Kieran Healy
Biographic Data
| ID | 91246 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kieran Healy |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kieran |
| FAMILY NAME | Healy |
| SIGNATURE | HEALY K |
| AFFILIATIONS | Duke University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9114-981X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 688 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1952 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
Tales of light and darkness: A response to comments on The Ordinal Society
Symposium on The Ordinal Society
The Ordinal Society
"Nearly every aspect of our lives is measured, ranked, and turned into data that computers use to make predictions about our trustworthiness, purchasing power, even political views. The Ordinal Society shows how these predictions structure life chances, producing a hollow morality that recycles familiar structures of social advantage into merit."
Visualizing the Baby Boom
I provide a tiled visualization of average monthly birth rates between 1938 and 1991 for the United States and England and Wales. Ideas about demographic “generations” such as Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials are in widespread use in popular discussions of social change, often quite fancifully. The visualization makes apparent the sheer scale of the U.S. Baby Boom in comparison to other alleged generations
Data Visualization: A Practical Introduction
"This book provides students and researchers a hands-on introduction to the principles and practice of data visualization. It explains what makes some graphs succeed while others fail, how to make high-quality figures from data using powerful and reproducible methods, and how to think about data visualization in an honest and effective way. Data visualization builds the reader's expertise in ggplot2, a versatile visualization library for the R pr…
Public Sociology in the Age of Social Media
I informally examine how the idea of public sociology has been affected by the rise of social media. New social media platforms disintermediate communication, make people more visible, and encourage public life to be measured. They tend to move the discipline from a situation where some people self-consciously do “public sociology” to one where more sociologists unselfconsciously do sociology in public. I discuss the character of such “latently p…
By the Numbers - Wendy Espeland and Michael Sauder, Engines of Anxiety: Academic Rankings, Reputation, and Accountability (New York, Russell Sage, 2016)
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Fuck Nuance
Nuance is not a virtue of good sociological theory. Although often demanded and superficially attractive, nuance inhibits the abstraction on which good theory depends. I describe three 'nuance traps' common in sociology and show why they should be avoided on grounds of principle, aesthetics, and strategy. The argument is made without prejudice to the substantive heterogeneity of the discipline
Seeing like a market
What do markets see when they look at people? Information dragnets increasingly yield huge quantities of individual-level data, which are analyzed to sort and slot people into categories of taste, riskiness or worth. These tools deepen the reach of the market and define new strategies of profit-making. We present a new theoretical framework for understanding their development. We argue that (a) modern organizations follow an institutional data im…
The Performativity of Networks
The "performativity thesis" is the claim that parts of contemporary economics and finance, when carried out into the world by professionals and popularizers, reformat and reorganize the phenomena they purport to describe, in ways that bring the world into line with theory. Practical technologies, calculative devices and portable algorithms give actors tools to implement particular models of action. I argue that social network analysis is performa…
Data Visualization in Sociology
Visualizing data is central to social scientific work. Despite a promising early beginning, sociology has lagged in the use of visual tools. We review the history and current state of visualization in sociology. Using examples throughout, we discuss recent developments in ways of seeing raw data and presenting the results of statistical modeling. We make a general distinction between those methods and tools designed to help explore data sets and …
Economic Sociology
The paper presents a study of the motivation for childbearing in contemporary Russia.Grounded theory techniques were used in the research; 80 biographical interviews were collected.The author gives an explication of «responsibility» as a category used by the respondents to conceptualize childbearing.It is institutions of health care that keep «responsibility» in the discoursive practices and direct reproductive motivation
A Wealth of Notions
Moral Views of Market Society
Upon what kind of moral order does capitalism rest? Conversely, does the market give rise to a distinctive set of beliefs, habits, and social bonds? These questions are certainly as old as social science itself. In this review, we evaluate how today's scholarship approaches the relationship between markets and the moral order. We begin with Hirschman's characterization of the three rival views of the market as civilizing, destructive, or feeble i…
Last Best Gifts: Altruism and the Market for Human Blood and Organs
Altruism as an Organizational Problem: The Case of Organ Procurement
This article presents a social-organizational approach to explaining empirical variation in rates of altruism. The efforts of organizations are mostly responsible for much of the altruism seen today, and the substance of these efforts varies. Although research from social psychology and organizational studies suggests that altruistic action is sensitive to social context, the link between individual and organizational aspects of altruism has not …
Against Essentialism: A Theory of Culture and Society
What's New for Culture in the New Economy?
