Roi Livne

Roi Livne is an Associate Professor and Department Associate Chair in the Department of Sociology at the University of Michigan's College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. A social science scholar, his research is situated at the intersection of the new sociology of morality, the sociology of culture, science and technology studies, medical sociology, and economic sociology. He examines the relationship between moral and material life under capitalism, particularly in the U.S. healthcare economy, which accounts for 18 percent of the country's GDP. Employing a variant of the extended-case method, Livne uses micro- and meso-level ethnographic observations to illuminate how structural forces manifest in day-to-day life and shape intimate self-conceptions. His work addresses the political and social consequences of economic knowledge in policymaking, social inequalities in science and expertise, the moral economy of pricing in U.S. healthcare, COVID's sociological significance, and limits in modernity.

Livne received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley in 2016, an M.A. from Berkeley in 2010, an M.A. in Sociology and Anthropology from the University of Haifa in 2007, and a B.A. in Sociology, Anthropology, and Economics from Tel Aviv University in 2003. He joined Michigan as Assistant Professor in 2016, advanced to Associate Professor in 2022, and assumed the Associate Chair role in 2023. He affiliates with the Institute for Healthcare Policy & Innovation. Livne's book Values at the End of Life: The Logic of Palliative Care (Harvard University Press, 2019) documents the rise of hospice and palliative care amid financial, emotional, and moral tensions in end-of-life decisions; it earned the Mary Douglas Award for Best Book in the Sociology of Culture (American Sociological Association, 2020), the Sociology of Aging and Life Section Best Publication Award (2020), and an Honorable Mention for the Section on Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity Best Book Award (2020). Notable articles include “Economies of Dying: The Moralization of Economic Scarcity in U.S. Hospice Care” (American Sociological Review, 2014; Herbert Blumer Prize, Ronald Burt Award Honorable Mention), “Toward a Sociology of Finitude: Life, Death, and the Question of Limits” (Theory and Society, 2021), and “COVID, Economized” (Sociologica, 2021). In 2023, he received the Mark Granovetter Award for Best Article in Economic Sociology. Livne serves as Associate Editor of Theory and Social Inquiry, reviews for leading journals, and leads committees in the American Sociological Association and university programs.

Professional Email: rlivne@umich.edu