Michael Hechter

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Michael Hechter is an American sociologist and Foundation Professor of Political Science at Arizona State University. He is also Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Washington.

Hechter first became known for his research in comparative-historical analysis. His book ''Internal Colonialism: The Celtic Fringe in British National Development, 1536-1966'' (1975; 1998) presented a social structural analysis of nationalism – in contrast to then-popular cultural explanations of the phenomenon—and was one of the first such studies to employ multivariate statistical analysis. It was deemed one of the best books of the 20th century by the International Sociological Association.

Subsequently, he began to deploy rational choice theory to explain a series of macrosociological problems, including nationalism, state formation, collective action and social order. These issues are analyzed in ''The Microfoundations of Macrosociology'' (1983), ''Principles of Group Solidarity'' (1987), ''Containing Nationalism'' (2000), ''Alien Rule'' (2013), ''Rational Choice Sociology'' (2019), and ''The Genesis of Rebellion'' (2020), co-authored with Steven Pfaff. A collection of his contributions in this vein can be found in ''Rational Choice Sociology'' (2019).

Hechter is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (since 2004) and an elected member of the Society for Comparative Research. He was a fellow at the Russell Sage Foundation, and twice a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.