»Ê¼Ò»ªÈË

Professor of Political Theory/Political Philosophy
Room: 4.01, 29/30 Tavistock Square
Tel: 020 7679 4945 (ext. 24945)
Email:Ìýadam.swift@ucl.ac.uk

Biography

I grew up in North London (Highbury, then Hampstead)Ìýand went to William Ellis School, which was a grammar school when I joined and became a comprehensive while I was there. In 1980, I went to Balliol College, University of Oxford, to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics. I spent 1983-84 at Harvard as a Kennedy Scholar, and then came back to Oxford, this time Nuffield College, for my MPhil in Sociology and my DPhil: For aÌýSociologically Informed Political Theory.

In 1988, I returned to Balliol as Tutorial Fellow in Politics and Sociology and stayed there for 25 years, during which I founded and directed the in Oxford’s Department of Politics and International Relations.

In 2013,ÌýI moved to the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick as Professor of Political Theory, and in 2018 I moved to the same role at »Ê¼Ò»ªÈË.

I am an Associate Editor of and on the Editorial Boards of , and .

Research

After early work on the communitarian critique of liberalism, my interest in combining political theory with empirical social science led to a project interrogating social mobility data, and people’s beliefs about social justice, from a normative perspective. This got me thinking about the mechanisms that generate the intergenerational transmission of advantage (and disadvantage) within families and to their children, ranging from sending them to elite private schools to reading them bedtime stories.

My wider interest in educational justice has developed in various directions. I was part of an interdisciplinary team that aimed to helpÌýeducational policymakers make better decisions, while another collaborative project has combined philosophical and empirical considerations in proposing a framework for the regulation of religious schools in England.

Alongside these substantive topics, I have worked on methodological issues in political theory, including debates around ideal and non-ideal theory and the relation between philosophy, politics and empirical social science.

Selected publications

Books

• Brighouse, H., Ladd, H. F., Loeb, S. and Swift, A. (2018)Ìý. Chicago:ÌýChicago University Press.
• Brighouse, H. and Swift, A. (2014)Ìý. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
• Swift, A. (2003)Ìý. London: Routledge.
• Swift, A. (2001)Ìý. Cambridge: PolityÌý(FourthÌýedition, 2019).
• Marshall, G.,ÌýSwift, A.Ìýand Roberts, S. (1997)Ìý.ÌýOxford: Oxford University Press.
• Mulhall, S. and Swift, A. (1992)Ìý.ÌýOxford: BlackwellÌý(SecondÌýedition, 1996).

Journal articles

• Swift, A. (2020)Ìý‘’, Journal of Practical Ethics, 8(2).
• Clayton, M., Mason, A., Swift, A. andÌýWareham, R. (2019)Ìý‘’,ÌýBritish Journal of Political Science,Ìý51(2), pp. 827-844.
• Boliver, V. and Swift, A. (2011)Ìý‘’, British Journal of Sociology, 62(1), pp. 89–110.
• Brighouse, H. and Swift, A. (2009)Ìý‘’, Philosophy and Public Affairs, 37(1), pp. 43–80.
• Brighouse, H. and Swift, A. (2008)Ìý‘’, Education Finance and Policy, 3(4),Ìýpp. 444–466.
• Swift, A. (2008)Ìý‘’, Social Theory and Practice, 34(3), pp. 363–388.
• Brighouse, H. and Swift, A. (2006)Ìý‘’, Ethics,Ìý117(1),Ìýpp. 80–108.
• Brighouse, H. and Swift, A. (2006)Ìý‘’, Ethics, 116(3), pp. 471–497.
• Swift, A. (2000)Ìý‘’, European Sociological Review, 20(1),Ìýpp. 1–11.
• Swift, A. (2000)Ìý‘’, British Journal of Sociology, 51(4), pp. 663–679.
• Swift, A. and Marshall, G. (1997)Ìý‘’, Policy Studies, 18(1),Ìýpp. 35–48.

Book chapters

• Stemplowska, Z.Ìýand Swift, A. (2018)Ìý‘’, in D.ÌýSobel, P.ÌýVallentyneÌýand S.ÌýWall (eds.)ÌýOxford Studies in Political Philosophy Volume 4.ÌýOxford: Oxford Academic, pp. 3–27.
• Brighouse, H. and Swift, A. (2014)ÌýÌý‘’, in F. Baylis and C. McLeod (eds.) Family Making: Contemporary Ethical Challenges.ÌýNew York: OpenÌýUniversity Press, pp .11–28.
• Brighouse, H. and Swift, A. (2013)Ìý‘’, in D. Allen and R. Reich (eds.) Education, Justice, and Democracy. Chicago: Chicago University Press,Ìýpp. 199–220.
• Stemplowska, Z. and Swift, A. (2012)Ìý‘’, in D. Estlund (ed.) Oxford Handbook of Political Philosophy. New York: Open University Press, pp. 373–389.
• White, S. and Swift, A. (2008) ‘’, in D. Leopold and M. Stears (eds.) Political Theory: Methods and Approaches.ÌýOxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 49–69.
• Swift, A. (2005)‘’, in S.ÌýBowles, H.ÌýGintisÌýand M.ÌýOsborne-Groves (eds.) Unequal Chances: Family Background and Economic Success, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, pp. 256–276.

Teaching

I am Director of UCL’s MA in Legal and Political Theory, for which I teach both theÌýcore module ‘Peer Assisted Learning’Ìýand theÌýoptional ‘Social Justice, Social Mobility, Education and the Family’.

I supervise PhD students across a wide range of topics in political theory, with a preference for those that come closest to my own research interests. I also contribute some lectures to our Introduction to Politics for PPE students.