Manuel Pastor, USC Professor of Sociology discusses the Latino vote

Donald Trump did better with Latinos than expected. USC Professor Dr. Manuel Pastor predicted that. Today he explains what happened and what Democrats must do if they are to keep the Latino electorate.

Manuel Pastor speaks

Dr. Manuel Pastor is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. He currently directs the Equity Research Institute at USC. Pastor holds an economics Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and is the inaugural holder of the Turpanjian Chair in Civil Society and Social Change at USC.

Pastor’s research has generally focused on issues of the economic, environmental, and social conditions facing low-income urban communities – and the social movements seeking to change those realities. His latest book, State of Resistance: What California’s Dizzying Descent and Remarkable Resurgence Means for America’s Future, came out in 2018 and was lauded in a New York Times review as “concise, clear and convincing.” 2021 sees the publication of two new books, South Central Dreams: Finding Home and Building Community in South L.A. (co-authored with Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo) and Solidarity Economics: Why Mutuality and Movements Matter (co-authored with Chris Benner).

Pastor’s previous book, Equity, Growth, and Community: What the Nation Can Learn from America’s Metro Areas, co-authored with Chris Benner (UC Press 2015), argues how inequality stunts economic growth and how bringing together equity and growth requires concerted local action. Combining data, case studies, and narratives on multi-sector collaborations in 11 metro regions, the book offers a powerful prescription not just for metros but for our national challenges of slow job growth, rising economic inequality, and sharp political polarization. He also co-edited the book, Unsettled Americans: Metropolitan Context and Civic Leadership for Immigrant Integration with John Mollenkopf (Cornell University Press 2016), which offers a comparative study and detailed analyses of immigrant incorporation efforts across seven different U.S. metro regions.