Shamus Khan

Profile

Shamus Khan (b. 1978) teaches in the sociology department at Columbia University, where he was the inaugural scholar in residence at the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, and where he directs the culture in the social sciences research group. Khan also directs the business and politics research group and an international network of scholars who research elites.

Biography

With a primary focus on inequality, Khan’s first book, Privilege, explored the life of an elite boarding school in New England. Rather than write on the poor, Khan emphasizes the importance of knowing more about the rich when making sense of contemporary inequality. Khan has also written on the development of gender theory and political decision-making. He has a special interest in research methodology; his book, The Practice of Research, will be published by Oxford University Press in 2012. This year Khan is on leave from Columbia University while he is the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Chair at the Cullman Center for Writers and Scholars. He is writing a book on the history of elites in New York City, which will be published by Princeton University Press.