Jon Shields, Ph.D.
Department
Biography
Jon A. Shields is a professor of American politics in the government department at Claremont McKenna College, where he received the G. David Huntoon Senior Teaching Award as well as the Distinguished Service Award.
Shields is the author or co-author of four books on the American right: The Republican Civil War: What Liz Cheney's Wyoming Tells Us About a Divided American Right (forthcoming, Oxford University Press), Trump’s Democrats (Brookings, 2020), Passing on the Right: Conservative Professors in the Progressive University (Oxford University Press, 2016), and The Democratic Virtues of the Christian Right (Princeton University Press, 2009).
His work has also been published in a number of academic journals, including The Journal of Policy History, Political Science Quarterly, Critical Review, Contemporary Sociology, and the Journal of Church and State. In addition, his opinion has appeared in the pages of the Atlantic, Bulwark, Los Angeles Times, New Republic, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and New York Times.
Teaching Interests
American Politics, American Culture Wars, Free Speech on Campus
Research Interests
American Conservatism, Politics of Higher Education, Religion and Politics
Education
B.A., University of California, Santa Barbara; Ph.D., University of Virginia
Research and Publications
BOOKS:
The Republican Civil War: What Liz Cheney's Wyoming Tells Us about a Divided American Right (Forthcoming, Oxford University Press), with Stephanie Muravchik.
Trump's Democrats(Brookings Institution Press, 2020), with Stephanie Muravchik.
Passing on the Right: Conservative Professors in the Progressive University (Oxford University Press, 2016), with Joshua Dunn.
The Democratic Virtues of the Christian Right (Princeton University Press, 2009).
RECENT COMMENTARY:
“How Universities Die,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 4 September 2024.
“JD Vance, Former Cultural Conservative,” Discourse Magazine, 3 September 3 2024.
“Why Abortion Rights Keep Winning in Red States,” The Atlantic, 8 November 2023.
"Republicans in Wyoming See Clearly What is Happening," New York Times, September 8, 2023, with Stephanie Muravchik.
"Liberal Professors Can Rescue the GOP," New York Times, 23 March 2023.
“Liz Cheney and the Twilight of the Old Republican Elite,” New York Times, 16 August 2022, with Stephanie Muravchik.
“I’m a Conservative Professor Who Opposed Safe Spaces. I was Wrong.” New York Times, 7 April 2022.
“How Donald Trump’s Brutish Code of Honor Explains His Feud with Liz Cheney,” New York Times, 3 February 2022.
“A Hard But Real Compromise is Possible on Abortion,” New York Times, 19 October 2021.
“Those Biden Gaffes? Some Key Voters Actually Like Them,” New York Times, 16 September 2020, with Stephanie Muravchik.
“A Conservative Case for Identity Politics,” New York Times, 23 January 2018.
ARTICLES (selected):
“Religion and the Marriage Problem,” National Affairs Number 40 (Summer 2019): 129-146.
“How Catholics and Jews Remade American Politics—And Why We Slight Their Contributions,” Journal of Church and State 60(4) 2018: 614-635, with Stephanie Muravchik.
“The Disappearing Conservative Professor,” National Affairs Number 37 (Fall 2018): 138-150.
“Fighting Liberalism’s Excesses: Moral Crusades During the Reagan Revolution,” Journal of Policy History 26(1) 2014: 103-120.
“The Politics of Motherhood Revisited,” Contemporary Sociology 41(1) 2012: 43-48.
“Almost Human: Ambivalence in the Pro-Choice and Pro-Life Movements,” Critical Review 23(4) 2011: 495-515.
“Framing the Christian Right: How Progressives and Post-War Liberals Constructed the Religious Right,” Journal of Church and State 53(4) 2011: 635-655.
“Between Passion and Deliberation: The Christian Right and Democratic Ideals,” Political Science Quarterly 122(1) 2007: 89-113.