Hi! I’m Charles Crabtree. I’m a political scientist based in the Asia-Pacific, studying how social boundaries, identity, and conflict shape political behavior across democratic and semi-democratic societies.
I’m a Senior Lecturer (equivalent: Associate Professor) in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University, and a K-CLUB Professor in the University College at Korea University. Before this, I was an assistant professor in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College and a visiting assistant professor at Stanford University's Asia-Pacific Research Center. I completed my Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Michigan.
I study intergroup relations and conflict
My research focuses on intergroup relations and conflict, particularly how social boundaries—such as race, ethnicity, class, disability, and nationality—are constructed, politicized, and contested across societies. A central concern running through this work is measurement: how we observe, quantify, and interpret phenomena that are often hidden, sensitive, or difficult to capture directly, such as discrimination, bias, and exclusion.
I often study these processes through the lens of discrimination and much of my work examines why people so frequently treat those who differ from them poorly, and how these patterns persist across institutions and contexts. I study these dynamics across varied populations, often focusing on understudied identity groups, to identify both the mechanisms that sustain discrimination and the interventions that might reduce it. Along the way, I also develop and refine methodological tools for measuring discriminatory behavior.
My interest in this topic is both personal and scholarly. I grew up in a poor, blended, biethnic family shaped by multigenerational trauma, where I saw discrimination’s effects firsthand—especially along class and ethnic lines. Earlier research on censorship and human rights deepened my curiosity: censorship taught me about the attitudes and actions people conceal, while human rights research revealed how rights are unevenly distributed across social groups.
In previous work, I’ve documented and explained discrimination against groups defined by disability, ethnicity, gender, nativity, race, and religion. My current research centers on class-based discrimination, an enduring but neglected form of inequality. Growing up in poverty—without a stable home, in trailer parks and public housing—showed me how profoundly class and money shape opportunity. While, as the Wu-Tang Clan reminds us, “cash rules everything around us,” political science has paid surprisingly little attention to how class discrimination structures society.
Methodologically, my work increasingly emphasizes computational and data-driven approaches to measurement. I use a combination of computational text analysis, machine learning, and large language models—often in conjunction with experiments—to study social and political phenomena at scale. While field and survey experiments, particularly in the United States, remain a key part of my toolkit, I increasingly view them as one component of a broader strategy for measuring complex social processes. To place these patterns in a broader perspective, I also conduct research in other regions, particularly across the Asia-Pacific and in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union—regions where I have lived and conducted extensive fieldwork. Working across these settings allows me to better understand how people in different societies decide who deserves fair treatment, and how historical and institutional contexts shape those judgments.
My research has been published or is forthcoming in over 40 journals or volumes across several fields, including the American Journal of Political Science, the American Political Science Review, the British Journal of Political Science (2), the Journal of Politics (2, 3), Nature, Nature Human Behavior, Political Analysis, Public Administration Review, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2, 3). In addition to academic research, I write regularly for public and policy-facing audiences, translating work on intergroup relations, measurement, and conflict into accessible analysis of contemporary political debates.
This work has been featured in numerous media outlets, including National Public Radio's All Things Considered, CBS News, The Asahi Shimbun, The Atlantic, The Economist, The Huffington Post, and Yahoo! News (2). It has also been cited by advocacy organizations, such as the ACLU, and in policy documents, including testimony from the U.S. House of Representatives and State Department reports. I’m grateful to acknowledge funding from the American Political Science Association, the Swedish Research Council, the Research Council of Norway, and the Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research.
Across all my work, my goal is to understand how social boundaries translate into unequal treatment—and when, if ever, they can be softened or overcome.
I used to do a lot of other things
Before entering academia, I worked across politics, research, journalism, education, design, and data science. These experiences continue to shape how I think and teach.
I’m not always at my desk
When I’m not working, I’m usually with my family, exploring new places, practicing yoga, shooting photos, cooking, or playing basketball. I’m endlessly curious about Asia Pacific and the former Soviet Union, and I find joy in visiting universities around the world to see how others approach learning and community.
I root for North Melbourne. 🏉