iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Dan Hirschman @asociologist.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

"If Rubin were actually sincere about not having sufficient evidence to make sweeping claims about the discipline, then she would not make such sweeping claims about the discipline. Yet she does. Over and over again." @juliango.bsky.social on the U Chicago responses to the Rubin report on sociology.

scatter.wordpress.com

guest post: scholarly malpractice and the vanderbilt-washington university report on sociology

The following is a guest post by Julian Go. By now readers of scatterplot will be aware of the Sociology portion of the Vanderbilt-Washington University Report (VWUR) by Ashley Rubin. Part of the “…

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Thank you so much, Dave!! 😁

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Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

4-year postdoc(s) at Copenhagen Business School on project The Business of Corruption: Why Business Elites Collude or Combat Political Corruption, led by @mkjustesen.bsky.social. Start: summer 2027, deadline 18 September. www.cbs.dk/en/about-cbs...

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

A special thank you to @socscihistory.bsky.social for accepting my revision after an epic 2+ year procrastination spiral and to my friend @shdoron1.bsky.social for shaming me into ending that spiral 🥰

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Thank you to the many people who have helped me improve this paper over nearly a decade of scattered revisions. It's the first paper I ever wrote and I needed a LOT of help!

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

This is my whole argument in a diagram:

This figure, titled "Two conceptual models of upper-class mobility during major socioeconomic shifts," shows two triangles side-by-side representing the class structure, with a horizontal line drawn near the top of each triangle to represent the top one percent. The triangle on the left is labeled "Folk model: The New Money Myth," and the triangle on the right is labeled "My model: Churn among prototypical elites." On the left, there is a curved arrow pointing from the the lower half of the triangle to the top, labeled "New money rises," and another arrow pointing from the top to the lower half, labeled "Old money falls." This is a visual illustration of the folk model of upper-class mobility, in which new money rises from the bottom to the top, and old money falls from the top to the bottom. In the triangle on the right, the curved arrows are much shorter. The first points only from the bottom of the little one percent triangle to the top of the pyramid, with the label "New money is mostly born rich," and the second goes only from the top of the pyramid to the bottom of the little one percent triangle, with the label "Old money mostly stays rich." There is also a small figure of a person with a crown ascending to the top of the pyramid, labeled "New prototypical elite," and a figure falling off the top of the pyramid, along with their crown. It is an illustration of my argument that during major socioeconomic shifts, new money mostly is born rich, old money mostly stays rich, and what changes is who the very visibly richest people are- the prototypical elites.

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Stories about new money overtaking old money tend to reflect shifts in the prototypical elite rather than turnover among the one percent as a whole

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Prototypical elites are the best abstract representations of specific elite populations. In capitalist societies, they're usually extra visibly rich from regionally specific industries. Like Mark Zuckerberg for Silicon Valley, or Mike Bloomberg for NYC, or the King of England for... England

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I think that what's going on is that people often see and tell stories about elite worlds based on what I call "prototypical elites."

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

It turns out there WAS a turnover from cotton to oil: among the very very visibly richest people in the city. You can see that here with their home values:

This image, titled "Turnover from cotton to oil among Dallas upper class homeowners," shows four line graphs in a two-by-two grid, each of which has "Percent of homes" on the y axis and the years 1930 and 1940 on the x axis. The general idea I meant to convey with these graphs is that among all high society mansions, the story of cotton and oil families was one of modest change and significant persistence. But the more expensive the high society mansions were, the more the share of cotton families declined, and the more the share of oil families increased. More specifically, the top left graph, "All upper class Dallas homes," shows that the percentage of upper-class homes owned by oil and cotton families stayed relatively steady from 1930 to 1940 at roughly 10 percent each, with oil families owning slightly more overall. Then the top right graph, "Top 10 percent of upper class home values," shows that cotton and oil families began with similar proportions of elite homes (about 10%), and ten years later, oil families had acquired a slightly larger share and cotton families a slightly smaller one. The bottom left graph, "Top 1 percent of upper class home values," shows the reversal even more strongly; cotton families began with a much larger share than cotton families (about 30% vs. about 10%), but by 1940, they'd switched positions. The bottom right panel, "Five most prestigious mansions," shows that turnover was starkest at the very top of the distribution. In 1930, the five most expensive, high-status homes in Dallas saw a huge turnover. These estates were (and are still) enormously prestigious in Dallas, resting on multi-acre, walled-off lots in the heart of the city. Three of the five belonged to cotton families in 1930, and zero belonged to oil families. Over the following decade, two cotton couples and one cattle couple sold their estates to oil people, leaving oilmen with three of the local palaces and cotton men with only one.

