👋 I’m Aaron. I’m a sociologist currently working as a Research Scholar at Stanford’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society. Drawing insights from economic and organizational sociology, my work examines the troubled relationship between capitalism and democracy (especially as mediated by philanthropy), the quantitative rationalization of the civic imagination, and the social implications of digitally intermediated community life.
My work 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. I have been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and I have won several awards from the American Sociological Association. My ideas on philanthropy, nonprofits, tech wealth, and oligarchy have been cited in popular outlets such as The Atlantic, Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired.
Along with Micah McElroy, I am developing a multidisciplinary research initiative on Private Wealth and the Public Good. Through it, we aim to interrogate philanthropy’s predominant intellectual frameworks and harness the field’s vast resources in service of civic infrastructure and egalitarian democracy. Our nascent project was profiled in Inside Philanthropy, here.
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, affordable housing advocate, 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.