Rate My Professor Clayton Chin

Clayton Chin is an Associate Professor of Political Theory in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne. He obtained his PhD in Political Science from Queen Mary, University of London in 2013, having previously earned degrees from McGill University and University College London. Prior to his appointment at the University of Melbourne as Lecturer in Political Theory, Chin served as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Centre for Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy at KU Leuven. He has advanced to Associate Professor and is part of the school's leadership team.

Chin's research specializes in contemporary political theory, focusing on methodological approaches that bridge pragmatism, analytic philosophy, and continental thought, alongside themes of multiculturalism, nationalism, belonging, and recognition in liberal democracies. He authored the textbook Political Theory: An Introduction (2023) and the monograph The Practice of Political Theory: Rorty and Continental Thought (Columbia University Press, 2018). His publications feature in journals such as European Journal of Political Theory, Nations and Nationalism, Ethnicities, Philosophy & Social Criticism, and Political Studies. Prominent articles include "Multiculturalism and nationalism: Models of belonging to diverse political community" (Nations and Nationalism, 2021), "The concept of belonging: Critical, normative and multicultural" (Ethnicities, 2019), "Recognition as acknowledgement: symbolic politics in multicultural democracies" (Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 2023), and "Beyond analytic and continental in contemporary political thought: Pragmatic methodological pluralism and the situated turn" (European Journal of Political Theory, 2016). Chin has co-edited special issues on pragmatist political theory, received research grants from the University of Melbourne, and contributes to public engagement via Pursuit and The Conversation.