[citation needed] Schwartz's effort to reconcile realism and constructionism is most evident in his collective memory studies, which include books and articles that trace Abraham Lincoln’s scholarly and popular images from his death in 1865 to present and George Washington’s emergence and transformation as a national idol.
Schwartz's comparative work includes the fate of Confucius before and after the Cultural Revolution and studies of Korean and Japanese memory with special emphasis on the “history problem” in Northeast Asia.
[3] Schwartz's research on the historical Jesus, on which no contemporaneous written documentation exists, shows how the words and actions of this apocalyptic prophet can be assessed through the emergent memory of his followers and authenticated by sources external to the Gospels.
In his analysis of acquisition dates and content of the U.S. Capitol Building’s paintings, statues, busts, and friezes, for example, Schwartz finds art manifesting a binary structure of historically “hot” and “cold” periods.
Analysis of the dynamics of the home advantage in four different sports applies George Homans’ account of reinforcement to explain another aspect of interaction, namely, how spectator behavior affects player performance.