Key Words: creative sectorinformation technologyglobalizationcreative class Additional informationNotes on contributorsKieran HealyKieran Healy is an assistant professor in the sociology department at the University of Arizona.
Digital Technology and Cultural Goods
Embedded Altruism: Blood Collection Regimes and the European Union's Donor Population
Blood donation is often cited as a perfect example of altruism. But blood must be collected as well as donated, and the organizational basis of the blood supply has been largely neglected. This article is a comparative study of blood collection regimes in Europe. Regimes are found to affect donation rates and donor profiles. When the Red Cross collects blood, donation is tied to religious activity and other volunteering, unlike state and blood ba…
The emergence of HIV in the U.S. blood supply: Organizations, obligations, and the management of uncertainty
Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture and Structure
1. Paradigms and pragmatism: comparative politics during the past decade Mark I. Lichbach and Alan S. Zuckerman 2. Thinking and working: discovery, explanation, and evidence in comparative politics Mark Irving Lichbach 3. Advancing explanation in comparative politics: social mechanisms, endogenous processes, and empirical rigor Alan S. Zuckerman 4. Strong theory, complex history: structure and configuration in comparative politics revisited Ira K…
Explaining the OECD Wage Slowdown Recession or Labour Decline
Wage growth slowed significantly in OECD countries in the 1980s and 1990s. Market explanations trace the wage slowdown to a recession characterized by inflationary shocks, high unemployment, and slow productivity growth. Institutional accounts focus on the effects of union density, collective bargaining centralization, and labour government. Analysis of time series from 18 countries for 1966 to 1992 yields some evidence for both theories between …
Conceptualising Constraint: Mouzelis, Archer and the Concept of Social Structure
This paper outlines and evaluates recent contributions by Nicos Mouzelis and Margaret Archer to the structure-agency debate. Mouzelis offers an internal reconstruction of Giddens's structuration theory; Archer an external alternative. I show that, although representing an advance on Giddens's position, Mouzelis's account fails because he relies on the former's definition of structure as comprising rules and resources. I then examine Archer's solu…
Investment in Empire: British Railway and Steam Shipping Enterprise in India, 1825-1849 . Daniel Thorner
Moral Views of Market Society
Upon what kind of moral order does capitalism rest? Conversely, does the market give rise to a distinctive set of beliefs, habits, and social bonds? These questions are certainly as old as social science itself. In this review, we evaluate how today's scholarship approaches the relationship between markets and the moral order. We begin with Hirschman's characterization of the three rival views of the market as civilizing, destructive, or feeble i…
Seeing like a market
What do markets see when they look at people? Information dragnets increasingly yield huge quantities of individual-level data, which are analyzed to sort and slot people into categories of taste, riskiness or worth. These tools deepen the reach of the market and define new strategies of profit-making. We present a new theoretical framework for understanding their development. We argue that (a) modern organizations follow an institutional data im…
Fuck Nuance
Nuance is not a virtue of good sociological theory. Although often demanded and superficially attractive, nuance inhibits the abstraction on which good theory depends. I describe three 'nuance traps' common in sociology and show why they should be avoided on grounds of principle, aesthetics, and strategy. The argument is made without prejudice to the substantive heterogeneity of the discipline
Altruism as an Organizational Problem: The Case of Organ Procurement
This article presents a social-organizational approach to explaining empirical variation in rates of altruism. The efforts of organizations are mostly responsible for much of the altruism seen today, and the substance of these efforts varies. Although research from social psychology and organizational studies suggests that altruistic action is sensitive to social context, the link between individual and organizational aspects of altruism has not …
Data Visualization in Sociology
Visualizing data is central to social scientific work. Despite a promising early beginning, sociology has lagged in the use of visual tools. We review the history and current state of visualization in sociology. Using examples throughout, we discuss recent developments in ways of seeing raw data and presenting the results of statistical modeling. We make a general distinction between those methods and tools designed to help explore data sets and …
Embedded Altruism: Blood Collection Regimes and the European Union's Donor Population
Blood donation is often cited as a perfect example of altruism. But blood must be collected as well as donated, and the organizational basis of the blood supply has been largely neglected. This article is a comparative study of blood collection regimes in Europe. Regimes are found to affect donation rates and donor profiles. When the Red Cross collects blood, donation is tied to religious activity and other volunteering, unlike state and blood ba…
