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. Capitalist Outsiders: Oil’s Legacies in Mexico and Venezuela. 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. “The Mexican Haunting of Venezuela’s Oil Workers (1912-1948): A Legacy of Capitalist Incorporation” Journal of World-Systems Research. Vol 30, Issue #1: 398-420.
Gates, Leslie, Alena Gericke, Diana Branduse, Jennifer K. Emery. 2023. “The Antibusiness Basis of Leftist “Breakthrough” Presidencies in Neoliberal Latin America”. Latin American Perspectives. Volume 50, Issue 6: pp. 239–258.
Gates, Leslie C. and Mehmet Deniz. 2019. “Puzzling Politics: A Methodology for Turning World-Systems Analysis Inside-Out.” Journal of World-Systems Research. Vol 25, Issue #1: 59-82.
Griffith, Kati and Leslie C. Gates. 2019. “Worker Centers: Labor Policy as a Carrot, Not a Stick,” Harvard Law & Policy Review. Vol 14, Issue #1: 602-627.
Gates, Leslie C. 2018. “Populism: A puzzle without (and for) World-Systems Analysis.” Journal of World-Systems Research. Vol 24, Issue #2: 325-336.
Gates, Leslie. 2014. “Interest Groups in Venezuela: Lessons from the failure of a ‘Model Democracy’ and the rise of a Bolivarian democracy” 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. “Theorizing Business Power in the Semiperiphery: Mexico 1970-2000” 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
Radio interview with KPFA's 'Against the Grain'