Rahardhika Utama

Sociology & Global Development Data Science & Statistical Modeling Comparative–Historical & Policy Analysis Health Policy & Outcomes Research Poverty, Inequality & Health Equity

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ABOUT ME

I’m a sociologist and data scientist who integrates social insight with advanced analytics to address challenges in health, policy, and global development. My work examines how systems shape outcomes across populations and turns complex data into actionable insights for policy and business strategy.

My approach integrates ethnographic fieldwork, comparative-historical analysis, and statistical modeling with machine learning and natural language processing, connecting lived experience to large-scale patterns in health, governance, and development.

In my current role as a health research analyst at a U.S. national medical organization, I lead the analytics on physician workforce distribution, multilingualism in healthcare, and patient outcome disparities. Using regression, causal inference, and advanced text analytics, I transform large-scale clinical and survey data into insights that inform medical education, health policy, and resource allocation.

I also hold academic appointments as a Visiting Researcher at the Institute for Advanced Research at Atma Jaya Catholic University and at Northwestern University’s Equality Development and Globalization Studies, where I study inequality, corruption, decentralization, and population health.

My academic research extends these interests to political economy and global development. My project, Embedded Peasantry: Economic Transformation in the Asian Rubber Belt, investigates why some agrarian economies in Southeast Asia achieved rapid growth while others did not. This work has been recognized with multiple national research awards, including the 2024 Theda Skocpol Dissertation Award from the American Sociological Association.

Across both academic and applied settings, my goal is the same: to produce rigorous, actionable analysis that advances scholarship while improving resources, performance, and outcomes in practice.

RESEARCH AND ANALYTICS

Embedded Peasantry

Comparative Historical Sociology of Natural Rubber and Paths of Development in Southeast Asia

Why have some nations achieved rapid economic growth while others have not? This research explores that question through a comparative historical study of two Southeast Asian countries where agriculture plays a central role in development. Drawing on fifteen months of ethnographic fieldwork, 170 interviews with farmers and planners, and archival research in twenty collections worldwide, the study finds that divergent growth paths emerged from how the Cold War shaped peasant mobilization, leading either to incorporation or suppression of rural producers during industrialization.

This project has generated multiple research outputs, including peer-reviewed journal articles, conference presentations, and a forthcoming book manuscript based on the comparative study. Findings from this work have been presented at leading academic conferences and recognized with several national research awards for their contribution to the fields of development sociology and political economy.

Journal articles

Utama, Rahardhika. “The Origins of Embedded Peasantry: A Critical Event Analysis on Smallholder History in Malaysia and Indonesia.” Sociology of Development (Under Review, 2025).
Utama, Rahardhika. “Agricultural Burden and Economic Transformation in Late Developing Countries.” American Sociological Review (Manuscript in preparation, 2025).
Utama, Rahardhika. “Peasantry Embeddedness, Path-Dependence, and Economic Development in Indonesia and Malaysia.” Social Science History (Manuscript in preparation, 2025).

Selected presentations

“Embedded Peasantry: A Critical Event Analysis of Postcolonial Development in The Asian Rubber Belt”. American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, 2025
“Agrarian Roots of Poverty in the Asian Rubber Belt: A Problem-Solving Sociological Inquiry”. Sociology of Development Conference, American Sociological Association. Washington D.C., 2024
“A Civically Engaged Historical Inquiry of Intergenerational Land Conflicts in Indonesia’s Rubber Belt”. APSA Working Group on Civically Engaged Research for Critical Issues in Society, APSA Annual Meeting 2024. Philadelphia, 2024.

Awards

Theda Skocpol Best Doctoral Research Award in Comparative and Historical Sociology, American Sociological Association, 2024. Read the coverage here
The Hayward R. Alker Best Student Paper Award, Interpretive Methodologies and Methods, American Political Science Association, 2021.Read the coverage here
Sociology of Development Outstanding Graduate Paper Award, American Sociological Association, 2020.
SEAREG Southeast Asia Research Group Fellowship, 2021.

CORE™ for Solving Global Poverty

Collection of Oriented Research and Evidence, Center on Global Poverty at John Hopkins University

CORE™ is a policy summarization initiative that translates academic research on poverty and development into clear, actionable insights for policymakers, business leaders, and scientists. Developed in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Poverty, CORE™ bridges the gap between research and real-world decision-making. Using LLM technology to synthesize thousands of studies, the project makes research evidence accessible for policy and practice. Through concise summaries, structured categories, and interactive tools, CORE™ helps users quickly find and apply relevant knowledge to advance more informed, equitable solutions to global poverty.

Bureaucratic Clientilism

Mechanism of Corruption in Decentralized Democracies

The transition to democracy generates more opportunities for local government officials to misuse public funds for their political interests through bureaucratic clientelism as a mechanism of corruption. It is a phenomenon of exchange based on clientelistic links in which political leaders, per informal rules, induce bureaucrats to misuse public funds for their interest to win elections. This research conceptualizes bureaucratic clientelism and applies the concept to understand the corruption trend in Indonesia using a case study qualitative analysis. Through this mechanism, corruption is deepening after democratization, particularly following a decentralization reform.

Poverty, Inequality, and Power

Political Economy, Resource Distribution, and Development in the Global South

This body of work examines how institutions, politics, and historical legacies shape inequality and development trajectories across the Global South. Drawing on political economy, historical sociology, and ethnography, these projects explore the mechanisms through which state structures and social hierarchies reproduce poverty and unequal resource distribution. The studies span cases from Indonesia to the broader Global South, integrating comparative, theoretical, and empirical approaches to explain the enduring patterns of domination in postcolonial development.

