Pettinicchio, David - Centre for Global Social Policy

David Pettinicchio is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Toronto, also affiliated faculty in the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. His research lies at the intersections of policy, disability, race, class, gender, health, politics, and inequality. Professor Pettinicchio is the Chair-Elect of the Disability and Society Section of the American Sociological Association.

Pettinicchio’s research investigates the development of political constituencies and their ongoing interaction with political institutions. More specifically, he focuses on the ways in which political institutional arrangements shape policy agendas. One of the main objectives of his work is situating the role of organizational spaces and citizen participation in producing and/or challenging inequality regimes. In related projects, he extends this framework to include the ways in which consumption and production dynamics in cultural spheres like the fashion and beauty industries (re)produce inequality while seeking to become “more inclusive and diverse.”

Pettinicchio’s work inherently addresses the gendered, racialized, a classed dimensions of disability-based inequality. He has published widely on the topic of employment and economic inequalities among people with disabilities, and how these intersect with race and gender. More recently, he and his colleagues conducted a two-wave national survey followed by in-depth interviews that asked how people with disabilities and chronic health conditions managed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Published work stemming from this data has focused on numerous outcomes, including policy and political attitudes, financial insecurity, and mental health outcomes.

photo credit: Ian Patterson