Values

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My work is guided by three values: intellectual independence, free and open source technology, and knowledge as a public good. As a sociologist, I believe scholarship should be guided by evidence, curiosity, and critical inquiry rather than institutional expectations or popular opinion. That requires defending the freedom to ask difficult questions, challenge conventional thinking, and follow the evidence wherever it leads.

I also believe that producing knowledge is only part of our responsibility as scholars. We should make the tools of research and discovery more accessible and share what we learn beyond the university. Whether through professional advocacy, open-source technologies, or public writing, I try to put these principles into practice.

Values in Practice

• Intellectual Independence — I believe scholars should have the freedom to pursue research, teach, and challenge prevailing ideas without undue political or institutional interference. My involvement with the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) reflects my commitment to academic freedom and shared governance. My membership in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) reflects my broader commitment to defending scientific inquiry.
• Free and Open Source Technologies (FOST) — As a sociologist, I have always been concerned with group inequalities. I believe we are witnessing a new “enclosure of the commons”. We are living in a time where corporations are seeking to consolidate control over technology and authoritarian governments are expanding surveillance and censorship. Working-class and vulnerable populations have the fewest resources to resist these developments and often bear the greatest consequences. FOSTs offer an alternative. FOST tools are less expensive, have no incentive to make the consumer a product, no incentive to surviell their users, and no need to plan obsolescence in order to sell newer products. There is freedom in FOST. I have proposed a center that would promote these technologies for the common good. I have not been able to get this idea off the ground, but it is a goal of mine. My hope is that there will be many such centers or collaborations across the world.
• Knowledge as a Public Good — I believe sociology should have a life beyond academic journals, conferences, and university classrooms. Through my newsletter, The Neighborhood Sociologist, I use sociological ideas and research to examine everyday life, culture, politics, and contemporary social issues. It’s really a passion project – a personal garden if you will, that I will be cultivating for the rest of my life.