Professor
Stephen Leacock Building, Room 725
855 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, Quebec, H3A 2T7
Tel.: 514-398-6850
Email: matthew.lange [at] mcgill.ca
Office Hours: Wednesday 10:30 - 12:00
Research Areas
Political Sociology, Comparative-Historical Sociology, Ethnic Violence, Development, Emotions.
Biography
(PhD, Brown University, 2004). Lange has been a professor at McGill since 2004. His work focuses on state building, nationalism, ethnic violence, development, colonial legacies, emotions, and comparative-historical methods. In addition to his articles and chapters, he has authored Lineages of Despotism and Development: British Colonialism and State Power (Chicago, 2009), Educations in Ethnic Violence: Identity, Educational Bubbles, and Resource Mobilization (Cambridge, 2012), Comparative-Historical Methods (Sage, 2013), and Killing Others: A Natural History of Ethnic Violence (Cornell, 2017), and is a co-editor of States and Development: Historical Antecedents of Stagnation and Advance (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005) and The Oxford Handbook of the Transformations of the State (Oxford, 2015).
Selected Publications
Books
Lange, Matthew. 2017. Killing Others: A Natural History of Ethnic Violence. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Liebfried, Stephan, Evelyne Huber, Matthew Lange, Jonah Levy, Frank Nullmeier, and John Stephens (eds.). 2015. Oxford Handbook of the Transformations of the State. New York: Oxford University Press.
Lange, Matthew. 2013. Comparative-Historical Methods. London: Sage.
Lange, Matthew. 2012. Educations in Ethnic Violence: Identity, Educational Bubbles, and Resource Mobilization. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Lange, Matthew. 2009. Lineages of Despotism and Development: British Colonialism and State Power. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lange, Matthew and Dietrich Rueschemeyer (eds.). 2005. States and Development: Historical Antecedents of Stagnation and Advance. New York: Palgrave Macmillan Press.
Book Chapters
Lange, Matthew. 2019. "Resistance and Nationalist Violence: A Halsian Approach to Nation-Building in a Colonial Context." States and Nations, Power and Civility: Hallsian Perspectives. Francesco Duina (ed.). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 197-220.
Lange, Matthew. 2015. “State Formation and Transformation in Africa and Asia: The Third Phase of State Expansion.” Oxford Handbook of the Transformations of the State. Stephan Liebfried, Evelyne Huber, Matthew Lange, Jonah Levy, Frank Nullmeier, and John Stephens (eds.). New York: Oxford University Press, 116-130.
Lange, Matthew. 2015. “States in the Global South: Transformations, Trends, and Diversity.” Oxford Handbook of the Transformations of States. Stephan Liebfried, Evelyne Huber, Matthew Lange, Jonah Levy,Frank Nullmeier, and John Stephens (eds.). New York: Oxford University Press, 673-688.
Lange, Matthew, and Klaus Schlichte. 2015. “Ethnicity and State Transformation in the Global South.” Pp. 763-778 in Oxford Handbook of the Transformations of States. Stephan Liebfried, Evelyne Huber, Matthew Lange, Jonah Levy, Frank Nullmeier, and John Stephens (eds.). New York: Oxford University Press, 763-778.
Huber, Evelyne, Matthew Lange, Stephan Leibfried, Jonah D. Levy, Frank Nullmeier, and John D. Stephens. 2015. “Introduction: Transformations of the State.” Oxford Handbook of the Transformations of States. Stephan Liebfried, Evelyne Huber, Matthew Lange, Jonah Levy, and John Stephens (eds.). New York: Oxford University Press, 1-32.
Huber, Evelyne, Matthew Lange, Stephan Leibfried, Jonah D. Levy, Frank Nullmeier, and John D. Stephens. 2015. “Conclusion: States Transforming.” Oxford Handbook of the Transformations of States. Stephan Liebfried, Evelyne Huber, Matthew Lange, Jonah Levy, Frank Nullmeier, and John Stephens (eds.). New York: Oxford University Press, 815-839.
Lange, Matthew. 2013. “When Does Nationalism Turn Violent? A Comparative Analysis of Canada and Sri Lanka.” Nationalism and War. John Hall and Sinisa Malesevic (eds.). New York: Cambridge University Press, 124-144.
Lange, Matthew. 2012. “Education, Ethnonationalism, and Non-Violence in Quebec.” Reading Sociology. Lorne Tepperman (ed.). Toronto: Oxford University Press, 122-126.
Lange, Matthew. 2010. “States and Economic Development.” The Handbook of Politics: State and Society in Global Perspective. Kevin T. Leicht and J. Craig Jenkins (eds.). New York: Springer Publishers, 263-278.
Lange, Matthew. 2010. “State Formation, Consolidation and the Security Challenge: Why Developing Countries are Not Becoming Stronger and More Secure.” Weak States and South Asia’s Insecurity Predicament, edited by T.V. Paul. Stanford University Press, 51-72.
