Matthew Clair
@mathuclair.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Sociology and, by courtesy, Law at Stanford. Author of PRIVILEGE & PUNISHMENT www.matthewclair.org
Pinned
Matthew Clair
@mathuclair.bsky.social
· Apr 13
A Relational Theory of Inequality in the Criminal Legal System
This article outlines a relational theory of legal inequality through a review of recent studies of crime, law, and deviance. I argue that three relational mechanisms—claims-making, social closure, a...
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
New article theorizing the relational mechanisms that reproduce criminal legal inequalities. Come for the theory; stay for the review of cutting-edge research showing how social closure, exploitation, and claims-making drive inequality under the law
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
The Stanford Department of Sociology is hiring! We have an open rank search and a senior search.
Open rank position: facultypositions.stanford.edu/jobs/appoint...
Senior position: facultypositions.stanford.edu/jobs/senior-...
Open rank position: facultypositions.stanford.edu/jobs/appoint...
Senior position: facultypositions.stanford.edu/jobs/senior-...
Appointment in the Department of Sociology at the rank of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Professor. - Stanford University, California, United States
Appointment in the Department of Sociology at the rank of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Professor.
The Department of Sociology at Stanford University seeks applicants for a faculty app...
facultypositions.stanford.edu
September 21, 2026 at 4:01 PM
Reposted by Matthew Clair
“This archive is produced by a group of academics to honor and commemorate these lives and those of the many other teachers and researchers in higher education murdered in Gaza during the genocide.”
www.publicbooks.org/remember-the...
www.publicbooks.org/remember-the...
Remember Them: Palestine Scholars Murdered in the Gaza Genocide - Public Books
“In Palestine, some 87,000 students have suffered a near total disruption of their studies for the duration of the genocide, and more than 1200 have been killed. Upwards of 200 academic staff have…
www.publicbooks.org
September 18, 2026 at 1:35 PM
“This archive is produced by a group of academics to honor and commemorate these lives and those of the many other teachers and researchers in higher education murdered in Gaza during the genocide.”
www.publicbooks.org/remember-the...
www.publicbooks.org/remember-the...
Reposted by Matthew Clair
One of my big academic rules: only write papers you really care about on topics you really care about. I try to follow this rule 99% of the time.
This paper is one of the best examples of that, and I’m stoked it’s one step closer to being in the world. We’ve corrected proofs & you’ll have it soon!
This paper is one of the best examples of that, and I’m stoked it’s one step closer to being in the world. We’ve corrected proofs & you’ll have it soon!
September 10, 2026 at 1:47 PM
One of my big academic rules: only write papers you really care about on topics you really care about. I try to follow this rule 99% of the time.
This paper is one of the best examples of that, and I’m stoked it’s one step closer to being in the world. We’ve corrected proofs & you’ll have it soon!
This paper is one of the best examples of that, and I’m stoked it’s one step closer to being in the world. We’ve corrected proofs & you’ll have it soon!
Reposted by Matthew Clair
NEW in @pnasnexus.org: Prof. Forrest Stuart, Caylin Moore, and Patrick Janulis find that deploying unarmed safety practitioners to high-crime intersections can reduce behavioral-health related crime. The study examined the effect of practitioners in San Francisco.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Civilianized safety practitioners reduce crime and disorder: Evidence from a quasiexperimental evaluation in San Francisco
Abstract. Cities across the United States are experimenting with civilian-led alternatives to policing, yet rigorous evidence of their effectiveness remain
academic.oup.com
September 1, 2026 at 9:18 PM
NEW in @pnasnexus.org: Prof. Forrest Stuart, Caylin Moore, and Patrick Janulis find that deploying unarmed safety practitioners to high-crime intersections can reduce behavioral-health related crime. The study examined the effect of practitioners in San Francisco.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Reposted by Matthew Clair
ICYMI in the run-up to ASA: @cicojournal.bsky.social is hosting a conference showcasing the future of urban sociology!
🌟Graduate students and postdocs, submit by 11/15. 🌟
tinyurl.com/cicoconfinfo
Senior folks, please share widely!
@asanews.bsky.social #sociology #CUSS
🌟Graduate students and postdocs, submit by 11/15. 🌟
tinyurl.com/cicoconfinfo
Senior folks, please share widely!
