I am an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to joining UIUC, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Sciences Po - Paris.
My research combines political economy with economic sociology in order to understand how capitalism has changed in recent decades. In particular, I have studied “financialization” and the inequality it generates. These processes are interconnected with the restructuring of firms and global integration. I have also theorized some of these changes through a political-historical account of the 2007-8 financial crisis. With colleagues, I have written on the legal aspects of business power, income precarity, and workplace inequalities.
More recently, I have adapted my research interests to climate change. I argue greenhouse gas emissions originate not so much from economic growth but from social processes like exploitation and austerity.
My research has been published in Critical Historical Studies, Socio-Economic Review, New Political Economy, Economy and Society, International Journal of Comparative Sociology, Sociological Forum, and Sociology Compass.
*My last name is pronounced like the word saner.