Biography
I am interested in classic debates in international political economy, including questions of structure and agency, ontology, crisis, and sociopolitical transformation. My work applies a theoretically rigorous approach to studying complexity and understanding the relationship between historical and contemporary contexts in analyses of different countries.
A distinctive feature of my research is my contribution to methodological discussions, particularly in rethinking the qualitative-quantitative divide through an ontological lens. I argue that robust analysis requires transcending traditional methodological boundaries to capture complex socioeconomic phenomena. To this end, I employ a diverse methodological toolkit including historical and time-based approaches, qualitative interviews, text analyses, and statistical methods.
My PhD exemplified this integrated approach by examining China's socio-economic transformation from the 1960s to the present day. By bridging methodological divides, I was able to reveal the complex interplay between structural forces and agential responses that characterized China's development trajectory.
Currently, I am working on a project to further develop this approach to bridging the qualitative-quantitative divide. This research aims to establish a more cohesive methodological framework that acknowledges the ontological foundations of different research traditions while creating productive dialogues between them, ultimately enhancing our ability to analyze complex political economic phenomena.
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Work
- Karim Kniou & Brandon Sommer (2024) - Structure and agency between French and Morphogenetic Régulation - Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 54 (1), 104-120 - doi: 10.1111/jtsb.12407 - [link]
- Brandon Sommer (2022) - The transformation of contemporary China from Mao to Xi: An immanent causality morphogenetic regulation analysis of socio-economic transformation
- Brandon Sommer (2019) - A Generational Analysis of Chinese Workers Responding to Social Dislocation - Time and Society, 29 (1), 124-142 - doi: 10.1177/0961463X18820761 - [link]
- S Schmalz, Brandon Sommer, R Lorente & J Sittel (2019) - Conclusion: Two Worlds of Precariousness, Two Worlds of Unionism. - [link]
- S Schmalz, Brandon Sommer & A Loffredo (2019) - Confronting Crisis and Precariousness in the European Union. - [link]
- S Schmalz & Brandon Sommer (2019) - Confronting Crisis and Precariousness: Organised labour and Social Unrest in the European Union. - [link]
- S Schmalz, Brandon Sommer & J Lütten (2017) - Prekarität in der chinesischen Hochwachstumsgesellschaft: Eine Fallstudie zur Situation von Wanderarbeitern im Perlflussdelta - Berliner Journal für Soziologie, 27 (2)
- Brandon Sommer (2017) - The Chinese Dream and the precarity plateau: Why industrial workers are looking to entrepreneurship - doi: 10.4324/9781315593838-4 - [link]
- Brandon Sommer (2017) - The Chinese Dream and the Precarity Plateau - Why industrial workers are looking to entreprenuership - [link]
- Stefan Schmalz, Brandon Sommer & Hui Xu (2017) - The Yue Yuen Strike: Industrial Transformation and Labor Unrest in the Pearl River Delta - Globalizations, 14 (2), 285-297 - doi: 10.1080/14747731.2016.1203188 - [link]