John Torpey is a scholar of political and social life who approaches things comparatively across time and place. He has long had interests in Germany and Europe, but his interests are broader as well. He moves across the disciplines of sociology, history, and political science.
The paper explores the tale of two 'epicentres’ – metropolitan New York and Lombardy – and se... more The paper explores the tale of two 'epicentres’ – metropolitan New York and Lombardy – and seeks to depict the socio-demographic patterns that characterise the worst cases of infection, hospitalisation, and death during the first six months of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. By drawing upon secondary data concerning sub-territorial units within the two regions – ZIP-code level and counties in New York and municipalities in Italy – the paper compares the characteristics of the two areas in an effort to understand both how they became the original major epicentres and how their experiences of the pandemic differed. We suspected initially that the pandemic in Lombardy was a function of a complex constellation of variables, such as the age of the population, the unexpected emergence of the virus, and features of the local health system. In New York, the pattern seemed to fit a more familiar dynamic, the kind one would expect from the course that most pandemics take: the poor suffer the worst. The paper tries to extend the understanding of the complex and not univocal mix of social variables that can facilitate the spread of a pandemic and make its effects extreme.
This paper addresses how the tech elite has benefited financially from the Coronavirus crisis, as... more This paper addresses how the tech elite has benefited financially from the Coronavirus crisis, as well as how they have sought to give back some of their gains in order to help the broader population. We have gathered data on the stock prices, corporate revenues, and profits of the Big Tech firms and on the incomes and wealth of the tech elite, and we compare these winnings with their philanthropic giving during the pandemic year of 2020. We note that tax policies undergird both the explosion of tech profits and the growth of philanthropic giving in response to the crisis. We find that the winners among the tech elite have benefited dramatically from the pandemic without necessarily donating large amounts of money relative to their wealth. We argue that tax reforms are necessary to ensure that more of the social product comes under the democratic control of the public treasury.
... The alternative to criminology or psychology is not a general theory of society. ... On the c... more ... The alternative to criminology or psychology is not a general theory of society. ... On the contrary: the concentration camp demolished the central concepts of civilization, the ideals of reason, progress, freedom, and understanding. ...
... to be in a state of war were required to have a passport giving a proper ... BIRTH OF THE MOD... more ... to be in a state of war were required to have a passport giving a proper ... BIRTH OF THE MODERN PASSPORT SYSTEM 263 tation in the poorly paid and worse-fed infantry of ... on December 15, 1915, re-quiring all persons leaving the United States for a foreign country to have a ...
List of figures List of tables Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Naming, categorizing, periodizing ... more List of figures List of tables Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Naming, categorizing, periodizing 2. Clarification of concepts 3. Demographics of production and reproduction 4. State strategies and kinship 5. Victimization, political reconstruction, and kinship transformations in East Berlin: generation I 6. Sentimentalization, fear, and alternate domestic form in East Berlin: generation II 7. Hausfrauenehe and kinship restoration in West Berlin: generation I 8. Politicized kinship in West Berlin: generation II 9. Marriage, family, nation Postscript Notes References Index.
The emergence of a new tech elite in Silicon Valley and beyond raises questions about the economi... more The emergence of a new tech elite in Silicon Valley and beyond raises questions about the economic reach, political influence, and social importance of this group. How do these inordinately influential people think about the world and about our common future? In this paper, we test a) whether members of the tech elite share a common, meritocratic view of the world, b) whether they have a “mission” for the future, and c) how they view democracy as a political system. Our data set consists of information about the 100 richest people in the tech world, according to Forbes, and rests on their published pronouncements on Twitter, as well as on their statements on the websites of their philanthropic endeavors. Automated “bag-of-words” text and sentiment analyses reveal that the tech elite has a more meritocratic view of the world than the general US Twitter-using population. The tech elite also frequently promise to “make the world a better place,” but they do not differ from other extrem...
The paper explores the tale of two 'epicentres’ – metropolitan New York and Lombardy – and se... more The paper explores the tale of two 'epicentres’ – metropolitan New York and Lombardy – and seeks to depict the socio-demographic patterns that characterise the worst cases of infection, hospitalisation, and death during the first six months of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. By drawing upon secondary data concerning sub-territorial units within the two regions – ZIP-code level and counties in New York and municipalities in Italy – the paper compares the characteristics of the two areas in an effort to understand both how they became the original major epicentres and how their experiences of the pandemic differed. We suspected initially that the pandemic in Lombardy was a function of a complex constellation of variables, such as the age of the population, the unexpected emergence of the virus, and features of the local health system. In New York, the pattern seemed to fit a more familiar dynamic, the kind one would expect from the course that most pandemics take: the poor suffer the worst. The paper tries to extend the understanding of the complex and not univocal mix of social variables that can facilitate the spread of a pandemic and make its effects extreme.
This paper addresses how the tech elite has benefited financially from the Coronavirus crisis, as... more This paper addresses how the tech elite has benefited financially from the Coronavirus crisis, as well as how they have sought to give back some of their gains in order to help the broader population. We have gathered data on the stock prices, corporate revenues, and profits of the Big Tech firms and on the incomes and wealth of the tech elite, and we compare these winnings with their philanthropic giving during the pandemic year of 2020. We note that tax policies undergird both the explosion of tech profits and the growth of philanthropic giving in response to the crisis. We find that the winners among the tech elite have benefited dramatically from the pandemic without necessarily donating large amounts of money relative to their wealth. We argue that tax reforms are necessary to ensure that more of the social product comes under the democratic control of the public treasury.
... The alternative to criminology or psychology is not a general theory of society. ... On the c... more ... The alternative to criminology or psychology is not a general theory of society. ... On the contrary: the concentration camp demolished the central concepts of civilization, the ideals of reason, progress, freedom, and understanding. ...
... to be in a state of war were required to have a passport giving a proper ... BIRTH OF THE MOD... more ... to be in a state of war were required to have a passport giving a proper ... BIRTH OF THE MODERN PASSPORT SYSTEM 263 tation in the poorly paid and worse-fed infantry of ... on December 15, 1915, re-quiring all persons leaving the United States for a foreign country to have a ...
List of figures List of tables Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Naming, categorizing, periodizing ... more List of figures List of tables Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Naming, categorizing, periodizing 2. Clarification of concepts 3. Demographics of production and reproduction 4. State strategies and kinship 5. Victimization, political reconstruction, and kinship transformations in East Berlin: generation I 6. Sentimentalization, fear, and alternate domestic form in East Berlin: generation II 7. Hausfrauenehe and kinship restoration in West Berlin: generation I 8. Politicized kinship in West Berlin: generation II 9. Marriage, family, nation Postscript Notes References Index.
The emergence of a new tech elite in Silicon Valley and beyond raises questions about the economi... more The emergence of a new tech elite in Silicon Valley and beyond raises questions about the economic reach, political influence, and social importance of this group. How do these inordinately influential people think about the world and about our common future? In this paper, we test a) whether members of the tech elite share a common, meritocratic view of the world, b) whether they have a “mission” for the future, and c) how they view democracy as a political system. Our data set consists of information about the 100 richest people in the tech world, according to Forbes, and rests on their published pronouncements on Twitter, as well as on their statements on the websites of their philanthropic endeavors. Automated “bag-of-words” text and sentiment analyses reveal that the tech elite has a more meritocratic view of the world than the general US Twitter-using population. The tech elite also frequently promise to “make the world a better place,” but they do not differ from other extrem...
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