(c) Leslie Rodriguez Photography, 2011

I am a sociologist of culture who studies classification systems, specifically the conditions that facilitate the proliferation or contraction of categories into which art works are sorted. In my work I examine the economic, aesthetic, racial, and organizational conditions for category emergence, primarily through the study of genres and sub-genres within American music.

I’m interested in questions like:

• What is the relationship between aesthetic content and social context?
• What are the characteristic forms that musical communities take, and how do they change over time?
• What is the relationship between aesthetic categories and taste?

In addition to my scholarly research, I write a blog called What is the What? I also teach courses on culture (music, art, creative industries), organizations and work, race, and a variety of related topics.

The tabs above will help you to navigate across pages. My academic resume can be found under “C.V.” I have created a web page for my forthcoming book Banding Together. You may wish to read about my collaborative project with composer Gabriela Lena Frank and ALIAS chamber ensemble under “GLF project.” Under “SNAAP” you will find a description of this large research project on careers in the arts. The “Press” tab takes you to a compendium of mentions of my ideas and research in the press, save that which applies to one of the other tabs.