Robert C. Reich (born 1969) is an American political scientist and professor. He is the McGregor-Girand Professor of Social Ethics of Science and Technology at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. He is also the director of Stanford's McCoy Center for Ethics in Society, co-director of Stanford's Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS), and associate director of Stanford's institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI). A political theorist, Reich's work focuses primarily on applied ethics, educational inequality and the role of philanthropy in the public sector, along with other topics in liberal democratic theory.

Academic career

Reich teaches courses on

justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

public service A public service or service of general (economic) interest is any service intended to address the needs of aggregate members of a community, whether provided directly by a public sector agency, via public financing available to private busin ...

philanthropy Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

practical ethics Applied ethics is the practical aspect of moral considerations. It is ethics with respect to real-world actions and their moral considerations in private and public life, the professions, health, technology, law, and leadership. For example, bio ...

, and

political theory Political philosophy studies the theoretical and conceptual foundations of politics. It examines the nature, scope, and legitimacy of political institutions, such as states. This field investigates different forms of government, ranging from d ...

at Stanford. He has received numerous awards for his teaching, including the Walter J. Gores award (Stanford's highest teaching honor) and the Phi Beta Kappa Undergraduate Teaching Prize. He is also a Bass Fellow in Undergraduate Education for "extraordinary contributions to undergraduate education". In Fall 2016, Reich co-taught "Election 2016" at Stanford University. The course attempted, with the help of experts, to make sense of an election that defies all historical precedent and to take stock of the health of American democracy. "Election 2016" hosted a number of guest speakers including

David Plouffe David Plouffe (; born May 27, 1967) is an American political and business strategist best known as the campaign manager for Barack Obama's successful 2008 presidential campaign. He was the senior advisor to Kamala Harris' 2024 presidential cam ...

and David Axelrod. It was the centerpiece of a campus-wide campaign of events around the 2016 presidential elections. Reich's research has explored a range of topics in political theory, with his most recent work focusing primarily on the role of philanthropy in democratic societies. Reich's scholarship on the charitable tax deduction,

Teach for America Teach For America (TFA) is an American nonprofit organization whose stated mission is to "enlist, develop, and mobilize as many as possible of our nation's most promising future leaders to grow and strengthen the movement for educational excell ...

, and non-profit status is frequently cited in the ''New York Times'', the ''Chronicle of Higher Education'', and the ''Chronicle of Philanthropy''. He is a contributor to the ''

Boston Review ''Boston Review'' is an American quarterly political and literary magazine. It publishes political, social, and historical analysis, literary and cultural criticism, book reviews, fiction, and poetry, both online and in print. Its signature form ...

'', a magazine co-edited by former Stanford political science professor Joshua Cohen. Reich was the lead author of their 2013 forum on foundations and democracy, and wrote the essay titled, "What are Foundations For?". In 2018,

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

published Reich's book, ''Just Giving: Why Philanthropy Is Failing Democracy and How It Can Do Better'', which purports to offer a political theory for philanthropy. Beginning in 2018, with Stanford Professors

Mehran Sahami Mehran Sahami is an Iranian-born American computer scientist, engineer, and professor. He is the James and Ellenor Chesebrough Professor in the School of Engineering, and Professor (Teaching) and Chair of the Computer Science department at Stanfo ...

and Jeremy Weinstein, Reich has begun teaching a large introductory course on technology, policy, and ethics, which has been featured in the ''New York Times'' and ''The Nation''.

Selected publications

Books

* ''Bridging Liberalism and Multiculturalism in Education'' (2003) * ''Toward a Humanist Justice: The Political Philosophy of Susan Moller Okin'' (2009), co-edited with

Debra Satz Debra Satz is an American philosopher and the Vernon R. & Lysbeth Warren Anderson Dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University. She is the Marta Sutton Weeks Professor of Ethics in Society and Director of Stanford's progr ...

* ''Education, Justice, and Democracy'' (2013), co-edited with

Danielle Allen Danielle Susan Allen (born November 3, 1971) is an American classicist and political scientist. She is the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University. She is also the former Director of the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Et ...

, won the 2013 PROSE Award for the best book in education. * ''Occupy the Future'' (2013), co-edited with David Grusky,

Doug McAdam Doug McAdam (born August 31, 1951) is Professor of Sociology at Stanford University. He did early work on the political process model in social movement analysis. He wrote a book on the theory in 1982 when analyzing the U.S. Civil Rights Movement ...

, and

* ''Philanthropy in Democratic Societies: History, Institutions, Values'' (2016) contributor and co-editor with Lucy Berholz and Chiara Cordelli. * ''Just Giving: Why Philanthropy Is Failing Democracy and How It Can Do Better''(2018). * ''Digital Technology and Democratic Theory'' (2021) contributor and co-editor with Lucy Berholz and

Hélène Landemore Hélène Landemore is Professor of Political Science at Yale University. She has a PhD from Harvard University. Her subfield is political theory and she is known for her works on democratic theory. Biography After a childhood spent in Normandy, ...

. * ''System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong And How We Can Reboot'' (2021).

Articles

* “Repugnant to the Whole Idea of Democracy? On the Role of Foundations in Democratic Societies,” PS: Political Science and Politics, Vol. 49, July 2016. * “Gift Giving and Philanthropy in Market Democracy,” in ''Critical Review'', Vol. 26, Nos. 3-4. * "Philanthropy and Caring for the Needs of Strangers," Social Research, Vol. 80, No. 2, Summer 2013. * "Equality, Adequacy, and K-12 Education," in ''Education, Justice, and Democracy'', Danielle Allen and Rob Reich, eds., University of Chicago Press. * "Not Very Giving." ''New York Times'', September 5, 2013. * "Toward a Political Theory of Philanthropy," in ''Giving Well: The Ethics of Philanthropy'', Patricia Illingworth, Thomas Pogge, Leif Wenar, eds., Oxford University Press.

Service

In 2001, Reich and Debra Satz founded the non-profi
Hope House Scholars Program
to teach humanities to women in Hope House, a substance abuse treatment center for women in Redwood City, California. The pair received the Roland Prize from Stanford for their work on the program. He is also involved with several committees for evaluating undergraduate education, faculty diversity, admission and student life at Stanford. Reich has worked as a researcher and moderator at the

Aspen Institute The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1949 as the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., but also has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, its original home. Its stated miss ...

, and has served on various committees for the

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (CFAT) is a U.S.-based education policy and research center. It was founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an act of the United States Congress. Among its most not ...

. He is a co-founder and advisor to the #GivingTuesday campaign, and is currently a board member for the

. He was a board member for

GiveWell GiveWell is an American non-profit charity assessment and effective altruism-focused organization. GiveWell focuses primarily on the cost-effectiveness of the organizations that it evaluates, rather than traditional metrics such as the percenta ...

, a nonprofit that evaluates charities for donors, between 2013 and March, 2019.

Personal life and education

Reich received his B.A. in philosophy from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

and his Ph.D. in philosophy of education from

. His doctoral dissertation was titled ''Liberalism, multiculturalism, and education''. He is often confused with

Robert Reich Robert Bernard Reich (; born June 24, 1946) is an American professor, author, lawyer, and political commentator. He worked in the administrations of presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, and he served as United States Secretary of Labor, Se ...

, professor of political science at the University of California at Berkeley and former U.S. Secretary of Labor. They are not related.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reich, Rob 1969 births Living people American political scientists Stanford University faculty Yale University alumni Stanford University alumni