Hello and welcome –
I’m Zep Kalb, a sociologist and Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies at Princeton University.
My research lies at the intersections of global & transnational sociology, economic sociology, and political sociology. My work integrates qualitative and quantitative methods. I also retain a keen interest in comparative-historical approaches. Most of my projects use data from Iran, Turkey, and other cases in West Asia and the Middle East & North Africa region.
I’m particularly interested in questions around ‘illiberal’ capitalism, state-led development, and economic change in the global South. Within that research agenda, I’m currently involved in three lines of inquiry. One line of inquiry studies industrial policy, protectionism, and international sanctions, including how labor institutions can support economic resilience, and what drives inclusive growth.
A second line of research investigates welfare transformations and sources of worker power in the developing world, especially in relation to intensifying interstate rivalries and what some scholars call ‘post-neoliberalism’.
In a third line of research, I study how states create markets. This research looks at corporate ownership structures, directorate board interlocks, and the social profiles of business elites.
My research has been published in journals such as Development and Change, the Journal of Agrarian Change, Middle Eastern Studies, Mediterranean Politics, Iranian Studies, and the New Left Review. At Princeton, I’m also developing my first book, which builds on my PhD dissertation on labor movements, politics, and state-making in Iran.
I’m also deeply committed to engaging policymakers and the public. My work has been published or featured in CNN, The Washington Post, Phenomenal World, Foreign Policy, and other popular outlets — as well as in Middle East-focused platforms such as Al Monitor, Sharq, Jadaliyya, MERIP, and the Project on Middle East Political Science. In 2021-22, I was a Visiting Fellow at the Bourse and Bazaar Foundation.
I completed my PhD in Sociology at UCLA. I lived in Iran for several years, where I studied at the University of Tehran and worked as a journalist for a local financial newspaper. I received my BA in Economics from SOAS. Outside of academia, I spend a lot of time sporting, cooking, and reading the Financial Times. I also love movies and I’ve written extensively about non-Hollywood and global arthouse film.
2-S-9 Green Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544
zepkalb at princeton dot edu