Robert Dorschel
@robertdorschel.bsky.social
Assistant Professor in Digital Sociology @ University of Cambridge; researching tech workers, digital economy, class, and culture
https://research.sociology.cam.ac.uk/profile/dr-robert-dorschel
https://research.sociology.cam.ac.uk/profile/dr-robert-dorschel
We are hiring 🚨 The Cambridge Department of Sociology @camsociology.bsky.social, together with the Department of the History and Philosophy of Science, is looking for an Assistant Professor in the Social Studies of Medicine. It's a unique joint post! More details here: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...
Assistant Professor Social Studies of Medicine
This is a joint post 65% Sociology, 35% HPS. The Departments of Sociology and History and Philosophy of Science are looking to recruit an Assistant Professor in the Social Studies of Medicine in a
www.cam.ac.uk
October 17, 2025 at 5:05 PM
We are hiring 🚨 The Cambridge Department of Sociology @camsociology.bsky.social, together with the Department of the History and Philosophy of Science, is looking for an Assistant Professor in the Social Studies of Medicine. It's a unique joint post! More details here: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...
Deutschland droht eine Verwandlung von einer Leistungsgesellschaft hin zu einer Erfolgsgesellschaft. Mein Plädoyer für eine Vermögenssteuer anstelle immer höherer Abgaben auf Arbeitseinkommen @faznet.bsky.social
www.faz.net/aktuell/feui...
www.faz.net/aktuell/feui...
Zukunft des Wohlfahrtsstaats: Warum wir eine Vermögenssteuer brauchen
Die Politik versucht, den Wohlfahrtsstaat durch höhere Abgaben auf Einkommen zu retten. Dabei wird das meiste Vermögen durch Aktien und Immobilien generiert – und sollte entsprechend besteuert werden....
www.faz.net
August 13, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Deutschland droht eine Verwandlung von einer Leistungsgesellschaft hin zu einer Erfolgsgesellschaft. Mein Plädoyer für eine Vermögenssteuer anstelle immer höherer Abgaben auf Arbeitseinkommen @faznet.bsky.social
www.faz.net/aktuell/feui...
www.faz.net/aktuell/feui...
Just finished reviewing the final proofs of my forthcoming book on #techworkers. It sheds light on the high-paid professionals in the tech industry. The book is coming out open-access with @mitpress.bsky.social this December. Very excited about it!
July 31, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Just finished reviewing the final proofs of my forthcoming book on #techworkers. It sheds light on the high-paid professionals in the tech industry. The book is coming out open-access with @mitpress.bsky.social this December. Very excited about it!
Reposted by Robert Dorschel
The anthropomorphising of AI and ourselves.
"That is the real risk: not that machines become people, but that we forget—we were never what we think we are."
hedgehogreview.com/web-features...
"That is the real risk: not that machines become people, but that we forget—we were never what we think we are."
hedgehogreview.com/web-features...
The Self That Never Was
We may be approaching a time when the illusion of selfhood is strengthened, not weakened, because we are surrounded by machines enacting it.
hedgehogreview.com
July 2, 2025 at 9:39 AM
The anthropomorphising of AI and ourselves.
"That is the real risk: not that machines become people, but that we forget—we were never what we think we are."
hedgehogreview.com/web-features...
"That is the real risk: not that machines become people, but that we forget—we were never what we think we are."
hedgehogreview.com/web-features...
Our department is hiring for this prestigious professorship! Applications are welcome from scholars working in any area of the discipline. The position offers a competitive salary.
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNI980/t... @camsociology.bsky.social
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNI980/t... @camsociology.bsky.social
The Professorship of Sociology (1985) at University of Cambridge
Apply for the The Professorship of Sociology (1985) role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.
www.jobs.ac.uk
June 18, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Our department is hiring for this prestigious professorship! Applications are welcome from scholars working in any area of the discipline. The position offers a competitive salary.