@asanews.bsky.social #sociology #CUSS
August 17, 2026 at 4:36 PM
ICYMI in the run-up to ASA: @cicojournal.bsky.social is hosting a conference showcasing the future of urban sociology!
🌟Graduate students and postdocs, submit by 11/15. 🌟
tinyurl.com/cicoconfinfo
Senior folks, please share widely!
@asanews.bsky.social #sociology #CUSS
🌟Graduate students and postdocs, submit by 11/15. 🌟
tinyurl.com/cicoconfinfo
Senior folks, please share widely!
@asanews.bsky.social #sociology #CUSS
Reposted by Matthew Clair
Homicides of white and wealthy people get more press attention. In this excellent new study, @jbenmenachem.com interviews journalists to understand why. Short version: journalists often recognize the inequity but feel constrained by resources and demands for novelty. doi.org/10.1111/1745...
Which deaths count? Debating homicide coverage amidst newsroom scarcity
Past research documents disparities in which homicides receive news coverage and how victims are portrayed, yet the organizational processes producing these patterns remain understudied. This paper a...
doi.org
July 28, 2026 at 12:24 PM
Homicides of white and wealthy people get more press attention. In this excellent new study, @jbenmenachem.com interviews journalists to understand why. Short version: journalists often recognize the inequity but feel constrained by resources and demands for novelty. doi.org/10.1111/1745...
Reposted by Matthew Clair
Today, we're launching Unlocking Lived Experience, a 12-day campaign to raise $15,000 — with every dollar you give matched 1-to-1, up to that $15,000, thanks to a commitment from generous donors! Can you help us reach our goal?
Donate | Prison Journalism Project
Prison Journalism Project is supported by people like you. Support Prison Journalism Project today.
prisonjournalismproject.fundjournalism.org
July 16, 2026 at 11:49 PM
Today, we're launching Unlocking Lived Experience, a 12-day campaign to raise $15,000 — with every dollar you give matched 1-to-1, up to that $15,000, thanks to a commitment from generous donors! Can you help us reach our goal?
Reposted by Matthew Clair
A huge congratulations to Shannon Malone Gonzalez, whose book The Secrets of Silence received a Gold Medal for the Independent Publishers Book Awards' Outstanding Book of the Year!
Read a preview here: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
Read a preview here: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
July 14, 2026 at 4:37 PM
A huge congratulations to Shannon Malone Gonzalez, whose book The Secrets of Silence received a Gold Medal for the Independent Publishers Book Awards' Outstanding Book of the Year!
Read a preview here: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
Read a preview here: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
Reposted by Matthew Clair
The government has issued 65,000+ fines to immigrants with deportation orders, seeking over $36B. Individual fines reach $1.8M, and private debt collectors are adding interest. Reporting by The Marshall Project.
www.themarshallproject.org/2026/06/20/m...
www.themarshallproject.org/2026/06/20/m...
July 10, 2026 at 12:33 AM
The government has issued 65,000+ fines to immigrants with deportation orders, seeking over $36B. Individual fines reach $1.8M, and private debt collectors are adding interest. Reporting by The Marshall Project.
www.themarshallproject.org/2026/06/20/m...
www.themarshallproject.org/2026/06/20/m...
Reposted by Matthew Clair
Congrats to Prof. @mathuclair.bsky.social who received the William Julius Wilson Early Career Award from the American Sociological Association's IPM Section! @asa-ipm.bsky.social @asanews.bsky.social
sociology.stanford.edu/news/matt-cl...
sociology.stanford.edu/news/matt-cl...
Matt Clair receives William Julius Wilson early career award | Department of Sociology
Associate Professor Matt Clair has been awarded the William Julius Wilson Early Career Award, recognizing his outstanding scholarship and significant contributions to the study of inequality, poverty,...
sociology.stanford.edu
July 1, 2026 at 4:01 PM
Congrats to Prof. @mathuclair.bsky.social who received the William Julius Wilson Early Career Award from the American Sociological Association's IPM Section! @asa-ipm.bsky.social @asanews.bsky.social
sociology.stanford.edu/news/matt-cl...
sociology.stanford.edu/news/matt-cl...
