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Sociology of Algorithms Workshop

Workshop | ongoing

The Sociology of Algorithms Workshop at Columbia University aims to bring together researchers who are interested in understanding the role that algorithms and algorithmic technologies play in public and private life. The workshop occurs in a number of formats, including formal research presentations, paper development sessions, and panel discussions featuring scholars and practitioners from around the world. We welcome participants of all disciplinary and methodological backgrounds.

The workshop meets a few times each semester on an irregular basis. If you would like to be added to the email list, please send a message to the workshop coordinator.

Coordinator: Emily Rachel Mazo

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Register to Participate

Workshop Schedule Fall 2026

  • Book Talk: Against Tech Oligarchy: Worker Resistance in the World's Most Powerful Industry

    513 Fayerweather Hall | 12:00-2:00 PM

    Co-sponsored by the Columbia Sociology of Algorithms Workshop, the Columbia University Center for Science and Society, and the Columbia University Labor Lab 


    After Donald Trump's election in 2016, the tech industry sprang into action to oppose his right-wing agenda, with workers and CEOs alike joining mass mobilizations against the new president's anti-immigrant policies. But it wasn't long before the tech bosses started to fall in line with the new administration. In response, tens of thousands of tech workers protested against their own employers for betraying the progressive values that once defined the industry—including organizing against military contracts, walking out to protest sexism, and even launching a wave of union drives. By the early 2020s, these workers had sparked what observers were calling the tech worker movement, one that seemed capable of checking the industry's reckless growth and reactionary drift. But as their struggle grew, so did the employers' backlash. A new class consciousness took root among tech's billionaire owners. Hell-bent on stamping out any and all dissent, tech executives embraced Trumpism, fired organizers, and began lashing out against the "woke" ideology they blamed for turning their once loyal employees against them—and replacing the good tech jobs of the 2010s with incessant layoffs, grind culture, and a management style that treats workers as disposable. Against Tech Oligarchy provides a gripping account of this inspiring workers' movement and the rise of the hostile labor politics that define Silicon Valley today.

  • "Witness": Compulsory Process at the Founding and its Consequences Today.


    Knox 501d and on Zoom |1:00pm - 2:00 pm

  • TBD

    Knox 501D and on Zoom | 1:00pm - 2:00pm