Sociologist and journalist
In the June 23 NYC Democratic primary elections, recently-elected mayor Zohran Mamdani pulled off a series of coups. He put forward a slate of allies who defeated three candidates favored by New York governor Kathy Hochul, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries – including two incumbent politicians. A lot of [ ] The post Midterm Primary Cycles Are Ripe for…
I’ve seen the incident several times and from many different angles. What happened seems clear to me: two cars are trying to pull out from an area Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is operating in. A silver SUV goes first, successfully exiting to the right. A burgundy Honda Pilot tries to exit left. It inches forward, but then a silver pickup truck approaches from the left. The driver…
It’s been a rough decade for the political left in the U.S. In 2012 and 2014, Democrats saw extreme losses in both chambers of Congress. In 2016, they lost the White House to Donald Trump too. In 2020, Democrats took back the presidency, but it was obvious even then that the party had no mandate and its electoral coalition [ ] The post Don t Overinterpret the 2025 Elections appeared first on Musa…
On June 6, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted aggressive raids in Los Angeles, sweeping up gainfully employed workers with no criminal record. This lead to demonstrations outside of the Los Angeles Federal Building. During these protests, David Huerta, president of the Service Employees International Union California, was arrested alongside more than 100 others – [ ] The post On…
Increased stratification and declining social mobility. A crisis of expertise. The rise of “populist” leaders. Heightened tensions around “identity politics.” Growing affective polarization. Political dealignments and realignments. These are not separate phenomena, they’re fronts in a broader struggle over which communities, stakeholders, lines of work, lifestyles and cultures are valued in…
Beginning in the period between the world wars, and accelerating over the last half-century, the global economic order and political sphere have been restructured to the benefit of a category of people I call “symbolic capitalists.” Who are symbolic capitalists? Folks who make a living from what they know, who they know, and how they’re known. People who work in fields [ ] The post LGBT Identity,…
The Trump Administration has withheld $400 million dollars in federal funds from Columbia University and vowed to remove even more if the president’s demands are not met. Columbia has an endowment of $14.8 billion and an annual operating budget of $6.6 billion. The cuts amount to roughly 6 percent of their annual budget – a [ ] The post Democrats Won’t Save Universities appeared first on Musa…
Media outlets consistently publish pieces about symbolic capitalists who understand and describe themselves as poor, or struggling, or barely getting by, or broke (e.g. here, here, here)– often despite healthy six figure incomes and/or low expenses (because they’re childless and either single or partnered with someone who works and whose income supplements their own rather [ ] The post How We…
According to the prevailing narrative, it is a disadvantage to be non-white as compared to white. To be LGBTQ as compared to straight. To be a woman as compared to a man. To be a religious minority as opposed to a Christian. To be neurodivergent or disabled as compared to being neurotypical and able-bodied. Undergirding [ ] The post How Victimhood Became a Commodity appeared first on Musa…
In his 1976 The Coming of Post-industrial Society, sociologist Daniel Bell highlighted how changes to the global economy were leading to the emergence of a new social order—one driven by a “knowledge economy,” dominated by technical elites, and highly stratified on the basis of factors like intellectual acumen and academic credentials. Meanwhile, he argued, the labor [ ] The post Why Awokenings…