David Meyer

David S. Meyer is professor of sociology, political science, and urban planning and policy at the University of California, Irvine. Meyer is author or editor of ten books, most recently How Social Movements (Sometimes) Matter. He’s published more than 100 scholarly publications as well as many magazine, newspaper, and online commentaries, often on the salient social movements of the moment. Meyer is a current Andrew Carnegie Fellow, studying ways to manage political polarization. He is also the recipient of the 2025 Robin M. Williams Jr. Award for Distinguished Contributions to Scholarship, Teaching and Service in the study of war and peace, and the 2017 recipient of the John D. McCarthy Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Scholarship of Social Movements and Collective Behavior. He is the lead editor of the Cambridge University Press book series on Contentious Politics, and founding co-editor of the Cambridge University Press Elements series on Contentious Politics. Meyer holds a Ph.D. in political science from Boston University, and an undergraduate degree in literature from Hampshire College.