Robby Murphy
robbymurphy.bsky.social
Robby Murphy
@robbymurphy.bsky.social
I study power, politics, and inequality. Currently focusing on class inequality as a function of business & finance power.

CUNY Graduate Center Sociology PhD student, teaching @ Brooklyn College. 🌹, 🏳️‍🌈, etc.

StoneCenter.gc.cuny.edu/people/murphy-robert/
Reposted by Robby Murphy
If I had to sum up what I’ve learned from analyzing mountains of election data—and what Mamdani’s campaign exemplified perfectly—it’s this:

Stop moderating. Start energizing.
June 26, 2025 at 12:23 AM
April 25, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Very proud @cuny.edu and my beloved alma mater @reed.edu are prominently featured (though of course signing a letter only scratches the surface of what institutions should do to protect students)
April 25, 2025 at 12:39 AM
The last words of 23-year old journalist Hassan Shabbat. A haunting call to action
April 2, 2025 at 12:22 AM
If you’re at CUNY, check out the Grad Center’s political science student conference in the department lounge 3/28! I’ll be presenting in the American Politics section (as an undercover Sociologist)
March 28, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Spread the word! The organizers select a smaller (but not too small!) of a group which is great for more sustained interaction
March 19, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Reposted by Robby Murphy
It is being reported that hundreds have been killed and injured. People targeted in their homes, tents, and displacement centers, which are being bombed at this very moment in Gaza. WAKE UP!
March 18, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Fav place to get work done
March 16, 2025 at 8:25 PM
The issue isn’t free speech *per se* — one has to consider the degree to which the speech reflects the priorities of those in power versus opposition to injustice, hegemonic vs. anti-hegemonic speech. The frames we adopt in our movements and micro-interactions matter a lot for material outcomes.
March 16, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Reposted by Robby Murphy
The institutional Democratic Party is guided by an almost pathological level of conflict avoidance in almost every direction. “What can we do to make the least number of people mad?” is just a bankrupt way to operate.
March 13, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Data request: Does anyone know of any campaign contribution data available through relatively recently (at least ~2018) that aggregates spending by donor sector or industry? I am trying to use finance aggregates for robustness checks and have searched far and wide, but can’t find anything. Thanks!
March 11, 2025 at 10:09 PM
A graphic designer has joined the inequality group I coordinate at @stone-lis.bsky.social and I’m very happy about it:
March 10, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Reposted by Robby Murphy
The Inequality Podcast from @ucstonecenter.bsky.social has become my go-to sociology listen. In the most recent episode, @gtwodtke.bsky.social interviews @jakerosenfeld.bsky.social and Daniel Schneider about precarious work.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

the-inequality-podcast.captivate.fm
The Age of Unpredictable and Precarious Work, featuring Jake Rosenfeld and Daniel Schneider
Podcast Episode · The Inequality Podcast · 03/10/2025 · 1h 6m
podcasts.apple.com
March 10, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Reposted by Robby Murphy
Breaking: ICE arrests a Palestinian student at Columbia, Mahmoud Khalil, whose wife is 8 months pregnant. They revoked his student visa and his green card.

BOYCOTT COLUMBIA. WRITE & Demand answers.

This is fucking sickening.

zeteo.com/p/breaking-d...
BREAKING: DHS Detains Palestinian Student from Columbia Encampment, Advocates Say
Agents told him his student visa was revoked. But he had a green card. Agents then said that was revoked too.
zeteo.com
March 9, 2025 at 2:53 PM
New York Times, 2003
March 6, 2025 at 2:40 AM
The Democratic Party is not “broken”; it has long been a party out of touch with most voters, over-representing the interests of (certain types of) elites. There’s no “saving” a party embedded in interlocking unequal systems.
March 6, 2025 at 1:29 AM
Come check out the “Replicating Inequalities” session at #ESS2025! At 2pm this Saturday, I’ll be presenting “Business, Finance, and the Politics of US Income Concentration.” #EasternSociologicalSociety
March 5, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Reposted by Robby Murphy
I made this the other night while procrastinating, mainly because I thought all the posts about the blackout were boring. It feels like there is momentum bringing people together!
February 27, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Reposted by Robby Murphy
A new McCarthy era is upon us. Stupid, depressing, and dangerous as ever. I wonder whose name will carry the dunce cap in the history books. Too many are complicit. I’ll need to find upset and action, but for now I’m feeling grief at the dehumanization inherent to all this.
February 26, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Reposted by Robby Murphy
The ASA, American Federation of Teachers @AFT, and AFT-Maryland, facilitated by @DemocracyForward, have filed a complaint today in federal court in Maryland challenging the “Dear Colleague Letter” published by the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.
Educators Sue to Challenge Trump Administration's Efforts to Weaponize Civil Rights Laws, Attack Educational Programs and Student Opportunities - Democracy Forward
bit.ly
February 25, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Reposted by Robby Murphy
There is no way for for “democracy” to function in a world that looks like this
February 26, 2025 at 2:27 AM
No surprises here!
The effects of the House’s proposed “Medicaid cuts to pay for tax cuts” in one graph: a 3.9% boost in income for the top 1% of households and a 7.4% reduction in income for the bottom fifth of households. In two words: class warfare. www.epi.org/blog/the-hou...
February 26, 2025 at 2:57 AM
Love this recent short segment from @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social gives an accessible class-race analysis contextualizing the recent dismantling of DEI (also recommend reading “elite capture” if you haven’t).
February 25, 2025 at 3:10 AM
Reposted by Robby Murphy
Steve Bannon is out here doing a Nazi salute and nodding to an applauding audience after Elon did it and it is honestly chilling how white supremacy here, like in the Germany they’re mimicking, has taken all these forms over the centuries but will not die.
February 21, 2025 at 1:56 PM