Philip McHarris
Assistant Professor of Black Studies | University of Rochester
Rochester, NY, UNITED STATES
McHarris is an expert in politics and race, policing, incarceration, housing, racism, and race and inequality.
Areas of Expertise (10)
Black Lives Matter
Housing and Society
Incarceration
Incarceration and Racial Disparity
Inequality
Inequality and Social Justice
Policing
Policing Bias
Racism
Racism and Law Enforcement
Media
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Links (2)
Biography
Dr. Philip V. McHarris is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Black Studies and Frederick Douglas Institute at the University of Rochester. Before arriving at Rochester, McHarris was a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University in the Department of African American Studies and the Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab. He earned his PhD in Sociology and African American Studies at Yale University.
McHarris’ research focuses on racial inequality, housing, and policing. McHarris is the author of the book, Beyond Policing (Legacy Lit | Hachette, July 2024), which traces the historical arc of policing and presents transformative visions for safety and justice. He is also currently at work on Brick Dreams (under advanced contract with Princeton University Press), an ethnography-based manuscript focused on the New York City Housing Authority and the contemporary realities and challenges of public housing in America.
His work has been supported by the Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship and the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. In addition to his scholarly work, McHarris has written for outlets that include The New York Times, Washington Post, Slate, The Guardian, MTV, and Nickelodeon. His commentary has been featured on HBO, CNN, TIME, and PBS. In 2020, he was honored as one of the Root 100 Most Influential African Americans.
Education (3)
Yale University: PhD, Sociology and African American Studies 2021
Yale University: MA, Sociology and African American Studies 2017
Boston College: BA, Sociology 2014
Selected Media Appearances (5)
Police reform only leads to more policing, author says
ABC News tv
2024-07-31
Scholar, professor, and writer Philip V. McHarris presents a reimagined world absent of a law enforcement presence in his latest book, "Beyond Policing." McHarris's examination of the history and impact of policing is not just a surface-level critique, but a comprehensive analysis.
Policing's Illusion of Safety
Time online
2024-07-30
The history of policing in the U.S. is neither linear nor monolithic. Instead, it is fragmented and developed differently in various regions. But one aspect of its history stands out clearly: U.S. policing wasn’t constructed out of a desire for public safety but out of a desire to preserve power and the status quo.
The Fashionable Police Strategy That Is Just Mass Incarceration By Another Name
Slate online
2022-11-01
Focused deterrence does not live up to its violence reduction promise. It’s framed as an alternative to mass incarceration because of its purportedly more precise approach to violence, but is instead part of the same criminal legal system that wreaks havoc on Black, Latinx, and other criminalized communities.
What Is to Be Done About American Policing?
The New York Times print
2020-06-25
The country faces a choice about what the future of policing looks like — and whether it exists at all.
No More Money for the Police
The New York Times print
2020-05-30
The only way we’re going to stop these endless cycles of police violence is by creating alternatives to policing.
Research Focus (1)
Brick Dreams: The Unfinished Project of Public Housing
Philip McHarris is at work on his next book, Brick Dreams: The Unfinished Project of Public Housing (Princeton University Press, (under advanced contract)), which centers on a high-rise public housing development in Brooklyn, New York. Drawing on ethnographic dissertation research, Brick Dreams seeks to explore the day-to-day experiences of residents as they navigate concerns surrounding safety, policing, building conditions, and cycles of poverty.
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