Melinda Cooper is a social and political theorist whose work focuses on the recent history of capitalism and its intersections with the politics of class, gender and race.

She is the author of three monographs—Counterrevolution: Extravagance and Austerity in Public Finance (Zone Books/Princeton University Press, 2024), Family Values: Between Neoliberalism and the New Social Conservatism (Zone Books, 2017) and Life as Surplus: Biotechnology and Capitalism in the Neoliberal Era (University of Washington Press 2008) as well as Clinical Labor: Tissue Donors and Research Subjects in the Globl Economy (Duke University Press, 2014) with Catherine Waldby.

Among her most recent publications, see Melinda Cooper, (forthcoming) “Patrimonial Capitalism: Agency Theory and the Return of Dynastic Wealth” in Rebooting Political Economy, eds. Greta Krippner, Sarah Quinn, and Marion Fourcade, Duke University Press. [available from SSRN]

She is cofounder and codirector, with Professor Will Bateman, Dr. Aditya Balasubramanian and Assoc Prof Ntina Tzouvala, of the ANU Capitalism Studies Network.

She is an editorial advisor to Phenomenal World Books (Chicago University Press), a series that builds on current political economy discourses by focusing on the scholar-practitioner interface, and on historical analysis alongside contemporary practice.