Conceptualising Constraint: Mouzelis, Archer and the Concept of Social Structure
This paper outlines and evaluates recent contributions by Nicos Mouzelis and Margaret Archer to the structure-agency debate. Mouzelis offers an internal reconstruction of Giddens's structuration theory; Archer an external alternative. I show that, although representing an advance on Giddens's position, Mouzelis's account fails because he relies on the former's definition of structure as comprising rules and resources. I then examine Archer's solu…
Explaining the OECD Wage Slowdown Recession or Labour Decline
Wage growth slowed significantly in OECD countries in the 1980s and 1990s. Market explanations trace the wage slowdown to a recession characterized by inflationary shocks, high unemployment, and slow productivity growth. Institutional accounts focus on the effects of union density, collective bargaining centralization, and labour government. Analysis of time series from 18 countries for 1966 to 1992 yields some evidence for both theories between …
Public Sociology in the Age of Social Media
I informally examine how the idea of public sociology has been affected by the rise of social media. New social media platforms disintermediate communication, make people more visible, and encourage public life to be measured. They tend to move the discipline from a situation where some people self-consciously do “public sociology” to one where more sociologists unselfconsciously do sociology in public. I discuss the character of such “latently p…
The Performativity of Networks
The "performativity thesis" is the claim that parts of contemporary economics and finance, when carried out into the world by professionals and popularizers, reformat and reorganize the phenomena they purport to describe, in ways that bring the world into line with theory. Practical technologies, calculative devices and portable algorithms give actors tools to implement particular models of action. I argue that social network analysis is performa…
Digital Technology and Cultural Goods
The emergence of HIV in the U.S. blood supply: Organizations, obligations, and the management of uncertainty
By the Numbers - Wendy Espeland and Michael Sauder, Engines of Anxiety: Academic Rankings, Reputation, and Accountability (New York, Russell Sage, 2016)
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Tales of light and darkness: A response to comments on The Ordinal Society
A Wealth of Notions
Against Essentialism: A Theory of Culture and Society
Investment in Empire: British Railway and Steam Shipping Enterprise in India, 1825-1849 . Daniel Thorner
Conceptualising Constraint: Mouzelis, Archer and the Concept of Social Structure
This paper outlines and evaluates recent contributions by Nicos Mouzelis and Margaret Archer to the structure-agency debate. Mouzelis offers an internal reconstruction of Giddens's structuration theory; Archer an external alternative. I show that, although representing an advance on Giddens's position, Mouzelis's account fails because he relies on the former's definition of structure as comprising rules and resources. I then examine Archer's solu…
The emergence of HIV in the U.S. blood supply: Organizations, obligations, and the management of uncertainty
Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture and Structure
1. Paradigms and pragmatism: comparative politics during the past decade Mark I. Lichbach and Alan S. Zuckerman 2. Thinking and working: discovery, explanation, and evidence in comparative politics Mark Irving Lichbach 3. Advancing explanation in comparative politics: social mechanisms, endogenous processes, and empirical rigor Alan S. Zuckerman 4. Strong theory, complex history: structure and configuration in comparative politics revisited Ira K…
Explaining the OECD Wage Slowdown Recession or Labour Decline
Wage growth slowed significantly in OECD countries in the 1980s and 1990s. Market explanations trace the wage slowdown to a recession characterized by inflationary shocks, high unemployment, and slow productivity growth. Institutional accounts focus on the effects of union density, collective bargaining centralization, and labour government. Analysis of time series from 18 countries for 1966 to 1992 yields some evidence for both theories between …
Embedded Altruism: Blood Collection Regimes and the European Union's Donor Population
Blood donation is often cited as a perfect example of altruism. But blood must be collected as well as donated, and the organizational basis of the blood supply has been largely neglected. This article is a comparative study of blood collection regimes in Europe. Regimes are found to affect donation rates and donor profiles. When the Red Cross collects blood, donation is tied to religious activity and other volunteering, unlike state and blood ba…
What's New for Culture in the New Economy?
Key Words: creative sectorinformation technologyglobalizationcreative class Additional informationNotes on contributorsKieran HealyKieran Healy is an assistant professor in the sociology department at the University of Arizona.
