Rob Reich

Rob Reich is professor of political science and, by courtesy, professor of philosophy at Stanford University. He is the director of the Center for Ethics in Society and co-director of the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (publisher of the Stanford Social Innovation Review), and associate director of the Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. His scholarship in political theory engages with the work of social scientists and engineers. His current work is on ethics, policy, and technology. He is currently writing about foundation models in AI, and he published two books in 2021: Digital Technology and Democratic Theory (edited with Lucy Bernholz and Hélène Landemore, University of Chicago Press) and System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot (with Mehran Sahami and Jeremy M. Weinstein, HarperCollins). He is the author of Just Giving: Why Philanthropy is Failing Democracy and How It Can Do Better (Princeton University Press, 2018) and Philanthropy in Democratic Societies: History, Institutions, Values (edited with Chiara Cordelli and Lucy Bernholz, University of Chicago Press, 2016). He is also the author of several books on education: Bridging Liberalism and Multiculturalism in American Education (University of Chicago Press, 2002) and Education, Justice, and Democracy (edited with Danielle Allen, University of Chicago Press, 2013). He has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, Wired, and the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Rob is the recipient of multiple teaching awards, including the Walter J. Gores award, Stanford’s highest honor for teaching. He was a sixth grade teacher at Rusk Elementary School in Houston, Texas before attending graduate school. He is a board member of the magazine Boston Review, of Giving Tuesday, and at the Spencer Foundation.

You can find his CV here.

Selected Publications

System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot, with Mehran Sahami and Jeremy Weinstein, HarperCollins (2021).

Digital Technology and Democratic Theory, with Hélène Landemore, Lucy Bernholz, and Rob Reich, eds., University of Chicago Press (2021).

Just Giving: Why Philanthropy Is Failing Democracy and How It Can Do Better Princeton University Press (2018).

Philanthropy in Democratic Societies: History, Institutions, Values with Cordelli and Bernholz, eds., University of Chicago Press (2016).

“Trust, Transparency, and Replication in Political Science,” with David Laitin, PS: Political Science and Politics. Jan 2017: 172-175.

“Repugnant to the Whole Idea of Democracy? On the Role of Foundations in Democratic Societies,” PS: Political Science and Politics, Vol. 49, July 2016.

“Philanthropy and Intergenerational Justice,” co-author with Chiara Cordelli, in Institutions for Future Generations, Axel Gosseries and Iñigo González, eds., Oxford University Press (2016).

“Can Charitable Compensation Diminish Complicity?” Yale Human Rights & Development Journal, Vol. XVII 2014: 113-119.

“Gift Giving and Philanthropy in Market Democracy,” Critical Review Vol. 26, Nos. 3-4, 2014.

Not Very Giving, op-ed in New York Times, Sept. 5, 2013

“Equality, Adequacy, and K-12 Education,” in Education, Justice, and Democracy, Danielle Allen and Rob Reich, eds., University of Chicago Press, (2013).

“What are Foundations For?” Boston Review, March/April 2013. A Boston Review forum discussion, with responses by Stanley Katz, Paul Brest, Larry Kramer, Diane Ravitch, Christopher J. Coyne, Deborah Fung, Rick Cohen, Scott Nielsen, Tyler Cowen, Seana Shiffrin, Pablo Eisenberg, Robert K. Ross, Eric Beerbohm, Gara LaMarche, and Emma Saunders-Hastings

Education, Justice, and Democracy, Danielle Allen and Rob Reich, eds., University of Chicago Press 2013. [Awarded 2013 PROSE Award for the best book in education]