About Paul Lachelier

For the last 25+ years, I have worked as a sociologist on the frontlines and frontiers of democracy, particularly on citizen engagement among young people and the disadvantaged.  On the frontlines, I’ve worked as an organizer in student, environmental, labor and political party organizations (and once ran for state office) engaging diverse citizens on local to national issues in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Florida, Virginia, and Washington DC.

On the frontiers of democracy, I’ve worked on grassroots innovations from founding a university labor center, to conducting a deliberative poll, to running a student voter field experiment, then an international mentoring program for youth from lower-income families.  Since 2012, I have been developing Learning Life, a nonprofit lab based in Washington DC working on unconventional grassroots approaches to education, democracy and diplomacy.  Specifically, Learning Life is working on three fronts: regionally, a Democracy Learning Community in the metro Washington DC area, and internationally, a Family Diplomacy Initiative for a more caring world, and a Citizen Diplomacy Initiative to help organize the world’s growing numbers of citizen diplomats.

As a political sociologist, I write on democracy, diplomacy and education.  This website includes some of my published and unpublished writings, including articles I write for Learning Life as well as those that have been published in the Boston Globe, Orlando Sentinel, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Albuquerque Journal, The Fulcrum, plus academic journals, books, and other media outlets in print and online.  For more about me, please see my bio page at Learning Life.  For my more academic writing, please visit my academia.edu page.  For a more complete list of my writings and other work, please email me at sociopolifrance@hotmail.com for an updated copy of my CV.  Also, feel free to connect with me on Linkedin.

Lastly, if you’re interested in learning more about how Americans think, fixing democracy, citizen diplomacy, or inequality in Washington DC, click here for seminars I offer on those topics.  In addition, if you’re (1) with a foundation, nonprofit or government looking to engage citizens, (2) a college student, graduate or young professional looking for ways to advance your career, or (3) a busy freelancer, writer, researcher, small business owner, or manager or director for a small nonprofit, and you’d like to increase your productivity at little to no cost, click here for consulting services I offer that may be just what you need.

Paul Lachelier, Ph.D.

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