Sarah Quinn is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Washington, an affiliate faculty of Urban@UW, and a current Member of the Institute for Advanced Study. She uses historical research and case studies to investigate how political institutions affect the development of financial organizations and technologies. She also studies processes of moralization and classification. These studies are united by her abiding interest in how social categories interact with systems of power.
In American Bonds: How Credit Markets Shaped a Nation (Princeton University Press, 2019), Quinn investigates the effect of political institutions on mortgage markets. Drawing from a mix of original archival research and secondary sources, the study shows how U.S. lawmakers have repeatedly turned to land, housing, and credit in an elusive search for widespread economic opportunity that comes without the attendant costs of political conflict, financial risk, or large-scale redistribution.
Research/Teaching Areas: Culture, Economic Sociology, Historical Sociology, Institutions, Organizations, Political Economy, Political Sociology, Sociological Theory
