Biography
Prior to joining UIUC, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Sciences Po in Paris. I received my Ph.D. in sociology from the Ohio State University in 2018 and received a BA from the University of Kansas.
Research Interests
Economic Sociology; Environmental Sociology; Race, Gender, and Class; Theory; Political Economy; Global and Transnational Sociology; Political Sociology
Research Description
My research combines classic themes from political economy and the sociology of inequality to understand contemporary socio-economic problems. This includes the "financialization," economic restructuring and globalization; the relationship between climate change and economic growth; native, gender, and class pay gap dynamics in the workplace; the class politics of the 2007-8 financial crisis; and how new business strategies unequally distribute profits and power in society.
Courses Taught
Soc 200: Introduction to Social Theory
Soc 226: Political Sociology
Soc 500: Classical Social Theory
Soc 501: Contemporary Social Theory
Soc 596: Political Economy
Soc 596: Political Sociology
Additional Campus Affiliations
Assistant Professor, Sociology
Assistant Professor, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory
Recent Publications
Godechot, O., Safi, M., & Soener, M. (2025). Organizational Intersectionality: Do Gender and Migration Status Inequalities Reinforce or Offset Each Other in French Workplaces? Work, Employment and Society, Article 09500170251348848. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170251348848
May, R. A. B., Soener, M., Jones, C., & Bentley, Q. (2025). Antiblack Discrimination in Public Accommodations: Differential Drink Pricing in Urban Nightclubs. Socius, 11, Article 23780231251363299. https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231251363299
Soener, M. (2025). Secular stagnation and climate change. Review of International Political Economy. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2025.2519187
Soener, M., & Norris, D. (2025). The wages of investor power: shareholder exploitation in Europe. Social Forces, Article soaf029. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soaf029
Godechot, O., Tomaskovicdevey, D., Boza, I., Henriksen, L. F., Hermansen, A. S., Hou, F., Jung, J., Kodama, N., Křížková, A., Lippényi, Z., Melzer, S. M., Mun, E., Sabanci, H., Thaning, M., Apascaritei, P., Avent-Holt, D., Bandelj, N., Baudour, A., Cort, D., ... Soener, M. (2024). The Great Separation: Top Earner Segregation at Work in Advanced Capitalist Economies. American Journal of Sociology, 130(2), 439-495. https://doi.org/10.1086/731603