Matthew Hindman's research interests include group politics, democratic theory, LGBT politics, political parties, and American political development. He is currently working on a book manuscript titled Interested Citizens: LGBT Advocacy from the Closet to K Street, which confronts a defining paradox of American pluralism: At a time when Washington has witnessed a surge in the number and influence of advocacy organizations seeking to empower new social groups, Americans have also witnessed the rise of a "New Gilded Age" and, with it, increasingly plutocratic trends. Focusing on LGBT organizing as an exemplar of broader trends in American advocacy, his book project argues that a central feature of modern political life is the mobilization of "interested citizens." In short, interested citizens are those who are willing to accept the inegalitarian features of contemporary American governance in order to take advantage of the limited opportunities for participation, inclusion, and progress available to historically-marginalized groups.