Oral history interview with Shamus Khan, 2015

Biographical Note

Shamus Khan is a professor in the Department of Sociology at Columbia University. His work is primarily within the areas of cultural sociology and stratification, with a strong focus on elites. He is the author of Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul's School (Princeton 2011); The Practice of Research (Oxford 2013, with Dana Fisher), and as of 2015 is completing Exceptional: The Astors, Elite New York, and the Story of American Inequality. With Dorian Warren, he is the director of a Russell Sage Foundation working group on "The Political Influence of Economic Elites"; He also serves as the principal investigator on a Andrew W. Mellon Foundation project using the New York Philharmonic archives to uncover the character of their subscribers from the 1870s-present. He also writes about gender theory, deliberative politics, and research methodology. He has served as an opinion columnist for Time magazine and continues to write about sociology in the popular press

Scope and Contents

Shamus Khan begins this interview by describing his childhood and early academic achievements at St. Paul's School, Haverford College, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Khan recalls stories of his parents' immigration process and briefly reflects on how his undergraduate experience was impacted by his sexuality. Khan discusses the origins of his interest in racial inequality in the classroom and the apprehensive reactions of his colleagues at UW-Madison. After reading the work of Tamara R. Piety, Khan began examining his experience at St. Paul's School. Only a few chapters into his dissertation, Khan joined the faculty of Columbia. He cites limited access to music, art, and a larger queer community as motivating factors for his move to New York. Khan discusses his first book, The Production of Privilege, and acknowledges the role of the 2008 Recession and the Occupy Wall Street movement in its success. Additionally, Khan acknowledges the role of his family's wealth in securing his ability to take academic risks, such as his focus on studying the wealthy. Khan goes on to describe his position as the Chair of the Sociology Climate Committee, which is devoted to issues of social difference in the classroom. In the second section of this interview, Khan discusses sexual assault on campus and the activism surrounding it. He talks about the relationships amongst the administration, the faculty, and student activists, especially those in the organization No Red Tape. Khan goes in depth with his discussion of campus politics and how to change the system. He explains the filing of the Title IX complaint against Columbia University and its repercussions; trigger warnings; and Emma Sulkowicz's Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight). Khan also discusses the Sociology department's lack of response to the 2014 racial unrest in Ferguson, Missouri. Khan concludes the interview by discussing his involvement in IRWGS and SHIFT (Sexual Health Initiative to Foster Transformation)

Subjects

• College teachers--Interviews.
• College teachers--Political activity.
• Columbia University. Institute for Research on Women and Gender.
• Dziedzic, Sarah, interviewer.
• Gay college students--United States.
• Interviews.
• Khan, Shamus, 1978---Interviews.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Rape in universities and colleges--United States.
• Sociology--Study and teaching.
• St. Paul's School (Concord, N.H.)--History.
• United States--Race relations--History--21st century.
• University of Wisconsin--Madison.

Access Conditions

Copyright by Shamus Khan, 2015