Sumit KarnOrganizational Sociologist

About

I am an Organizational Sociologist at Columbia University. I examine the cultural and structural mechanisms behind global innovation diffusion, and why some institutional ideas gain legitimacy while others stall. My work focuses on the friction between global norms and the micro-foundations of local political coalitions, using mixed methods and social network analysis to bridge organizational theory and cultural sociology.

My research has appeared in journals such as Economic Analysis and Policy, and I contribute commentaries, briefs and opinion pieces to outlets including the Times Higher Education.

Research, education and awards →

Research themes

Diffusion

How ideas and institutions travel, and how global norms and power relations shape and are shaped by local contexts.

Organizations

Organizations as valuation systems that sort, elevate or terminate ideas, and how gatekeepers forecast the value of new practices.

Selected publications

All publications →

Teaching

Instructor of record for Research and Writing Seminar in International and Comparative Education (Teachers College), and teaching assistant for Think Bigger with Sheena Iyengar at Columbia Business School. Teaching →

Before the doctorate

I contributed to the Global Scholar project (with Bloomberg Philanthropies), the Ananya 3SI project (with CDOT, Population Services International and the Gates Foundation) and a Developmental Disabilities Administration project (with Steps Agency, Washington State DSHS). I am a former journalist for the Everett Herald, recognized as a “Change-maker” by Dainik Jagran and an “Emerging Leader” by the Herald Business Journal.