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNI980/t... @camsociology.bsky.social
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNI980/t... @camsociology.bsky.social
Happy to see this new article published! Written with Anne-Mette Hermans, the article analyzes and theorizes the rise of the cosmetic industry through the novel theoretical framework of enrichment
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Body, beauty, enrichment: Theorizing the rise of the cosmetic industry through Boltanski and Esquerre's framework of enrichment
This article enquires into the cosmetic procedures industry, a growing economic field which offers individuals a variety of professional services to aesthetically enhance their bodies. Expanding th...
www.tandfonline.com
June 12, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Happy to see this new article published! Written with Anne-Mette Hermans, the article analyzes and theorizes the rise of the cosmetic industry through the novel theoretical framework of enrichment
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Robert Dorschel
Sociology is mostly about choosing whether something is “structured”, “contingent”, or “performed”
June 10, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Sociology is mostly about choosing whether something is “structured”, “contingent”, or “performed”
Reposted by Robert Dorschel
Silicon Valley is run by people who genuinely think the world as we know it is going to end in the next few decades. Many also WANT this to happen: they WANT the biological world to be replaced by a new digital world. They WANT "posthumans" to take the place of humans. A 🧵:
April 25, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Silicon Valley is run by people who genuinely think the world as we know it is going to end in the next few decades. Many also WANT this to happen: they WANT the biological world to be replaced by a new digital world. They WANT "posthumans" to take the place of humans. A 🧵:
Excited to be in Manchester and to attend the annual conference of the British Sociological Association #britsoc25 @bsasocrel.bsky.social
At 3.30pm, I‘ll be giving a talk on the tech elite and how they entrepreneur legitimacy
At 3.30pm, I‘ll be giving a talk on the tech elite and how they entrepreneur legitimacy
April 23, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Excited to be in Manchester and to attend the annual conference of the British Sociological Association #britsoc25 @bsasocrel.bsky.social
At 3.30pm, I‘ll be giving a talk on the tech elite and how they entrepreneur legitimacy
At 3.30pm, I‘ll be giving a talk on the tech elite and how they entrepreneur legitimacy
Interesting article on the upper-middle-class and how it has managed to end up under massive pressure in the post-liberal conjuncture
www.theideasletter.org/essay/the-wa...
www.theideasletter.org/essay/the-wa...
The War on the Liberal Class - The Ideas Letter
Liberalism is under existential threat not only ideologically but materially, as the traditional liberal “New Class”—comprising professionals in academia, media, government, and culture—is systematica...
www.theideasletter.org
April 18, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Interesting article on the upper-middle-class and how it has managed to end up under massive pressure in the post-liberal conjuncture
www.theideasletter.org/essay/the-wa...
www.theideasletter.org/essay/the-wa...
Reposted by Robert Dorschel
To what extent can tech workers mobilize as part of the broader working class?
This is the question I take up in my new paper "Solidarity across the platform: mobilizing high-wage and low-wage workers in the tech sector" -- just out in Work in the Global Economy
1/n
This is the question I take up in my new paper "Solidarity across the platform: mobilizing high-wage and low-wage workers in the tech sector" -- just out in Work in the Global Economy
1/n
April 14, 2025 at 2:40 PM
To what extent can tech workers mobilize as part of the broader working class?
This is the question I take up in my new paper "Solidarity across the platform: mobilizing high-wage and low-wage workers in the tech sector" -- just out in Work in the Global Economy
1/n
This is the question I take up in my new paper "Solidarity across the platform: mobilizing high-wage and low-wage workers in the tech sector" -- just out in Work in the Global Economy
1/n
Reposted by Robert Dorschel
Very happy to say that my article on Musk and Thiel's political theory of the founder (drawing on Lacan on the way) is out with @jcultecon.bsky.social! Strange to see it out there with all what happened in the last year, but it will hopefully make it a good read
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
‘Founder as Victim, Founder as God’: Peter Thiel, Elon Musk and the two bodies of the entrepreneur
Silicon Valley’s tech moguls have increasing political ambitions, as spectacularly illustrated by Peter Thiel’s and Elon Musk’s involvements in the US 2022 midterm elections and 2024 presidential e...
