Biography
Johnnie Lotesta is a political and cultural sociologist with interests in political parties, labor and social movements, public policy, and American politics. She received her PhD in Sociology from Brown University in 2019 and was a Democracy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance & Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School from 2019 to 2021. Johnnie's current book project, Rightward in the Rustbelt, uses political contests over right-to-work laws in the Industrial Midwest as a window into understanding the current crisis of representation in American Democracy – that is, the tendency of partisan lawmakers to pursue policy programs that do not align with the interests and preferences of voting publics. Johnnie has also published research based on a mixed-methods qualitative study of youth-led social movements, examining how participation in such movements impacts young people’s political attitudes and behaviors. Her research has appeared in scholarly outlets such as Research in Political Sociology and American Journal of Cultural Sociology, as well as numerous public-facing research reports and op-eds.
Johnnie enjoys teaching Appalachian State’s Political Sociology, Social Movements, Wealth Power & Privilege, and The Sociological Perspective courses. Believing that we learn best by doing, Johnnie's courses feature multiple opportunities to apply sociology to the world around us through activities like in-class debates, case studies, and op-ed assignments.