Jonathan Smucker is a sociology PhD candidate at University of California, Berkeley and a senior research fellow at the Othering & Belonging Institute (OBI). His research interests include political sociology, collective behavior, social psychology, political strategy, social movements, sociology of religion, class, and populism. Jonathan's dissertation research is on Mennonite Action, a new social movement within the Mennonite church in the United States and Canada, whose novel experiments in "worshipful" protest styles illuminate dynamics and popular perceptions of broader protest movements. Jonathan's OBI fellowship research focuses on vulnerabilities of liberal democracy in the late neoliberal era, the rhetorical structure of authoritarian pseudo-populism, and possibilities for developing inclusive, democratic alternative populisms.

Jonathan has worked for more than 25 years as a political organizer, campaigner, and strategist. He is the co-founder of Popular Comms Institute, PA Stands Up, Lancaster Stands Up, Common Defense, Beyond the Choir, and Mennonite Action. Jonathan has trained, advised, and supported thousands of grassroots organizers and campaigners in developing organizing and communications skills and methods, centering around his “Majoritarian Messaging in the Populist Moment” frameworks. He spent much of the past decade developing and testing messages with working-class voters in the field in Central Pennsylvania. In addition to his Pennsylvania work, Jonathan has advised and collaborated with Working Families Party, People’s Action, Sunrise Movement, Race Forward, Roosevelt Foundation, MoveOn.org, Standing Up for Racial Justice, Lead Locally, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Center for Working-Class Politics, and numerous labor unions, social movements, and local and statewide organizations.

Jonathan’s bylines include Al Jazeera, Anabaptist Witness, The Guardian, The Hill, In These Times, The Intercept, n+1, The Nation, New York Magazine, VICE Magazine, The Sociological Quarterly, and Berkeley Journal of Sociology, and he is author of the book Hegemony How-To: A Roadmap for Radicals (2017) and the forthcoming book A Practical Guide to Overthrowing America's Ruling Class (2027).