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

So what's going on? Were they... lying? I asked myself this a lot while digging through the data

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

But I show that in Dallas, rich oilmen were mostly born rich, cotton families mostly stayed rich, and they all married each other so much that by the end of the oil boom, your average socialite had an oilman at about the kin distance of a brother-in-law

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

In basically every memoir from that time period, Dallas socialites are like, "Oh, we used to be surrounded by noble aristocratic old money cotton people, and now these horrible vulgar oil people are everywhere and we're POOR!!"

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

That's certainly true of Dallas during the record-breaking 1930s East Texas Oil Boom

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

For example, HBO's The Gilded Age. Don't get me started on that show!!!!

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

You've probably heard some version of this tale: during major socioeconomic shifts, old money falls and new money rises. That is the "new money myth."

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

New Gallup polling finds that 71% of Americans approve of labor unions and 56 million Americans would join a union tomrorow if they could. We are witnessing a historic rebirth of worker power. If you want a better life for you and your children, join or support a union.

epi.org

Unions are extremely popular: 56 million workers would join a union if they could

New Gallup polling finds that 71% of people in the U.S. approve of unions, continuing the highest period of favorability in over 60 years. This coincides with the greatest number of workers represente...

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Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) and LIS Data Center are hiring a 3-year postdoc for work on public policy, welfare and socio-economic inequality. Open to economics, sociology, pol sci and related disciplines. Apply by Sep 15th: jobs.liser.lu/job/Esch-sur...

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Look at this graph. The share of national income going to the richest 10 percent was lowest (and share to lower 90 percent highest) when union membership was at its highest. As unions have weakened, inequality has widened. This is why we must build back union power.

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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Me on the AAU "The AAU claims to be comprised of America’s leading research unis...But if the member presidents choose the guise of institutional neutrality as a way to gain political cover, they may now be leading higher ed toward greater authoritarianism." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

insidehighered.com

How Elite Colleges Aided Censorship During the Red Scares

Powerful organizations during the Red Scares crafted a world where “academic freedom” was conditional on political allegiance.

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ASA Theory Section @asatheory.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

We are thrilled to announce that Theorizing Our Times, the new blog of the ASA Theory Section, is officially live! Go check out our inaugural post, “Kinship Interlocks,” by @shayobrien.bsky.social! asatheory.com/theorizing-o...

asatheory.com

Theorizing Our Times

The Blog · Theory Section Theorizing Our Times Submit a Piece Essays, interventions, and notes from the Theory community.

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

🤩 thank you so much jeff!!!

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

odd: Graham Nordone is among the potentially legitimate heiresses, but the palace had previously assured us that duchess Chao would stand first to inherit the Duchy of South Carolina - thus implying that she has first right of refusal. We need reassurance from the Vatican that this is proper.

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

feels like a real landmark of impunity that major corporations are making federal crimes part of the interview process

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Petter Törnberg @pettertornberg.com · 07/07/2026

‘Polarization’ has become the master concept for diagnosing our current democratic crisis. But this is not polarization. It is the radicalization of the political right. By misdiagnosing it, we risk becoming complicit in the crisis. 🧵 Just out in Perspectives on Politics doi.org/10.1017/S153...

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Economics Department J.-F.-Kennedy Institute @jfki-econ.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

📢 Correction: We apologize for the confusion, the venue and date have changed. The event will now take place tomorrow, June 24, at the Institute of Sociology, @tuberlin.bsky.social. 📍 Frauenhoferstraße 33–38, 10587 Berlin, room FH 804/805 We look forward to seeing you there!

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Economics Department J.-F.-Kennedy Institute @jfki-econ.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

🗓️Thursday, May 25.06. We are very happy to welcome @shayobrien.bsky.social (@mitpress.bsky.social) at the Research Seminar in Economics at FU Berlin. Presenting her work on: "Kinship Interlocks: How the Intimate Exchange of Wealth, Status, and Power Generates Upper-Class Persistence".

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Boris Holzer @fernschreiber.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

High status never walks alone: A recent study by @shayobrien.bsky.social shows how an urban upper class reproduces through kinship networks that interlock economic, political, and social elite positions ("Soziale Systeme" @faznet.bsky.social) www.faz.net/aktuell/wiss... #sociology

faz.net

Welt des Reichtums: Was vor sozialem Abstieg schützt.

Wer den gesellschaftlichen Aufstieg geschafft hat, kann darauf bauen, dass sein Netzwerk den Abstieg verhindert. Die sozialen Kontakte müssen allerdings bestimmte Bedingungen erfüllen.