www.tandfonline.com
April 10, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Very happy to say that my article on Musk and Thiel's political theory of the founder (drawing on Lacan on the way) is out with @jcultecon.bsky.social! Strange to see it out there with all what happened in the last year, but it will hopefully make it a good read
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Robert Dorschel
Thanks a lot to @simonkuper.bsky.social & the @financialtimes.com for this close reading of our research article on the economic elites of 16 countries, and for jump-starting the public discussion about it! The paper @bjsociology.bsky.social is avaisble here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
April 10, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Thanks a lot to @simonkuper.bsky.social & the @financialtimes.com for this close reading of our research article on the economic elites of 16 countries, and for jump-starting the public discussion about it! The paper @bjsociology.bsky.social is avaisble here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Truly fascinating talk by Michèle Lamont today across the issues of recognition, class and social change. Great to have such an inspiring sociologist visiting our department @mlamont.bsky.social @camsociology.bsky.social
April 9, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Truly fascinating talk by Michèle Lamont today across the issues of recognition, class and social change. Great to have such an inspiring sociologist visiting our department @mlamont.bsky.social @camsociology.bsky.social
Reposted by Robert Dorschel
Our blog – LSE Inequalities – covers all aspects of inequalities and dividing lines such as class, race and gender. We just published our 100th post 🎉 – @norawaitkus.bsky.social on wealth inequality from a class perspective #LSEInequalitiesBlog
How to think about wealth inequality from a class perspective
What can class analysis tell us about wealth inequality? Insights from Marx, Weber and Bourdieu can help us think about wealth inequality in a more nuanced way.
buff.ly
April 3, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Our blog – LSE Inequalities – covers all aspects of inequalities and dividing lines such as class, race and gender. We just published our 100th post 🎉 – @norawaitkus.bsky.social on wealth inequality from a class perspective #LSEInequalitiesBlog
Reposted by Robert Dorschel
Just out! Article on "Architectures of #assetization: Legacy infrastructures and the configuration of #datafication in UK #highereducation" w/ @jkom.bsky.social & Sam Sellar in New Media & Society #platforms #edtech #digital #bigtech
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
April 3, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Just out! Article on "Architectures of #assetization: Legacy infrastructures and the configuration of #datafication in UK #highereducation" w/ @jkom.bsky.social & Sam Sellar in New Media & Society #platforms #edtech #digital #bigtech
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Reposted by Robert Dorschel
CfP: Veränderungspioniere und Veränderungserschöpfte. Zur Wahrnehmung sozialen Wandels.
Auf dem Soziologiekongress im September wollen wir uns mit Wahrnehmungen sozialen Wandels beschäftigten. Einreichungen sind bis 30.04. herzlich willkommen!
kongress2025.soziologie.de/fileadmin/us...
Auf dem Soziologiekongress im September wollen wir uns mit Wahrnehmungen sozialen Wandels beschäftigten. Einreichungen sind bis 30.04. herzlich willkommen!
kongress2025.soziologie.de/fileadmin/us...
kongress2025.soziologie.de
March 29, 2025 at 11:00 AM
CfP: Veränderungspioniere und Veränderungserschöpfte. Zur Wahrnehmung sozialen Wandels.
Auf dem Soziologiekongress im September wollen wir uns mit Wahrnehmungen sozialen Wandels beschäftigten. Einreichungen sind bis 30.04. herzlich willkommen!
kongress2025.soziologie.de/fileadmin/us...
Auf dem Soziologiekongress im September wollen wir uns mit Wahrnehmungen sozialen Wandels beschäftigten. Einreichungen sind bis 30.04. herzlich willkommen!
kongress2025.soziologie.de/fileadmin/us...
