Matthew Baggetta is an expert on civil society and voluntary associations. His research interests include civil society and civic engagement, membership-based organizations, and social movements. Baggetta’s work focuses on the impacts of voluntary associations on their members and the broader impacts of associations and movements on society.

Baggetta has conducted studies of Sierra Club chapters, local community choirs, campus-based student groups, and large, urban associations. He has developed a new systematic social observation data collection tool for studying civic activity and is applying it in the Observing Civic Engagement Project. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Melos Institute, a think-tank focused on membership-based organizations and contributes to Mobilizing Ideas, an interdisciplinary blog focused on social movements.

Baggetta’s publication outlets include the American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, Perspectives on Politics, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, and Sociological Methods and Research. Baggetta joined IU and the O'Neill faculty in 2010 following a year as a Harvard College Fellow.