Fabien Accominotti

Fabien Accominotti is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, contributing to Social Science scholarship. He earned his Ph.D. in Sociology from Columbia University in 2016, an M.A. in Sociology from Columbia in 2011, and an M.A. in Sociology with distinction from Ecole Normale Supérieure Cachan and Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in 2005. As a Fulbright Fellow, he was a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University from 2006 to 2007. Prior to joining UW-Madison in 2020, Accominotti served as Assistant Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics from 2014 to 2020, affiliated with the International Inequalities Institute and the United States Center. He holds an ongoing appointment as Invited Professor at Medialab, Sciences Po Paris since 2020 and maintains faculty affiliations at UW-Madison's Center for Demography and Ecology and Institute for Research on Poverty.

Accominotti's research intersects cultural sociology, economic sociology, and stratification, focusing on how status hierarchies form, evolve, and perpetuate inequality. His studies examine perceptions of unequal human value in contexts like art markets, music institutions, meritocratic evaluations, and postindustrial occupations. Key works include his forthcoming book Consecrated: Modern Art in Paris between Revolution and Hierarchy (Princeton University Press), which details market institutions' role in creating artistic hierarchies during French modern art's heyday. Prominent publications are “Polyoccupationalism: Expertise Stretch and Status Stretch in the Postindustrial Era” (American Sociological Review, 2023, with Léonie Hénaut and Jennifer Lena), “The Architecture of Status Hierarchies: Variations in Structure and Why They Matter for Inequality” (RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 2022, with Freda Lynn and Michael Sauder), “How Cultural Capital Emerged in Gilded Age America: Musical Purification and Cross-Class Inclusion at the New York Philharmonic” (American Journal of Sociology, 2018, with Shamus Khan and Adam Storer), “Deliberating Inequality: A Blueprint for Studying the Social Formation of Beliefs about Economic Inequality” (Social Justice Research, 2022, with Kate Summers et al.), and “Status Inequality and Status Hierarchies” (L’Année sociologique, 2024). His contributions have garnered the Morton Deutsch Best Article Award (International Society for Justice Research, 2023), Charles Tilly Best Article Award (ASA Comparative-Historical Sociology Section, 2020), Honorable Mention for the ASA Consumers and Consumption Section Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award (2019), and Honored Instructor recognition from UW-Madison Housing (2024). Accominotti has secured grants such as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation award (co-PI, 2012-2015, $175,000) and has developed public datasets on modern art exhibitions and New York Philharmonic subscribers.

Professional Email: accominotti@wisc.edu