I am a tenured Associate Professor of Sociology at Boston University. A graduate of Harvard University (PhD, 2017), I previously worked at the London School of Economics and the Erasmus University Rotterdam.
My research spans the field of social stratification, economic sociology, culture, and race & ethnicity. I teach classes on inequality and research methods and I consult for NGOs, government, and industry.
Read on or click for my curriculum vitae.
Research
My research contends with why the growing economic gap has left many of us unconcerned.
From Julius Caesar's self-described decisive victory over the Gauls, to the superior ingenuity of David in defeating Goliath, Western culture is rife with stories of individual accomplishment. We celebrate the success of leaders in business, science and sports, and when we do, we tend to attribute the outcome of events to the talents and achievements of (extraordinary) individuals.
In today's unequal world, how we make sense of wealth and poverty similarly depends on the way we understand the causes of events; in particular, whether we consider successes and setbacks to be the result of hard work and ingenuity (or lack thereof) or regard them as the outcome of circumstances not fully within our control. Looking at inequality through the lens of hard work and ingenuity implies a meritocratic worldview where people get what they deserve, or deservingly miss out. An alternative worldview is one that acknowledges the role of structural forces in shaping our lives.
How people make sense of inequality in turn drives their feelings of sympathy and solidarity with fellow citizens, informs their policy attitudes and motivates their political behavior. This, I believe, makes it an important area for research.
My work draws attention to the transformation of the social landscape that has accompanied the rise of inequality. Today, more than at any point in recent history, how much money you make determines where you live and whom you spend your life with. Upper middle class people have their own schools, neighborhoods and social networks, and working class and poor people have theirs.
Growing levels of economic inequality mean that experiences and interactions with people across income, wealth and racial fault lines are becoming increasingly rare. In the absence of contact, people lose sight of one other. Large inequality paradoxically insulates people from seeing the full extent of it. The rich learn to normalize their privilege, while the poor blame themselves for their place at the margins of society.
My scholarship has been published in Social Forces, Social Problems, Socio-Economic Review, European Sociological Review, Sociology of Education, and the Annual Review of Sociology, among other journals. I have also written extensively in my native Dutch.
See publications for the full list of papers and PDFs.
Grants
I have received over $2M in grant funding from national and international organizations such as the Volkswagen Foundation, European Commission, and the Dutch Research Council.
I currently serve as co-principal investigator of the WealthTalks project, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation.
Media
My work has been featured in media outlets in half a dozen languages, including The Guardian, The Washington Post, Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, The Independent, Education Week, The Conversation.
See Press for all media coverage of my work.
Consulting
I provide subject matter expertise to NGOs, governments, and industry. Past clients include BCG Brighthouse, Disney, Amnesty International, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the Governments of Canada and The Netherlands.
I served as a technical consultant on the Emmy nominated Hulu series Paradise.
Teaching
I teach substantive classes on Social Inequality in America and Understanding Meritocracy and foundational courses in Sociological Methods at the undergraduate and graduate level.
I am available to supervise dissertations and student research projects.
Contact
You can contact me at mijs [at] bu.edu,