Doron Shiffer-Sebba

I am an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Northwestern University and a Faculty Affiliate at Northwestern’s Institute for Policy Research (IPR).

I primarily research the intersection of extended families and economic inequality. My central ethnographic project investigates how elite wealthy families in the United States organize their wealth and family. I focus on the role of family offices as brokers between family members, legal entities, and the assets that comprise elite wealth. I am currently working on a book manuscript under contract with the University of Chicago Press.

My central quantitative project examines the role of extended families in economic inequality in the broader U.S. population. Using the PSID, I analyze how far-flung familial ties shape children’s outcomes and how large family units structure inequality in the United States.

Finally, I also develop novel computational methods to analyze how people use their bodies in social interaction. These techniques rely on computer vision and machine learning to quantify human bodies in real social settings. The goal of this project is to determine the causal role of body language beyond other sociodemographic characteristics.