Prof. Dr. Gabriel Abend
Professor of Sociology
T +41 41 229 55 62 • gabriel.abend@unilu.ch
https://sites.google.com/site/gabend/g
Frohburgstrasse 3, room 3.B08
CV
Gabriel Abend studied political science and history at the Universidad de la República in Montevideo, Uruguay. His education continued in “America,” where he got a PhD in sociology from Northwestern University. Seeing as capitalism wasn’t going to go away any time soon, he decided to sell his labor-power to New York University, first as an Assistant Professor of Sociology, afterward as a tenured Associate Professor of Sociology.
Abend is the recipient of the 2017 Lewis A. Coser Award for “Theoretical” Agenda Setting. His book, Words and Distinctions for the Common Good, came out with Princeton University Press in 2023. It’s a real page-turner—satisfaction guaranteed or your money back.
For more information: https://sites.google.com/site/gabend/g
Research
Research Interests
Sociology of culture
Economic sociology
Comparative-historical sociology
Sociological “theory”
Science and technology studies
Sociology of knowledge
Sociology of morality
Moral philosophy
Philosophy of science
Logic of inquiry
Publications
- Abend, G. (2022). Making Things Possible. Sociological Methods & Research, 51 (1), 68–107.
- Abend, G. (2019). Thick Concepts and Sociological Research. Sociological Theory, 37 (3), 209–233. https://doi.org/10.1177/0735275119869979
- Abend, G. (2019). Moral decisionism and its discontents. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 49 (1), 59–83. https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12191
- Abend, G. (2018). The Limits of Decision and Choice. Theory and Society, 47 (6), 804–841. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-018-09333-1
- Abend, G. (2018). Outline of a Sociology of Decisionism. British Journal of Sociology, 69 (2), 237–264. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12320
- Abend, G. (2018). The Love of Neuroscience: A Sociological Account. Sociological Theory, 36 (1), 88–116. https://doi.org/10.1177/0735275118759697
- Abend, G. (2017). What Are Neural Correlates Neural Correlates of? BioSocieties, 12 (3), 415–438. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41292-016-0019-y
- Abend, G. (2016). How to Tell the History of Business Ethics. Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik, 17 (1), 42–76.
- Abend, G., Petre, C., & Sauder, M. (2013). Styles of Causal Thought: An Empirical Investigation. American Journal of Sociology, 119 (3), 602–654. https://doi.org/10.1086/675892
- Abend, G. (2013). The Origins of Business Ethics in American Universities, 1902-1936. Business Ethics Quarterly, 23 (02), 171–205. https://doi.org/10.5840/beq201323214
- Abend, G. (2012). What the Science of Morality Doesn’t Say about Morality. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 43 (2), 157–200. https://doi.org/10.1177/0048393112440597
- Abend, G. (2011). Thick Concepts and the Moral Brain. European Journal of Sociology, 52 (01), 143–172. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003975611000051
- Abend, G. (2008). The Meaning of ‘Theory’. Sociological Theory, 26 (2), 173–199. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9558.2008.00324.x
- Abend, G. (2008). Two Main Problems in the Sociology of Morality. Theory and Society, 37 (2), 87–125. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-007-9044-y
- Abend, G. (2006). Styles of Sociological Thought: Sociologies, Epistemologies, and the Mexican and U.S. Quests for Truth. Sociological Theory, 24 (1), 1–41. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0735-2751.2006.00262.x