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Research funded by

Institut Universitaire de France (IUF)

National Science Foundation (US)

IdEx de Bordeaux (FR)

Région Nouvelle Aquitaine (FR)

Ministère des Affaires Étrangères (FR)

UCLA Center for European Studies (US)

English / Français

I study the United States and France and speak English and French fluently

Sociology of

Experts

Science & Knowledge

Sexuality

Social Movements

Law

Culture

Gender

Check out my book

By the Power Vested in Me:

How Experts Shape Same-Sex Marriage Debates

Columbia University Press,  2025

Available here or anywhere books are sold

As they argued over same-sex marriage in the United States and France, lawmakers, judges, lawyers, journalists, and activists on either side turned to experts, aiming to capitalize on their unique authority. Telling the story of these legal battles, this book sheds new light on the power of experts to influence high-stakes democratic debates.

I study how people interact through political, legal, and scientific institutions to create social change and meaning. Mobilizing international comparison between the United States and Europe, my research follows two axes: 1) "experts" involved in contentious political issues (climate change, abortion, same-sex marriage); 2) the influence of cultural and legal contexts on how people and organizations deal with sexuality and family. My current project analyzes "experts" in debates over climate change and abortion in the United States and France. 

Praise for By the Power Vested in Me

Understanding the social construction of expertise is vitally important for anyone who cares about ethical decision-making informed by empirical data. In a world where science is under attack, disinformation campaigns abound, and the term “alternative facts” is part of the vernacular, this book could not be more timely.
     - Mary Bernstein, editor of The Marrying Kind?: Debating Same-Sex Marriage Within the Lesbian and Gay Movement

Through an illuminating comparison, Stambolis-Ruhstorfer transforms our understanding of the emergence of legal protections for gay families by showing the power of experts to influence debates over equal rights. Revealing striking contrasts between the United States and France, this well-crafted account complicates any suggestion that science provides simple answers to political questions. 
     - Steven Epstein, author of The Quest for Sexual Health: How an Elusive Ideal Has Transformed Science, Politics, and Everyday Life

Both the United States and France have legalized gay marriage, but they did not arrive at this result in the same way. Michael Stambolis-Ruhstorfer's well-researched book is a subtle and timely comparison of the differing roles that experts and expertise played in the struggles over legalization in the two countries. 
     - Gil Eyal, author of The Crisis of Expertise

Just when expertise is under attack everywhere, By the Power Vested in Me will help us understand the crucial role played by expert capital in social change, and what enables it. Because this book is both timely and brilliant, it should be read widely across many fields. 
     - Michèle Lamont, author of Seeing Others: How Recognition Works—and How It Can Heal a Divided World

A keen comparative analysis, By the Power Vested in Me explores the cultural and institutional conditions that deliver and deny expertise. It is essential reading, as all our fates hinge on who is given the power to speak truth.
     -Lisa Wade, author of American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex on Campus