David L. Derossett, Ph.D.

Dr. Derossett began his current faculty position at Drury in the fall of 2010. He teaches a variety of courses, including Social Theory, Global Social Problems, Community Studies, Drugs & Society, and Medical Sociology. In addition to covering requirements for the Sociology major, some of these courses also provide content for students preparing for the MCAT, contribute to both the Applied and Research Tracks for the Psychology major, and contribute to multiple interdisciplinary minors, including Environment and Sustainability, Community Health, and Global/Transnational Studies. For Drury’s distinctive Animal Studies minor he teaches Social Movements and contributes to the team taught Animal Ethics course.

Dr. Derossett’s research focuses on the sociological factors in urbanization and urbanism. Broadly he is interested in how global neoliberal restructuring in recent decades intersects with local urban culture and development practice to (1) shape contestation over urban land-use decisions, to (2) produce and reproduce patterns of spatial consumption in cities, and, more specifically, to (3) spatially structure the impact of the U.S. housing market collapse which emerged in 2006. His research includes a recent examination of factors which problematize regional free market rhetoric employed to explain the comparatively slight impact of the housing crisis in Houston, Texas. Dr. Derossett has also conducted a case study of contestation over proposed casino development in Branson, Missouri, a small tourist city in southwest Missouri with a “family friendly” reputation. He is currently examining the dynamics of local affordable housing policies and emerging movements to decommodify land. These studies contribute to an understanding of how neoliberal urbanization shapes the dynamics of power and resistance to produce modern cities.  

Drury University faculty member since 2010
Associate Professor since 2016