Marco Garrido

Marco Garrido is a political and urban sociologist whose research explores democracy, corruption, social inequality, and segregation, primarily in the context of the Philippines. His work also extends to Singapore, Cambodia, and the United States.

Marco is currently writing a book on corruption, politics, and the politics of knowledge, focusing mainly on the Philippines, with comparative chapters on Singapore and Cambodia. This book is part of a broader effort to understand corruption as a socially and historically embedded phenomenon—one inseparable from political dynamics and the politics of knowledge. Alongside collaborators, Garrido has an edited volume forthcoming with Cambridge University Press titled A Comparative Historical Sociology of Corruption.

Marco has also gathered data for another book, an ethnography of democracy in the Philippines, which examines how people experience democracy and how those experiences have evolved over time. This project aims to shed light on the country’s recent “illiberal turn” and contributes to a broader effort to chart a sociology of politics distinct from both political science and political sociology—one that situates politics firmly within social structures and historical contexts.

In addition, Marco is editing a volume on historical and ethnographic approaches to Philippine politics, which seeks to challenge dominant conceptualizations of the field organized around “bad words” such as oligarchy, patronage, and corruption.

Marco’s earlier research examined relationships between the urban poor and middle class in Manila, exploring how class divisions manifest spatially across slums and upper- and middle-class enclaves. That work, published as The Patchwork City, highlights how class shapes urban space, social life, and political dynamics.