Digital Technology and Cultural Goods
Against Essentialism: A Theory of Culture and Society
Altruism as an Organizational Problem: The Case of Organ Procurement
This article presents a social-organizational approach to explaining empirical variation in rates of altruism. The efforts of organizations are mostly responsible for much of the altruism seen today, and the substance of these efforts varies. Although research from social psychology and organizational studies suggests that altruistic action is sensitive to social context, the link between individual and organizational aspects of altruism has not …
Last Best Gifts: Altruism and the Market for Human Blood and Organs
A Wealth of Notions
Moral Views of Market Society
Upon what kind of moral order does capitalism rest? Conversely, does the market give rise to a distinctive set of beliefs, habits, and social bonds? These questions are certainly as old as social science itself. In this review, we evaluate how today's scholarship approaches the relationship between markets and the moral order. We begin with Hirschman's characterization of the three rival views of the market as civilizing, destructive, or feeble i…
Economic Sociology
The paper presents a study of the motivation for childbearing in contemporary Russia.Grounded theory techniques were used in the research; 80 biographical interviews were collected.The author gives an explication of «responsibility» as a category used by the respondents to conceptualize childbearing.It is institutions of health care that keep «responsibility» in the discoursive practices and direct reproductive motivation
Data Visualization in Sociology
Visualizing data is central to social scientific work. Despite a promising early beginning, sociology has lagged in the use of visual tools. We review the history and current state of visualization in sociology. Using examples throughout, we discuss recent developments in ways of seeing raw data and presenting the results of statistical modeling. We make a general distinction between those methods and tools designed to help explore data sets and …
The Performativity of Networks
The "performativity thesis" is the claim that parts of contemporary economics and finance, when carried out into the world by professionals and popularizers, reformat and reorganize the phenomena they purport to describe, in ways that bring the world into line with theory. Practical technologies, calculative devices and portable algorithms give actors tools to implement particular models of action. I argue that social network analysis is performa…
Seeing like a market
What do markets see when they look at people? Information dragnets increasingly yield huge quantities of individual-level data, which are analyzed to sort and slot people into categories of taste, riskiness or worth. These tools deepen the reach of the market and define new strategies of profit-making. We present a new theoretical framework for understanding their development. We argue that (a) modern organizations follow an institutional data im…
Public Sociology in the Age of Social Media
I informally examine how the idea of public sociology has been affected by the rise of social media. New social media platforms disintermediate communication, make people more visible, and encourage public life to be measured. They tend to move the discipline from a situation where some people self-consciously do “public sociology” to one where more sociologists unselfconsciously do sociology in public. I discuss the character of such “latently p…
By the Numbers - Wendy Espeland and Michael Sauder, Engines of Anxiety: Academic Rankings, Reputation, and Accountability (New York, Russell Sage, 2016)
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Fuck Nuance
Nuance is not a virtue of good sociological theory. Although often demanded and superficially attractive, nuance inhibits the abstraction on which good theory depends. I describe three 'nuance traps' common in sociology and show why they should be avoided on grounds of principle, aesthetics, and strategy. The argument is made without prejudice to the substantive heterogeneity of the discipline
Visualizing the Baby Boom
I provide a tiled visualization of average monthly birth rates between 1938 and 1991 for the United States and England and Wales. Ideas about demographic “generations” such as Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials are in widespread use in popular discussions of social change, often quite fancifully. The visualization makes apparent the sheer scale of the U.S. Baby Boom in comparison to other alleged generations
Data Visualization: A Practical Introduction
"This book provides students and researchers a hands-on introduction to the principles and practice of data visualization. It explains what makes some graphs succeed while others fail, how to make high-quality figures from data using powerful and reproducible methods, and how to think about data visualization in an honest and effective way. Data visualization builds the reader's expertise in ggplot2, a versatile visualization library for the R pr…
The Ordinal Society
"Nearly every aspect of our lives is measured, ranked, and turned into data that computers use to make predictions about our trustworthiness, purchasing power, even political views. The Ordinal Society shows how these predictions structure life chances, producing a hollow morality that recycles familiar structures of social advantage into merit."
Tales of light and darkness: A response to comments on The Ordinal Society
Symposium on The Ordinal Society
Sociology (17 works) · Political science (11 works) · Economics (8 works) · Law (8 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Epistemology (5 works) · Management and Organizational Studies (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Economic Theory and Institutions (4 works) · Politics (4 works)