Lange, Matthew. 2006. “Author’s Response.” Colonialism and Imperialism: Between Ideologies and Practice. Diogo Ramada Curto and Alexis Rappas (eds.). Fiesole, Italy: European University Institute, 105-114.
Lange, Matthew. 2005. “British Colonial State Legacies and Development Trajectories: A Statistical Analysis of Direct and Indirect Rule.” States and Development: Historical Antecedents of Stagnation and Advance. Matthew Lange and Dietrich Rueschemeyer (eds.). Palgrave Macmillan Press, 117-139.
Lange, Matthew. 2005. “The Rule of Law and Development: A Weberian Framework of States and State-Society Relations.” States and Development: Historical Antecedents of Stagnation and Advance. Matthew Lange and Dietrich Rueschemeyer (eds.). Palgrave Macmillan Press, 48-65.
Lange, Matthew and Dietrich Rueschemeyer. 2005. “States and Development: An Introduction.” States and Development: Historical Antecedents of Stagnation and Advance. Matthew Lange and Dietrich Rueschemeyer (eds.). Palgrave Macmillan Press, 3-25.
Lange, Matthew and Dietrich Rueschemeyer. 2005. “States and Development: What Insight Did We Gain?” Co-written with Dietrich Rueschemeyer. States and Development: Historical Antecedents of Stagnation and Advance. Matthew Lange and Dietrich Rueschemeyer (eds.). Palgrave Macmillan Press, 239-258.
Articles
Lange, Matthew, Tay Jeong, and Charlotte Gaudreau. 2022. “A Tale of Two Empires: Models of Political Community in British and French Colonies.” Nations and Nationalism, 28 (3): 872-989.
Lange, Matthew, Emre Amasyali, and Tay Jeong. 2022. “Communalizing Colonial Policies and Postcolonial Ethnic Warfare: A Multimethod Analysis of the British Empire.” European Journal of Sociology, 62 (3): 337-379.
Lange, Matthew, Tay Jeong, and Emre Amasyali. 2021. "The Colonial Origins of Ethnic Warfare: Re-Examining the Impact of Communalizing Colonial Policies in the British and French Empires." International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 62 (2): 141-165.
Lange, Matthew. 2020. “A Path-Dependent Approach to Communal Transformation: Recognizing Cognitive and Structural Views of Collective Community.” Canadian Journal of Sociology, 45 (4): 313-35.
Quamruzzaman, Amm and Matthew Lange. 2016. "Female Political Representation and Child Health: Evidence from a Multilevel Analysis." Social Science & Medicine, 171: 48-57.
Lange, Matthew. 2011. “Social Welfare and Ethnic Warfare: Exploring the Impact of Education on Ethnic Violence.” Studies in Comparative International Development, 46 (4): 372-396.
Gerring, John, Peter Kingstone, Matthew Lange, and Aseema Sinha. 2011. “Democracy and Economic Policy: A Historical Perspective.” World Development, 39: 1735-1748.
Lange, Matthew and Andrew Dawson. 2010. “Education and Ethnic Violence: A Cross-National Time-Series Analysis.” Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 16: 216-239.
Lange, Matthew and Andrew Dawson. 2009. “Dividing and Ruling the World? A Statistical Test of the Effects of Colonialism on Postcolonial Civil Violence.” Social Forces, 88: 785-818.
Lange, Matthew. 2009. “Developmental Crises: A Comparative-Historical Analysis of State Building in Colonial Botswana and Malaysia.” Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 47: 1-27.
Lange, Matthew and Hrag Balian. 2008. “Containing Conflict or Instigating Unrest? A Test of the Effects of State Infrastructural Power on Civil Violence.” Studies in Comparative International Development, 43: 314-333.
Lange, Matthew, James Mahoney, and Mattias vom Hau. 2006. “Colonialism and Development: A Comparative Analysis of British and Spanish Colonies.” American Journal of Sociology, 111, 5: 1412-1462.
Lange, Matthew. 2004. “British Colonial Legacies and Political Development.” World Development, 32, 6: 905-922.
Lange, Matthew. 2003. “Structural Holes and Structural Synergies: A Comparative-Historical Analysis of State-Society Relations and Development in Colonial Sierra Leone and Mauritius.” International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 44, 4: 372-407.
Lange, Matthew. 2003. “Embedding the Colonial State: A Comparative-Historical Analysis of State Building and Broad-Based Development in Mauritius.” Social Science History, 27, 3: 397-23
Courses Taught
Undergraduate Courses:
SOCI 245 The Sociology of Emotions
SOCI 326 Political Sociology
SOCI 446 Colonialism and Society
Graduate Seminars:
SOCI 507 Social Change
SOCI 555 Comparative Historical Sociology
SOCI 602 Comparative-Historical Methods