| Musa al-Gharbi | |
| Occupation: | Assistant professor of communication, journalism and sociology |
| Education: | Cochise Community College (AA; 2009) University of Arizona (BA; 2012) (MA; 2013) Columbia University (MA; 2017) (PhD; 2023)[1] |
| Alma Mater: | Columbia University |
| Discipline: | Sociologist |
| Workplaces: | Stony Brook University |
Musa al-Gharbi is an American sociologist. He is an assistant professor in the School of Communication and Journalism at Stony Brook University, and a columnist for The Guardian. He was the communications director of Heterodox Academy from 2016 to 2020.[2] [3]
Al-Gharbi grew up in a middle class family in Sierra Vista, Arizona, near the Mexico border. His stepfather was in the United States Army.[4] He had a twin brother who in 2010 was killed in Afghanistan.[5]
Al-Gharbi received an associate degree from Cochise Community College, then went on to receive a bachelor's degree in Near Eastern studies and a MA in philosophy at the University of Arizona.[6] He graduated from Columbia University, earning a PhD in sociology in 2023.
In 2014, while teaching at the University of Arizona, al-Gharbi became a target of right-wing backlash after Fox News highlighted a Truthout article he wrote criticizing American policy in the Middle East.[7]
Numerous death threats were sent to the University of Arizona. Following the controversy, he was fired from his teaching position and denied entry into PhD programs at the University of Arizona. He was later admitted to Columbia University, where he completed a PhD in sociology.[8]
In 2023, he became an assistant professor in the School of Communication and Journalism at Stony Brook University.[9]
In 2021, his book We Have Never Been Woke: Social Justice Discourse, Inequality, and the Rise of a New Elite, was acquired by Princeton University Press.[10] We Have Never Been Woke was published in 2024.[11] Al-Gharbi argues in the book that the contemporary “woke” movement had not begun during the mid 2010s matriculation of Generation Z into college, but in 2011 during a surge in media discussions of various forms of prejudice and discrimination.[12] He argues that contemporary American society is dominated by a class he calls "symbolic capitalists", a group composed of academics, journalists, bureaucrats, consultants, and other “professionals who traffic in symbols and rhetoric, images and narratives, data and analysis.” In order to amass social currency, the class supports social justice movements and the plight of the oppressed, but the primary goal is their own personal advancement.[13]
Since the election of Donald Trump in 2016, al-Gharbi has argued that mainstream liberal news outlets including The New York Times opinion page and MSNBC have mischaracterized his supporters.
Before attending college, al-Gharbi planned to become a Catholic priest. He later became an atheist and then converted to Islam.[5]
Al-Gharbi is married to a woman from Lebanon.[14]