Reposted by Matthew Clair
New at PB: Founding editor Caitlin Zaloom interviews author and scholar @ninabandelj.bsky.social about her new book “Overinvested: The Emotional Economy of Modern Parenting” (@princetonupress.bsky.social), the latest installment in our partnership with @casbsstanford.bsky.social.
The “Emotional Economy” of Parenting: A Conversation with Nina Bandelj - Public Books
“I am an observer of how intellectual ideas travel and enter into everyday life, or how they come to be performed by families in ways that give those ideas a reality of their own.”
www.publicbooks.org
June 25, 2026 at 3:26 PM
New at PB: Founding editor Caitlin Zaloom interviews author and scholar @ninabandelj.bsky.social about her new book “Overinvested: The Emotional Economy of Modern Parenting” (@princetonupress.bsky.social), the latest installment in our partnership with @casbsstanford.bsky.social.
Excited to see my review article on “the cultural study of law and social crisis” is now online—and open access
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
The Cultural Study of Law and Social Crisis
This article reviews cultural sociological approaches to law and considers how they may sharpen analysis of social crises. As the United States faces myriad law-related crises, such as rising authorit...
www.annualreviews.org
June 15, 2026 at 8:36 PM
Excited to see my review article on “the cultural study of law and social crisis” is now online—and open access
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Reposted by Matthew Clair
NEW in Ethnic & Racial Studies: we offer a framework for bridging conventional & critical perspectives on immigrant integration that specifies for whom, under what conditions, and why group boundaries enable or constrain access to resources and life chances.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
June 15, 2026 at 4:01 PM
NEW in Ethnic & Racial Studies: we offer a framework for bridging conventional & critical perspectives on immigrant integration that specifies for whom, under what conditions, and why group boundaries enable or constrain access to resources and life chances.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Matthew Clair
My new piece in @issuesinst.bsky.social with @cyberlyra.bsky.social comes at an urgent moment in science policy. New OMB rules and EOs threaten to politicize science and strip it of the democratic norms, autonomy, and pluralism meant to protect science as and for democracy
issues.org/merton-redux...
issues.org/merton-redux...
Merton Redux: Re-Confronting the Norms of Science in Democracy
The decimation of democratic processes that undergird state-sponsored research may be ultimately more consequential than funding cuts.
issues.org
June 8, 2026 at 2:45 PM
My new piece in @issuesinst.bsky.social with @cyberlyra.bsky.social comes at an urgent moment in science policy. New OMB rules and EOs threaten to politicize science and strip it of the democratic norms, autonomy, and pluralism meant to protect science as and for democracy
issues.org/merton-redux...
issues.org/merton-redux...
Starting today, I’m a tenured professor at Stanford. I’m thrilled and grateful to my generous mentors and brilliant students.
www.linkedin.com/posts/matthe...
www.linkedin.com/posts/matthe...
June 1, 2026 at 2:41 PM
Starting today, I’m a tenured professor at Stanford. I’m thrilled and grateful to my generous mentors and brilliant students.
www.linkedin.com/posts/matthe...
www.linkedin.com/posts/matthe...
Reposted by Matthew Clair
Three Decades Since Kathy Edin's Making Ends Meet -
two special issues from Russell Sage!
@ffcws.bsky.social
two special issues from Russell Sage!
@ffcws.bsky.social
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences: 12 (1)
www.rsfjournal.org
May 19, 2026 at 4:06 PM
Three Decades Since Kathy Edin's Making Ends Meet -
two special issues from Russell Sage!
@ffcws.bsky.social
two special issues from Russell Sage!
@ffcws.bsky.social
Reposted by Matthew Clair
Prof. @mivich.bsky.social's book The Division of Rationalized Labor is a finalist for the C. Wright Mills Award. Congrats, Michelle! @sssp1org.bsky.social
www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/...
www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/...
The Society for the Study of Social Problems | 2025 C. Wright Mills Finalists
2026 AM: 2025 C. Wright Mills Finalists
www.sssp1.org
May 6, 2026 at 4:49 PM
Prof. @mivich.bsky.social's book The Division of Rationalized Labor is a finalist for the C. Wright Mills Award. Congrats, Michelle! @sssp1org.bsky.social
www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/...
www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/...
