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Dr Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou
Associate Professor in Sociology
IOE - Social Research Institute
UCL Institute of Education
- Joined UCL
- 11th Jan 2017
Research summary
My research spans social and political theory, political and economic sociology, and social movements studies. My projects broadly explore the rise of new social imaginaries and technologies of resistance under conditions of radical uncertainty. My first monograph, SPECULATIVE COMMUNITIES: LIVING WITH UNCERTAINTY IN A FINANCIALIZED WORLD (University of Chicago Press, 2022) examines the ways in which speculation has moved beyond financial markets to shape fundamental aspects of our social, political, and even intimate lives. I am currently working on a second book project: an intellectual history of financial distortion and 'fakeness' in 20th century capitalism.
My articles, essays and reviews have appeared in international outlets including: British Journal of Sociology, Sociological Review, Sociology, Human Relations, Organization Studies, Theory Culture and Society, Journal of Cultural Economy, Journal of Social Policy, Public Administration, Cultural Politics, South Atlantic Quarterly, Migration & Society, Sociological Research Online, The Boston Review, Aeon, Public Seminar, Los Angeles Review of Books, Arts of the Working Class, and ROAR Magazine.
Postgraduate supervision
I welcome applications from candidates interested in undertaking PhD research in the intersections of social theory and political economy, particularly in the following areas:
- the sociology of finance & financialisation
- the politics of uncertainty & conspiracy
- capitalism studies, especially Max Weber & Cornelius Castoriadis
- collective movements, activism and direct action
- new nationalisms
- speculative thinking & political imagination
Teaching summary
Power, State and Collective Action, BSc year 3 (Module Leader)
Current PhD students
- Héctor Rios-Jara (Topic: 'Neoliberalism and social conflict - structure and contingency of anti-austerity student protests in England and Chile') 1st Supervisor
- Emily Clark (Topic: 'Basic Income: a technique of neoliberal governance?') 1st Supervisor
- Edward To (Topic: 'The changing role of Hong Kong's bureaucracy') 1st Supervisor
- Yixuan Fan (Topic: 'The new Xenologies of China') 2nd Supervisor
Education
- University of Cambridge
- Doctorate, Doctor of Philosophy | 2013
Biography
I am Associate Professor (Reader) of Sociology at UCL's Social Research Institute, which I joined in January 2017 from King's College London. I have a BSc in Economics, and a PhD in organisational sociology from the University of Cambridge. I am a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy, a member of the American Sociological Association, and an Editor at the British Journal of Sociology.
At UCL I am Director of the BSc Sociology programme, Head of the Sociology & Social Theory Research Group, and I serve on the Steering Committees of the Urban Laboratory and the Institute of Advanced Studies Research Theme 'Growth'.