Publications

O’Brien, Shay. Forthcoming. “Unnatural Wills: Estate Litigation and Inequality.” British Journal of Sociology special issue on Families and Wealth.

O’Brien, Shay. Forthcoming. “Rethinking New and Old Money.” In The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Global Elites, eds. María Luisa Méndez, Annette Lareau, and Mike Savage.

O’Brien, Shay. 2025. “The Gender of Inheritance in an Upper-Class Family Network: Dallas, 1895-1945.” Socio-Economic Review 23(2):621-644.

O’Brien, Shay and Shamus Khan. 2025. “Centering the Family in Elite Studies.” Rassegna Italiana di Sociologia. 1:109-140. (Equally co-authored.)

O’Brien, Shay. 2024. “The Family Web: Multigenerational Class Persistence in Elite Populations.” Socio-Economic Review 20(1):1-27.

other academic writing

O’Brien, Shay; Interviewed by Allison Wigen. 2025. “Elite Multigenerational Class Persistence: An Interview with Shay O’Brien.” Accounts Spring Issue, p. 4-8.

O’Brien, Shay. 2025. Review of Born to Rule by Aaron Reeves and Sam Friedman. ASA Culture Newsletter Winter Issue, p. 11-13.

O’Brien, Shay. 2025. “The Gender of Inheritance: The Curious Case of the Early 20th-Century Dallas Elite.” Contexts blog.