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Nathan Katz

Visiting Lecturer in Sociology, University of Pittsburgh
Chapter Member: Central Pennsylvania SSN
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About Nathan

Katz's research interest is the relationships between politics and media, specifically how political processes and movements shape the creation of media. Katz's dissertation, Turning Money into Speech, is a historical project that examines how campaign finance law is used to construct a marketplace of ideas by reviewing the Congressional record and Supreme Court hearings to uncover the changing relationship between money and speech and using the data to make sense of how campaign finance law impacts political advertisers' organizational practices.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | In the News | Publications

Contributions

Why Regulating Political Advertising Firms May Make For Better Speech

Key Findings Brief,

How Super PACs Shape U.S. Elections with Advertisements that Portray Candidates in Ways Publicly Identified Campaign Ads Often Avoid

Key Findings Brief,

Publications

"Beyond Donors: Toward a Sociology of Campaign Expenditures" Sociology Compass 16, no. 3 (2022).

Suggests that the new institutionalist perspective, particularly when treating ideas as a causal force, allows for a stronger understanding of campaign finance reform's impact on the public sphere. Demonstrates institutionalist analysis through linking campaign finance law, political organizing, and campaign spending, specifically for the purpose of political advertising, together. 

"Impression Management, Super PACs, and the 2012 Republican Primary" Symbolic Interaction 39, no. 2 (2016): 175-195.

Analyzes the impression management techniques used by both candidates and candidate-specific Super PACs in political advertisements during the 2012 Republican primary. Finds that while there are some differences, the advertisements follow the same performance patterns and have a complimentary nature to one another.