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Wow, I’m so honored! Thank you!!! This is awesome :)

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NBER @nber.org · 26/05/2026

Documenting the wealth of California’s billionaires and the taxes they pay, and presenting revenue estimates for the California billionaire tax proposal, from Jasper Boll, Emmanuel Saez, and Gabriel Zucman www.nber.org/papers/w35218

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Remember: Wealth cannot be separated from power. We're seeing in real time how the extreme concentration of wealth is distorting our politics, rigging markets, and granting unprecedented power to a handful of people. Taxing the rich isn't just an economic issue, it's a defense of our democracy.

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Brandon Stewart @bstewart.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

1/ New @Nature! We study how powerful institutions shape the information environment for LLMs. Commercial LLM training is opaque, so we trace a path from state-coordinated media -> training data -> model responses.

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

hahah!! honestly so tickled to learn that they’re called “ego documents”

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

The Stone Center at MIT is hiring another postdoc! This is a GREAT job: the work is interesting and creative, and you’ll have time for your own research, too. I think a sociologist or historian working on technology/inequality (broadly defined) would be an especially good fit!!

shapingwork.mit.edu

James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work Postdoctoral Associate - MIT Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work

Position Overview Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson are recruiting a Postdoctoral Associate to research the history, social implications, and future of technology. The position is…

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

That’s so exciting! Thank you!!! And I can’t believe I’ve never read this Strathern article - it looks awesome. Really looking forward to digging in :)

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Wow, thank you so much!!! I’m honored :)

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

New study @sfjournal.bsky.social: Initial work on my theory of "rulling class religion," which I'll developfurther at @russellsagefdn.bsky.social next year. Using 3 data sets, we link Christian nationalism with endorsing economic inequality BUT only among higher earners. 1/3 doi.org/10.1093/sf/s...

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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

At its core, the political economy of scholarship was never supposed to rely on ~$50k from a smelting fortune. Institutions have hollowed out their support, the feds have done the same, and all that's left is inadequate private funding.

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Dan Hirschman @asociologist.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

"The petitioners are asking ASA members to gawp at human misery, death, and destruction as dispassionate experts, blink, and proclaim that they shall not speak on the issue, as it is very complex and contested." Roi Livne and an anonymous co-author respond to the recent petition on scatterplot

scatter.wordpress.com

guest post: the sociologist as bystander

The following is a guest post by Roi Livne and an anonymous co-author. They called them “aid distribution centers.” Orwell himself would not have thought of a better term. Every day, shortly after …

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Dan Hirschman @asociologist.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

A fascinating new article in Sociological Theory explains why transgender "makes sense" and transracial does not. Duran argues this reflects the different constructions of the two systems, not an illogical incoherence of the left. journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Quote: "Next, I examine how these structural differences shape the intelligibility of “trans-migra-
tion” within each system. I contend that transgender identity, as a mode of categorization,
has emerged as a logical outcome of a sex/gender system that historically essentializes dif-
ferentiation between cis-heteronormative “insiders” and “abnormal outsiders.”
Transracialism, by contrast, has remained illogical within ethnoracial systems grounded in
the abiding separation of established racialized groups, a division generally reinforced
through collective affiliation.
Finally, I conclude that the cultural left has, in fact, followed an internal logic in embracing
transgender identifications while rejecting transracialism rather than embodying a paradox.
This logic, however, is not grounded in ontological claims about race or gender; it reflects,
instead, a sensitivity to the distinct structures and historical trajectories of each system of divi-
sion—structures through which social actors, on the basis of externally ascribed identifica-
tion, come into specific relational positions, modes of domination, and exclusions."

A table explaining differences between the sex/gender and ethnoracial systems emphasizing that sex/gender has a logic of normal/abnormal and assumes proximity between the sexes, where as ethnoracial systems imagine homogeneous and distinct races who are governed collectively.

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

I am starstruck!!!!! One of my favorite sociologists and writers of all time 😭😭😭

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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

"all fortunes are family fortunes, all power is family power, and all status is family status" That's a powerful line

Screenshot of article which reads: These cases are instructive for social scientists, who typically conceptualize “elites” as individuals with “vastly disproportionate” control over one
kind of resource (Khan 2012:361). But when it comes to the family “class project” of upper-class persistence (Hamilton and Armstrong 2021), effectively, all fortunes are family fortunes, all power is family power,
and all status is family status.

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Shay O’Brien @shayobrien.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

!! Intellectually, I think I can now die happy…. Thank you so much!!!!! 🤩😭

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." –Justice Louis Brandeis

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Is it any wonder people feel the system is rigged?

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