I’m a social scientist and theorist whose work addresses a persistent question: why do the same patterns of empowerment and disempowerment recur across every human arena, from ancient tribes to modern democracies, and what resolves them?
I developed the Holistic Empowerment Theory, which I’m currently in the process of writing, a broad-ranging theory of social change grounded in empirical findings across multiple levels of analysis—individual, interpersonal, organizational, institutional, national, and global. The theory identifies six universal human longings, six democratic principles that fulfill them honestly, and six antidemocratic tene…
I’m a social scientist and theorist whose work addresses a persistent question: why do the same patterns of empowerment and disempowerment recur across every human arena, from ancient tribes to modern democracies, and what resolves them?
I developed the Holistic Empowerment Theory, which I’m currently in the process of writing, a broad-ranging theory of social change grounded in empirical findings across multiple levels of analysis—individual, interpersonal, organizational, institutional, national, and global. The theory identifies six universal human longings, six democratic principles that fulfill them honestly, and six antidemocratic tenets that distort them. It unifies motivation, strategy, and process within a single framework that explains, describes, and predicts both forward and regressive social change.
What distinguishes this theory from other broad-range theories in the social sciences is its origin and structure. Traditional grand theories were typically deduced from philosophical premises or built through historical analysis of single civilizations. Holistic Empowerment Theory emerged from my most recent grounded-theory methodology typology—Perspectival Grounded Theory—based on a systematic analysis of the American founding documents, the UN Declaration of Human Rights, and cross-cultural marketing data. It is normative and prescriptive without concealing its commitments. It is falsifiable without surrendering moral clarity. It operates at a high level of abstraction while remaining testable at every level, from the micro to the global.
Key publications demonstrate this range: Reconceptualizing American Democracy: The First Principles establishes the democratic concepts that allow the framework to travel across domains. AI-Assisted Formal Buyer-Seller Marketing Theory shows the framework operating across cultures. Reversing Demoralization Linked to School Bullying applies it at the micro level, demonstrating that the dynamics hold even among children. Assessing Political Demoralization: A Framework for Public Policy Analysis and Evaluation reveals how governments leverage the antidemocratic tenets against the people they are obligated to serve. The theory has identified gaps across more than fifty substantive areas and over twenty fields where it can be further applied and tested.
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