Nick Sherefkin

Sociologist of competition, play, and games.

Education

Current PhD in Sociology (in progress), Stanford University Dissertation: “Game Playing Communities as Inspiration for the Sociological Imagination”

2020 MA in Sociology, Stanford University

2017 Master of Arts in Teaching, Relay Graduate School of Education High School Math

2012 BA, magna cum laude, Brown University Economics and Public Policy

Conference Presentations

Nick Sherefkin, February 2025. “A Sociological Model of Playfulness in Competitive Communities. “ Annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Play.

Nick Sherefkin, January 2025. “The Consequences of Playfulness for the Size and Performance of Competitive Communities” Berkeley Culture Connect Conference.

Nick Sherefkin, 2023. “Playfulness and Ruthlessness as Mediators Between Competition and Economic Outcomes” Annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.

Nick Sherefkin and Christof Brandtner. 2020. “Moral failure and the demand for civic action.” Annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.

Working Papers

Sherefkin, Nick. “Sociability and the Persistence of Communities Under Performance Pressures.”

Sherefkin, Nick. “The Emergence of Cooperative Interaction Rituals in Tabletop Gaming.”

Professional experience

Teaching

2023-25 Instructor, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

SOC 130D: Games, