Areas of expertise: Governance; state administration; international comparative sociology; development; elite migration; classical social theory

Erin McDonnell (PhD sociology, Northwestern University) is a Kellogg Associate Professor of Sociology and a concurrent associate professor in the Keough School of Global Affairs. She is a theorist whose research engages organizational, political, cultural, and economic sociology.

McDonnell’s work focuses on how social organization affects economic outcomes, from consumer groups to administrative capacity in African states.