Matthew J. Schneider

• Assistant Professor
• Sociology and Criminal Justice, UNCP
• matthew.schneider@uncp.edu
• https://www.mjschneider.net/

Dr. Matthew Jerome Schneider (he/him) [@socistmjs] is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. His work is situated in the areas of race and racism, environmental sociology, community and civic engagement, and homelessness. A simple but central narrative in his academic work is that justice, antiracism, and even community service are easier said than done. His current book project, Serving the Street, for example, explores how homeless service volunteers in St. Louis, Missouri both undermine and reproduce problems related to homelessness. His other recent projects consider how local residents, volunteers, and activists interpret and respond to various environmental issues. For example, in one line of research, he examines American support for expansion of renewable energy production (e.g., wind and solar) and for a “just transition.” Specifically, by exploring the emerging offshore wind industry, this project attempts to better tease out the tension between just transition discourse and an ongoing history of extractive logics. In a second line of research, he collaborates with Winyah Rivers Alliance, a riverkeeper organization in Coastal Carolina, to better understand local environmental activism and volunteering during a time in which publics are increasingly aware of the pressing climate crisis, environmental injustices, and threats to public health. Schneider’s recent work has appeared in Qualitative Sociology, Human Geography, and Sociological Quarterly.