This research program has generated multiple scholarly outputs, including working papers and international conference presentations that advance debates on inequality, governance, and development.

Journal articles

Utama, Rahardhika and Garry A. Fine, “The Aesthetics of Power: How Decentralized Governance Shapes Resource Distribution through the Politics of Color in Indonesia.” Qualitative Sociology (Manuscript in preparation).
Utama, Rahardhika. “How Bureaucracy Affects Inequality.” Equality Development and Globalization Studies (EDGS) Working Paper Series (2014). [Access the full paper here] (https://www.edgs.northwestern.edu/documents/working-papers/how-bureaucracy-affects-inequality.pdf).
Utama, Rahardhika. “Explaining the Perpetuation of Inequality in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia: The Paradox of Resource Distribution in a Democratic State.” (Manuscript in preparation)
Utama, Rahardhika “The Politics of Development Beyond the Developmental States in the Global South.” (Manuscript in preparation)

Selected presentations

“Democracy and Inequality in Indonesia.” Public Discussion: Centering Inequality to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) by Oxfam in Indonesia. Jakarta, January 23, 2025." Read the coverage here
“Problem-Solving Sociology and Smallholder Livelihoods in Southeast Asia.” Conference presentation (forthcoming). Solving Global Poverty Paper Workshop, Baltimore, June 3, 2024. [Read the coverage here].(https://www.problemsolvingsociology.com/solving-global-poverty#h.fs8lqjds7n4n)
“The Aesthetics of Power: How Decentralized Governance Shapes Resource Distribution through the Politics of Color in Indonesia.” Chicago Ethnography Conference. Chicago, 2024.
“The Politics of Development Beyond the Developmental States in the Global South.” IV ISA Forum of Sociology, Understanding Development: Perspectives from the Global South (Virtual). Porto Alegre, 2021.
“A Critical Event Analysis on Peasants’ History in the Asian Rubber Belt.” Journal of Peasant Studies 3rd Annual Writeshop-Workshop in Critical Agrarian Studies and Scholar-Activism. September 2021.
“Durable Domination and Poverty in Southeast Asian Plantation Economies: A Century-old Inflexibility of the Rubber Industry, 1910s–2010s.” Max Planck Summer Workshop on Social Inequalities. Munich, June 2017.
“Drivers of Systems of Social Provision and Regulation in the Global North and South.” International Sociological Association RC-19 Annual Meeting. 2017.
“Reframing Debates around State Autonomy: Associational State, Political Parties, and the Politics of Redistributive Policy Implementation.” Social Science History Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, November 2016.
“Explaining the Perpetuation of Inequality in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia: The Paradox of Resource Distribution in a Democratic State.” International Sociological Association – RC-19 Annual Meeting, Expansion and Retrenchment in Social Policy: North–South Dialogues. San Jose, August 2016.
“Why Does Land Reform Thrive in Some Countries but Fail in Others?” Policy blog post at Problem Solving Sociology . Read the blog post here.

Social Movement, Civic Space, and Democratic Backsliding

Activism, Youth Engagement, and the Future of Democracy in Indonesia

This research examines the evolving landscape of civic engagement and social movements amid democratic backsliding in Indonesia. Through collaborative studies, national survey, and field research, it explores how activists, youth, and civil society organizations navigate tightening civic spaces and shifting state-society relations. The findings shed light on the adaptive strategies of movements operating under democratic erosion, the challenges of sustaining participation, and the broader implications for democracy in Southeast Asia.

Language Proficiency in Physician Workforce

Multilingualism and Health Equity in Medical Profession

This project examines the linguistic profiles and proficiency of resident physicians across U.S. graduate medical education programs. By analyzing national physicians data, the study investigates how multilingualism intersects with heritage learner status, identities, and medical school background. Findings highlight both the prevalence of multilingualism and the persistent disparities in language-concordant care capacity across medical specialties. This research contributes to the broader understanding of how language proficiency influences physician workforce distribution, equitable patient care, and training outcomes in U.S. medical education.

BOOK PROJECT

My book project aims to contest, refine, and organize existing theories of economic transformation among late developing countries in the Global South, particularly in Southeast Asia. It addresses the variety of development in agrarian economies that sustained a significant agricultural output before underwent industrialization. Despite having to deal with a large agricultural sector at the onset of post-colonial state-building, why did some countries succeed in transforming their economy while others did not?

The book also proposes an innovative solution to the problem of an unsustainable path to economic development. This problem leads not only to environmental degradation but also to three conditions that perpetuate poverty in the Global South: rising inequality, the expansion of a vulnerable urban informal sector, and the endurance of an inefficient agriculture economy. What path of economic transformation should countries in the Global South take to achieve a higher economic level without necessarily following the unsustainable development blueprint of their counterparts in the North?

I demonstrate that political relations between the state and peasantry class molded the path of economic transformation that has resulted in the discrepancy in levels of development, environmental sustainability, and social protection. The arguments in this book contribute to the debate on institutional explanations of development in the fields of sociology of development, political economy, and economic history. For this project, I conducted extensive archival research at 20 libraries and archive centers in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Netherlands, the United States, and the United Kingdom. I also gathered oral history, interviews, and observations from multi-sited ethnography fieldwork in multiple rubber communities Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Myanmar.

AWARDS AND GRANTS