Sakin  Erin

Biography

Dr. Şakin Erin joined the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma as an Assistant Professor of Sociology in Fall 2022. His collaborative research with Christopher Chase-Dunn integrates social network analysis and comparative world-systems theory to explore how the slow and uneven decline of U.S. hegemony and the rise of new challenger states, firms, and social movements reveal deeper crises within global capitalism and the institutions of governance that have structured world order since World War II. By situating current conflicts within long-term historical patterns, his work highlights both the risks and the possibilities for transformational global social change in the twenty-first century. Using formal network analysis, he examines how the BRICS coalition’s evolving position in global trade since 2010 signals potential realignments in the political economy of an emerging multipolar order.

At USAO, Dr. Erin teaches Research Methods, Statistics, Social Network Analysis, Sociology of Islam and the Middle East, Sociology of Environment and Climate Change, and Criminology. His teaching emphasizes connecting personal experience to global processes and encouraging data-driven critical inquiry.

Dr. Erin previously taught at several campuses of the University of California and California State University systems. He is an active member of the American Sociological Association, Pacific Sociological Association, and the International Network for Social Network Analysis. His current projects analyze global trade networks (1960–2024) and the changing position of the BRICS+ economies within the evolving world-system.

In his spare time, Dr. Erin enjoys hiking and spending time outdoors. He is proud to have hiked Half Dome in Yosemite and several trails around Lake Tahoe and in Denali with his wife. At home, he finds joy in caring for the squirrels and birds that visit their backyard.

Research, Presentations & Publications

Chase-Dunn, Christopher, and Şakin Erin. 2025. “The BRICS+ in the Global Economy: A Network Analysis.” Re-Oriente (Accepted for publication, Forthcoming).

Chase-Dunn, Christopher, and Şakin Erin. 2024. “The BRICS+ and the Middle-Run Futures of the Global System.” International Review of Modern Sociology, 50(1-2): 67–105.

Erin, Şakin. 2020. “Global Political Sociology and World Systems.” In The New Handbook of Political Sociology, eds. Thomas Janoski et al. Cambridge University Press.

Erin, Şakin. 2016. “Diffusion of Islam in the United States: Comparative Personal Conversion Social Networks.” International Review of Social Research, 6(4): 221–232.

Erin, Şakin. 2008. Ottoman Empire’s Role in the Emergence of the ‘European’ World System. VDM Verlag Dr. Müller.

 

 

Selected Presentations

2025    U.S. Hegemonic Decline, Global Governance and Sociocultural Evolution. Global Political Economy Workshop, Singapore Management University (July 22-23)

2025    Waves of economic and political deglobalization and the changing positions of Mexico and Latin America in global networks. International Studies Association, Universidad del Mar, Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico (June 4-6)

2024    The BRICS+ and the Middle-Run Futures Of The Global System. 2024 American Sociological Association, Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada

2024    The BRICS+ in the Global Economy: A Network Analysis. 2024 Global Political Economy Workshop, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

2023    Global Political Sociology and World Systems. 2023 California Sociological Association, Sacramento, CA

2023    Perception of Difference and Alienation: The Social Ties of Those Who Convert to Islam. Building Bridges 2.0 Liberty, Justice, and Equality, University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, Chickasha, OK

2018    Stateless Peoples’ Experiment with Nation-State Building. The Kurdish Referendum of 2017 Pacific Sociological Association, Long Beach, CA

2017    Military Coups in the Cold War Era: A Social Network and World System Perspective.

            Pacific Sociological Association, Portland, OR

2016    Identity Change and Reversion from Islam: An Egocentric Social Network Perspective.

            Sunbelt XXXVI, Newport Beach, CA

2016    The Role of the Ottoman Empire in the Emergence of the European World Systems.

            Pacific Sociological Association, Oakland, CA

2015    Diffusion of Islam in America: Egocentric Social Network of Converts.

            Sunbelt XXXV, Brighton, United Kingdom

2015    The Dialectic of Settlers and Aliens: Understanding the Perception of Islam in the United States, International Social Theory Consortium, Cambridge, United Kingdom