Peter Levin’s Rethinking Markets

Maligne Lake
Academic Identity

I am assistant professor of Sociology at Barnard College. My book (and my dissertation research) is a comparative study of technology and futures trading, an ethnography of open outcry and electronic traders. My current research is on how art specialists price cultural commodities, particularly how categories and commensuration work in the secondary/resale fine arts market. I teach courses in economic sociology, organizations, and gender.

Professional Identity

I occasionally consult, focusing on organizational change, the future of technology and financial markets, and environmental markets. I do strategic assessments of markets, technology and organizational design, with qualitative and quantitative components. If you are interested, please email me.

Personal Identity

I grew up outside Chicago, and went to school(s) at Wesleyan University, USC, and Northwestern University. I currently live in New York, with a partner who is a marketing manager for an educational nonprofit. I love movies, like to cook, and I can do a mean lindy swing out. I am INTP.

February 3, 2008

When art production and consumption disconnect

Filed under: Culture — Peter @ 3:55 pm

I was speaking about context with a colleague, specifically about Gbenga Akinnagbe, who plays Chris on the Wire (he’s on the left), but also plays Jimmy in the Savages. I was remarking about how scary he looks in the Wire. But this is quite possibly about me, I think, and the belief that more black=more scary (although you can decide for yourself: here he is, on the far left in the Wire, and here is his gallery at IMDB). But he is scarier looking in the Wire by design, and I also think it’s possible that Chris, Snoop, and Marlo (the main baddies in season 4) collectively scared me more than the Barksdale/Bell crew from the earlier seasons because of their ‘you think it’s one thing, but it ain’t, it’s the other thing’ approach to violence.

In any event, none of this compares to Mitt Romney doing impromptu rap.

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Documents, Links, and Hijinks

CV, Resume, or what I do in a nutshell

CV - academic (.pdf)
Resume - Professional (.pdf)

Volunteer or give, it will make you feel better


DonorsChoose.org. This is where my partner works. It is an educational nonprofit devoted to obtaining resources for underfunded public schools.
VolunteerMatch. VM is a first stop for volunteering. You can plug in your interests, your zip code, and it will return things to do for a week, a week, or a lifetime.
Idealist.org. More than a place to volunteer, Idealist is probably the number one place my students go for career work. It is a kind of warehouse for nonprofit jobs, internships, volunteering, and the like.
Kaboom! Kaboom builds playgrounds in areas where they are needed and supported by the community. You can participate in a one-day build (though the interface kinda stinks), and they could use your money as well.
Partners in Health. This organization is just making the world better and healthier by attending to HIV and tuberculosis patients in the most impoverished places in the world. More here.

This site is hand-woven, and heavily borrows from the wonderful blueprint framwork. Rock on, grids!

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