchio. 2022. “Worth Less? Exploring the Effects of Subminimum Wages on Poverty Among U.S. Hourly Workers.” Sociological Perspectives 66(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/07311214221124630
Carlson, Jennifer and David Pettinicchio. 2022. “The Contemporary Gun Control Movement in the United States.” In The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Movements, 2nd ed., edited by D. McAdam, D. della Porta, and D. Snow. Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470674871.wbespm697
Maroto, Michelle and David Pettinicchio. 2022. “Relational Inequalities and the Structures that Disadvantage.” In The Oxford Handbook on the Sociology of Disability, edited by R.L. Brown, M. Maroto, and D. Pettinicchio. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190093167.013.23
Foster, Jordan and David Pettinicchio. 2021. “A Model Who Looks Like Me: Communicating and Consuming Representations of Disability.” Journal of Consumer Culture 22(3):579-597. https://doi.org/10.1177/14695405211022074
Maroto, Michelle Lee, David Pettinicchio, and Martin Lukk. 2021. “Working Differently or Not at All: COVID-19’s Effects on Employment among People with Disabilities and Chronic Health Conditions.” Sociological Perspectives 64(5):876-897. https://doi.org/10.1177/07311214211012018
Pettinicchio, David, Michelle Maroto, and Martin Lukk. 2021. “Perceptions of Canadian Federal Policy Responses to COVID-19 Among People with Disabilities and Chronic Health Conditions.” Canadian Public Policy 47(2):231-251. https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2021-012
Pettinicchio, David, Michelle Maroto, Lei Chai, and Martin Lukk. 2021. “Findings from an Online Survey on the Mental Health Effects of COVID-19 on Canadians with Disabilities and Chronic Health Conditions.” Disability and Health Journal 14(3). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2021.101085
Pettinicchio, David and Michelle Maroto. 2021. “Who Counts? Measuring Disability Cross-Nationally in Census Data.” Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology 9(2):257-284. https://doi.org/10.1093/jssam/smaa046
Pettinicchio, David and Michelle Maroto. 2021. “Handicap, Intersectionnalité et Inégalité Économique.” Pp. 20-33 in Le Handicap, Cause Politique, edited by P.Y. Baudot, E. Fillion. Presses Universitaires de France.