Reposted by Matthew Clair
"The structure whose supports our elites are steadily kicking down is also the one that props up their own personal safety from disaster and political invulnerability to accountability. And all of this can go away."
me in @bostonreview.bsky.social
www.bostonreview.net/articles/a-y...
me in @bostonreview.bsky.social
www.bostonreview.net/articles/a-y...
A Year of Magical Thinking
Elite impunity has fueled the fantasy that catastrophes are for other people.
www.bostonreview.net
April 27, 2026 at 5:23 PM
"The structure whose supports our elites are steadily kicking down is also the one that props up their own personal safety from disaster and political invulnerability to accountability. And all of this can go away."
me in @bostonreview.bsky.social
www.bostonreview.net/articles/a-y...
me in @bostonreview.bsky.social
www.bostonreview.net/articles/a-y...
Reposted by Matthew Clair
A revealing account of how agents have shaped book publishing and the literary canon from the 1950s to today.
@lbmcgrath.bsky.social's Middlemen is now available (23 June UK pub)!
Order yours: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
@lbmcgrath.bsky.social's Middlemen is now available (23 June UK pub)!
Order yours: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
April 28, 2026 at 2:05 PM
A revealing account of how agents have shaped book publishing and the literary canon from the 1950s to today.
@lbmcgrath.bsky.social's Middlemen is now available (23 June UK pub)!
Order yours: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
@lbmcgrath.bsky.social's Middlemen is now available (23 June UK pub)!
Order yours: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
New article theorizing the relational mechanisms that reproduce criminal legal inequalities. Come for the theory; stay for the review of cutting-edge research showing how social closure, exploitation, and claims-making drive inequality under the law
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
A Relational Theory of Inequality in the Criminal Legal System
This article outlines a relational theory of legal inequality through a review of recent studies of crime, law, and deviance. I argue that three relational mechanisms—claims-making, social closure, a...
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
April 13, 2026 at 1:46 PM
New article theorizing the relational mechanisms that reproduce criminal legal inequalities. Come for the theory; stay for the review of cutting-edge research showing how social closure, exploitation, and claims-making drive inequality under the law
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Matthew Clair
Forthcoming in American Criminal Law Review! @georgetownlaw.bsky.social
New article: an on-the-ground study of how police use of force investigations actually work in the US and why criminal accountability remains elusive. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
April 10, 2026 at 6:01 PM
Forthcoming in American Criminal Law Review! @georgetownlaw.bsky.social
Reposted by Matthew Clair
NEW (and open access!) in @pnas.org:
We find that Secure Communities triggered “preemptive” immigration enforcement, increasing detentions, transfers, & removals even before formal county activation.
Joint with @cvargas100.bsky.social and @immigrationlab.bsky.social
www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10....
We find that Secure Communities triggered “preemptive” immigration enforcement, increasing detentions, transfers, & removals even before formal county activation.
Joint with @cvargas100.bsky.social and @immigrationlab.bsky.social
www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10....
April 8, 2026 at 2:13 PM
NEW (and open access!) in @pnas.org:
We find that Secure Communities triggered “preemptive” immigration enforcement, increasing detentions, transfers, & removals even before formal county activation.
Joint with @cvargas100.bsky.social and @immigrationlab.bsky.social
www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10....
We find that Secure Communities triggered “preemptive” immigration enforcement, increasing detentions, transfers, & removals even before formal county activation.
Joint with @cvargas100.bsky.social and @immigrationlab.bsky.social
www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10....
Reposted by Matthew Clair
Precisely this.
As Coates wrote about him preciously, “[Trump's] ideology is white supremacy, in all its truculent and sanctimonious power.”
As Coates wrote about him preciously, “[Trump's] ideology is white supremacy, in all its truculent and sanctimonious power.”
The fact that Trump is going to oral arguments to pressure the justices to acquiesce to his attempted nullification of a constitutional amendment and create a stateless class for the first time since the civil war, illustrates what is really at the core of the Trump project and it isn’t tariffs.
April 1, 2026 at 12:46 PM
Precisely this.
As Coates wrote about him preciously, “[Trump's] ideology is white supremacy, in all its truculent and sanctimonious power.”
As Coates wrote about him preciously, “[Trump's] ideology is white supremacy, in all its truculent and sanctimonious power.”