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Background

Leslie Gates is currently a professor of sociology and a faculty affiliate of the Latin American and Caribbean Area Studies Program. She is a historical sociologist who studies politics in Latin America.

The Sandinista defeat in Nicaragua’s 1990 presidential election sparked her interest in the social forces that stymie political movements for greater self-determination in the region. She has sought to understand the decline of Mexico’s once powerful labor movement in the neoliberal era, the deployment of gendered labor reforms by El Salvador’s military regimes, and the return of the left in Venezuela in 1998. Her most recent award-winning book examines why right-wing (or capitalist) outsiders are more likely than their anti-capitalist counterparts to succeed in galvanizing disillusionment with neoliberal political establishments, drawing on an analysis of 20th-century politics in Mexico and Venezuela.

Gates is the recipient of multiple Fulbright Fellowships and the SUNY Chancellor’s award for Excellence in Scholarly and Creative Activities. She has served in leadership roles in the American Sociological Association as chair of the Political Economy of the World-System and Secretary of the Marxist Sociology Section. As a historical sociologist, she uses both quantitative and qualitative techniques to analyze empirical evidence. She welcomes the opportunity to work with graduate students who share similar interests, regardless of their regional focus.

Selected publications

Gates, Leslie. 2023. . Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, Pitt Latin American Series.

• Winner of the 2024 Barrington Moore Book Award from the Comparative Historical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association
• Co-winner of the 2024 Outstanding Contribution to Political Sociology Book Award from the Political Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association
•  Honorable Mention, 2024 The Immanuel Wallerstein Memorial Book Award from the Political Economy of the World-System Section of the American Sociological Association
• Honorable Mention, 2025 Paul Sweezy Outstanding Book Award from the Marxist Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association

Gates, Leslie C. 2024. “” Journal of World-Systems Research. Vol 30, Issue #1: 398-420.

Gates, Leslie, Alena Gericke, Diana Branduse, Jennifer K. Emery. 2023. “”. Latin American Perspectives. Volume 50, Issue 6: pp. 239–258.

Gates, Leslie C. and Mehmet Deniz. 2019. “.” Journal of World-Systems Research. Vol 25, Issue #1: 59-82.

Griffith, Kati and Leslie C. Gates. 2019. “,” Harvard Law & Policy Review. Vol 14, Issue #1: 602-627.

Gates, Leslie C. 2018. “.” Journal of World-Systems Research. Vol 24, Issue #2: 325-336.

Gates, Leslie. 2014. “” Journal of Public Affairs. Volume 14 Number 3 pp 240–253.

• Best Article 2012 in the Social Science, Venezuelan Section, Latin American Studies Association

Gates, Leslie. 2010. Electing Chávez: The Business of Anti-Neoliberal Politics in Venezuela.Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, Pitt Latin American Series.

Gates, Leslie. 2009. “” Theory and Society. 38:57-95.

• Best Article Award 2009, Political Economy of World-System Section, American Sociological Association

Education

• PhD, MA, University of Arizona
• BA, Princeton University

Research Interests

• Politics in Latin America
• Historical sociology
• State-business relations

More Info

Research Profile

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