Prof. Dr. Gabriel Abend
Professor of Sociology
T +41 41 229 55 62 • gabriel.abend@unilu.ch
https://sites.google.com/site/gabend/g
Frohburgstrasse 3, room 3.B08
CV
Gabriel Abend studied political science and history at the Universidad de la República in Montevideo, Uruguay. His education continued in “America,” where he got a PhD in sociology from Northwestern University. Seeing as capitalism wasn’t going to go away any time soon, he decided to sell his labor-power to New York University, first as an Assistant Professor of Sociology, afterward as a tenured Associate Professor of Sociology.
Abend is the recipient of the 2017 Lewis A. Coser Award for “Theoretical” Agenda Setting. His book, Words and Distinctions for the Common Good, came out with Princeton University Press in 2023. It’s a real page-turner—satisfaction guaranteed or your money back.
For more information: https://sites.google.com/site/gabend/g
Publications
- Abend, G. (2023). Words and Distinctions for the Common Good: Practical Reason in the Logic of Social Science. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Words and Distinctions for the Common Good. (2023). Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Abend, G. (2014). The Moral Background: An Inquiry into the History of Business Ethics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Abend, G. (2024). Democratizing Social Scientists’ Words and Distinctions: Where and Why Moral Reasons Are Decisive. Organization Theory, 5 (4).
- Abend, G. (2022). Making Things Possible. Sociological Methods & Research, 51 (1), 68–107.
- Abend, G. (2019). Thick Concepts and Sociological Research. Sociological Theory, 37 (3), 209–233. https://doi.org/10.1177/0735275119869979
- Abend, G. (2019). Moral decisionism and its discontents. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 49 (1), 59–83. https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12191
- Abend, G. (2018). The Limits of Decision and Choice. Theory and Society, 47 (6), 804–841. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-018-09333-1
- Abend, G. (2018). Outline of a Sociology of Decisionism. British Journal of Sociology, 69 (2), 237–264. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12320
- Abend, G. (2018). The Love of Neuroscience: A Sociological Account. Sociological Theory, 36 (1), 88–116. https://doi.org/10.1177/0735275118759697
- Abend, G. (2017). What Are Neural Correlates Neural Correlates of? BioSocieties, 12 (3), 415–438. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41292-016-0019-y
- Abend, G. (2016). How to Tell the History of Business Ethics. Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik, 17 (1), 42–76.
- Abend, G., Petre, C., & Sauder, M. (2013). Styles of Causal Thought: An Empirical Investigation. American Journal of Sociology, 119 (3), 602–654. https://doi.org/10.1086/675892
- Abend, G. (2013). The Origins of Business Ethics in American Universities, 1902-1936. Business Ethics Quarterly, 23 (02), 171–205. https://doi.org/10.5840/beq201323214
- Abend, G. (2012). What the Science of Morality Doesn’t Say about Morality. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 43 (2), 157–200. https://doi.org/10.1177/0048393112440597
- Abend, G. (2011). Thick Concepts and the Moral Brain. European Journal of Sociology, 52 (01), 143–172. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003975611000051
- Abend, G. (2008). The Meaning of ‘Theory’. Sociological Theory, 26 (2), 173–199. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9558.2008.00324.x
- Abend, G. (2008). Two Main Problems in the Sociology of Morality. Theory and Society, 37 (2), 87–125. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-007-9044-y
- Abend, G. (2006). Styles of Sociological Thought: Sociologies, Epistemologies, and the Mexican and U.S. Quests for Truth. Sociological Theory, 24 (1), 1–41. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0735-2751.2006.00262.x
Achievements
- The Acceptance of AI as Moral Decision-Maker in Social Space. Lecture, Herbsttagung der Sektion soziale Ungleichheit und Sozialstrukturanalyse, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie, Köln, 2024
- AIs as Trustworthy Decision-Makers: Evidence from a Factorial Survey Experiment. Lecture, 16th ESA Conference, European Sociological Association, Porto, 2024
- AIs as Morally Responsible Decision-Makers: Evidence from a Factorial Survey Experiment. Lecture, Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA), American Sociological Association, Montréal, 2024
- AIs as Morally Responsible Decision-Makers: Evidence from a Factorial Survey Experiment. Lecture, SASE’s 36th Annual Meeting, SASE, Limerick, 2024
- The Acceptance of AIs as Moral Decision-Makers: Evidence from a Nationwide Factorial Survey in Switzerland. Lecture, Tagung «Expertise in digital Transformation», Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie, Berlin, 2024
