Aaron S. Lecklider
Associate Professor of American Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston
Chapter Member: Boston SSN
Areas of Expertise:
Connect with Aaron
About Aaron
Lecklider is an interdisciplinary scholar working in American Studies, particularly interested in issues of higher education, income inequality, radical social movements, cultural politics, and the politics of sexuality in the United States. He has particular expertise in two specific subjects: anti-intellectualism and brainpower in the United States and the relationship between LGBT identities and American political history.
Contributions
Are Americans Really Anti-Intellectual?
Key Findings Brief,
In the News
"The Supreme Court’s Union-Busting Decision in Janus Is a Blow to LGBTQ Workers," Aaron S. Lecklider, Slate, June 27, 2018.
Aaron S. Lecklider quoted on university debt by Gintautas Dumcius, "Mass. AG Healey Says Mount Ida/UMass Deal Can be 'distressing' for Students" Boston Business Journal, April 9, 2018.
"Sam Smith’s Oscar Gaffe Shows Why Teaching LGBTQ History is So Important," Aaron S. Lecklider, Slate, March 3, 2016.
"Donald Trump Says He Loves the Poorly Educated. We Should Too.," Aaron S. Lecklider, Huffington Post, February 26, 2016.
"Donald Trump’s Reign of Brain-Bragging Terror: The GOP Front-Runner Wants You to Know That He’s 'Like, Really Smart'," Aaron S. Lecklider, Salon, September 2, 2015.
"What We Talk about When We Talk about Sending Our Kids to the Ivies," Aaron S. Lecklider, Chronicle of Higher Education, August 1, 2014.
Publications
"Inventing the Egghead: The Battle over Brainpower in American Culture" (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013).
Narrates how Americans who were not part of the traditional intellectual class negotiated the complicated politics of intelligence within an accelerating mass culture.
"Inventing the Egghead: The Cultural Politics of Brainpower in the Cold War United States" Journal of American Studies 45, no. 2 (2011): 245-265.
Explores the concept of “anti-intellectualism” and knowledge in relation to class in American culture.
"Tsiang’s Proletarian Burlesque: Performance and Perversion in The Hanging on Union Square" MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States 36, no. 4 (2011): 87-114.
Explores the concept of “anti-intellectualism” and knowledge in relation to class in American culture.
"“Between Decadence and Denial: Two Studies in Gay Male Politics and 1980s Pop Music" Journal of Popular Music Studies 16, no. 2 (2004): 111-146.
Offers a counterhistory of 1980s pop music that places dance-oriented music at the center of what counts as politics in this moment.