Shamus Khan

Shamus Khan is an assistant professor in the department of sociology. He was the inaugural scholar in residence at ISERP and directs the culture in the social sciences group, the business and politics group, and the elite research network. Khan is currently researching the history of elites in New York City, the structure of fame, and deliberative decision-making in multiethnic groups. 

With a primary focus on inequality, Khan’s first book, Privilege, explored the life of an elite boarding school. 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 is editing a book on research methodology, The Practice of Research (Oxford) and a monograph on the Elite New York, Exceptional: The Elites of New York and the Story of American Inequality. 

Khan is on leave for the 2011-2012 school year. He will be in residence at the Cullman Center of the New York Public Library, where he is the Andrew W. Mellon Fellow.