Jonathan Hearn is Professor of Political and Historical Sociology at the University of Edinburgh.

He is a political and historical sociologist, interested in the conceptualisation and theorisation of power, its role in society, and associated long-term patterns of historical and social change. This connects to an abiding interest in the nature of liberal society, its emergence and fate. His work can be described as historically and ethnographically informed sociological theory. Much of Jonathan's work is on nationalism and national identity, with particular interest in liberal or civic forms of nationalism, as in Scotland. He has done ethnographically based empirical research on devolution politics in Scotland, and the role of national identities in a changing Scottish financial sector. His most recent book The Domestication of Competition (CUP, 2023) investigates the historical institutionalisation of political, economic and cultural competition in modern liberal society, addressing competition's role in the organisation and legitimation of power. The book brings together Jonathan's interests in social power, social evolution, nationalism, and the nature and origins of liberal forms of society. He is currently developing research on the connections between the emergence of national identity and the modern individual, and on nationalism as a response to the problem of social order.

Biographical details correct as of 07.02.25