Reposted by Robert Dorschel
🚨 Publication alert 🚨 my paper on ratings and reviews in the gig economy is out in Ethics and Information Technology. I study the ethics of Airbnb’s rating system and how it coordinates trust & power-relations between workers, consumers and the platform itself.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
March 28, 2025 at 10:20 AM
🚨 Publication alert 🚨 my paper on ratings and reviews in the gig economy is out in Ethics and Information Technology. I study the ethics of Airbnb’s rating system and how it coordinates trust & power-relations between workers, consumers and the platform itself.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Fantastic, multi-faceted special issue on the phenomenon of tech work and the underexplored segment of high-paid workers in digital capitalism @vni.bsky.social #techworkers
www.scienceopen.com/hosted-docum...
www.scienceopen.com/hosted-docum...
Trouble in paradise? : Tech work and its discontents
<p xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" dir="auto" id="d1374469e145">Introducing this special issue, this article gives an overview of recent debates around
tech workers i...
www.scienceopen.com
March 26, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Fantastic, multi-faceted special issue on the phenomenon of tech work and the underexplored segment of high-paid workers in digital capitalism @vni.bsky.social #techworkers
www.scienceopen.com/hosted-docum...
www.scienceopen.com/hosted-docum...
Reposted by Robert Dorschel
(Nearly) new: Global warming as investment climate: green tech and the translation of needs - @robertdorschel.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Global warming as investment climate: green tech and the translation of needs
Climate change is not only altering temperatures but also the very composition of the economic field. So-called ‘green tech firms’ are successfully claiming new jurisdictional task areas related to...
www.tandfonline.com
March 25, 2025 at 1:45 PM
(Nearly) new: Global warming as investment climate: green tech and the translation of needs - @robertdorschel.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Robert Dorschel
Hiring again! Lecturer in Sociology. We're looking for someone strongly anchored in sociology through high-profile contributions, and with the ability to appeal to students and colleagues of various methodological orientations.
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
www.ucl.ac.uk
March 21, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Hiring again! Lecturer in Sociology. We're looking for someone strongly anchored in sociology through high-profile contributions, and with the ability to appeal to students and colleagues of various methodological orientations.
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
Reposted by Robert Dorschel
Assistant Professorship in Digital Humanities and Film and Screen Studies at Cambridge
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMI593/a...
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMI593/a...
Assistant Professorship in Digital Humanities and Film and Screen Studies at University of Cambridge
An opportunity for an academic position as a Assistant Professorship in Digital Humanities and Film and Screen Studies is available, as advertised on jobs.ac.uk. Apply now and explore other academic j...
www.jobs.ac.uk
March 19, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Assistant Professorship in Digital Humanities and Film and Screen Studies at Cambridge
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMI593/a...
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMI593/a...
Reposted by Robert Dorschel
In our recent interdisciplinary research article, @robertdorschel.bsky.social , @tonischuster.bsky.social and I apply an ecological analysis of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on contemporary class theory.
March 13, 2025 at 9:59 AM
In our recent interdisciplinary research article, @robertdorschel.bsky.social , @tonischuster.bsky.social and I apply an ecological analysis of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on contemporary class theory.
New Publication 🚨
Why are contemporary societies increasingly looking to private companies to solve climate change? In my latest article, I analyze the rise of green tech firms and the cultural operations driving this shift. Out now in @jcultecon.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Why are contemporary societies increasingly looking to private companies to solve climate change? In my latest article, I analyze the rise of green tech firms and the cultural operations driving this shift. Out now in @jcultecon.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Global warming as investment climate: green tech and the translation of needs
Climate change is not only altering temperatures but also the very composition of the economic field. So-called ‘green tech firms’ are successfully claiming new jurisdictional task areas related to...
www.tandfonline.com
March 12, 2025 at 8:57 AM
New Publication 🚨
Why are contemporary societies increasingly looking to private companies to solve climate change? In my latest article, I analyze the rise of green tech firms and the cultural operations driving this shift. Out now in @jcultecon.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Why are contemporary societies increasingly looking to private companies to solve climate change? In my latest article, I analyze the rise of green tech firms and the cultural operations driving this shift. Out now in @jcultecon.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....