👋 I’m Aaron. I’m a sociologist focused on the complex relationship between immense private wealth (philanthropy in particular) and the social underpinnings of democracy. Along these lines, my work explores philanthropy’s influence over popular conceptions of the common good, how the fetishization of metrics and quantification has transformed the civic imagination, and the social implications of digitally intermediated community life.
My writing has appeared in numerous outlets—both peer-reviewed and general-audience—including the American Journal of Sociology, Boston Review, Chronicle of Philanthropy, Organization Studies, and The Hedgehog Review, among many others. I’ve been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and have won several awards from the American Sociological Association. My ideas on philanthropy, nonprofits, tech wealth, and oligarchy and the like have been cited in popular outlets such as The Atlantic, Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired.
Building on my work at the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, I’m the founder and co-director (along with Micah McElroy) of Private Wealth and the Public Good, a multidisciplinary research initiative that reimagines what the rich owe the rest of us. Through this endeavor, we examine how philanthropy—often the embodiment of wealth inequality—might be used to bring about structural change in our lopsided political economy.
Originally from Virginia, I now reside in Oakland, California. Before moving west, I completed my undergraduate studies at Princeton University and spent several years working in public policy at Mathematica Policy Research and the Urban Institute. Prior to academic life, I worked as a bike mechanic, thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail, and helped set up punk shows in DC. I’m a coffee roaster, woodworker, vegan, music nerd, and occasional rock climber who, for a brief period in the aughts and 2010s, was a half-decent competitive cyclist. I’m slowly building a digital archive of Gene Horvath’s sculptures and other public art.