Aaron Shapiro

Aaron Shapiro is an Assistant Professor of Technology Studies in the Department of Communication at the University of North Carolina. His research explores intersections of technology, society, culture, and political economy, with a focus on smart cities, financialization, and urban inequality. He is currently working on a book examining the subscription economy’s social and economic implications and another analyzing how financial logics shape technological adoption. His teaching includes courses on algorithms and society, the history of sound, and urban policing technologies.

Shapiro’s research interests blend anthropology, communications, and urban studies. He critiques how technological solutions often fail to address systemic inequalities, as seen in his first book Design, Control, Predict: Logistical Governance in the Smart City. His recent projects investigate the moral and economic dynamics of platform-based services and the ethical limits of predictive policing algorithms.

He has received the Junior Faculty Development Award from the UNC Provost’s Office to support his subscription economy research, which involves interviewing stakeholders in the subscription-based industries. His work has been published in leading journals, with articles addressing platform urbanism, gig economies, and surveillance capitalism’s societal impacts.

• Teaching Interests: Algorithms in society, sound studies, urban technology, financialization
• Future Courses: Cities and infrastructure, urban policing technology, financialization of society
• Key Projects: Subscription economy book, financialization and technology analysis

Shapiro’s interdisciplinary approach bridges critical theory and empirical research to address how technological systems reflect and reinforce social structures.