Sharon Presley is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

  libertarian

Libertarianism

Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...

 and individualist anarchist feminist, writer, activist, and retired professor of psychology. She was also co-founder and former co-proprietor of Laissez Faire Books

Laissez Faire Books

Laissez Faire Books is an online bookseller that was originally based in New York City when it first opened in 1972. The bookstore's ownership was transferred to the International Society for Individual Liberty in November 2007...

, which was once regarded as the largest libertarian bookstore.

Academic career

Presley received her B.A.

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 in psychology

Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

 from the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

 and her M.A. in psychology from San Francisco State. Her Ph.D.

Ph.D.

A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 in social psychology was awarded from City University of New York

City University of New York

The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...

 Graduate Center in 1981. Her mentor, Dr. Stanley Milgram

Stanley Milgram

Stanley Milgram was an American social psychologist most notable for his controversial study known as the Milgram Experiment. The study was conducted in the 1960s during Milgram's professorship at Yale...

, author of the classic book Obedience to Authority, was the chair for her dissertation, "Attitudes and Moral Judgment of Political Resisters to Authority." In 2009, she retired from teaching at California State University, East Bay

California State University, East Bay

California State University, East Bay is a public university located in the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The university, as part of the 23-campus California State University system, offers over 100 areas of study...

 in Hayward where she taught the Social, Developmental, Psychology of Women and Critical Thinking. Her research also includes work on women resisters to authority and Mormon

Mormon

The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...

 feminists. Her current research is on personality variables related to attitudes toward authority.

Activism

Presley was one of the co-founders of the first national libertarian organization of the new libertarian movement, the Alliance of Libertarian Activists, in 1966 in Berkeley, California

Berkeley, California

Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...

. In 1972, she was the co-founder, with John Muller, of the influential libertarian bookstore Laissez Faire Books

Laissez Faire Books

Laissez Faire Books is an online bookseller that was originally based in New York City when it first opened in 1972. The bookstore's ownership was transferred to the International Society for Individual Liberty in November 2007...

. She was one of the founding members of the Association of Libertarian Feminists in 1976 and served as its National Coordinator from 1976 to 1985 and then again from 2004 to the present. In 1992, she founded Resources for Independent Thinking, a non-partisan, non-profit organization promoting educational tools for independent and critical thinking

Critical thinking

Critical thinking is the process or method of thinking that questions assumptions. It is a way of deciding whether a claim is true, false, or sometimes true and sometimes false, or partly true and partly false. The origins of critical thinking can be traced in Western thought to the Socratic...

. As of 2009, Presley serves as the organization's Executive Director.

External links

• Sharon Presley's professional/academic web site
• Sharon Presley's political activist web site
• Of traps, trade offs and women, Paula Brookmire interview with Sharon Presley, The Milwaukee Journal, July 25, 1980.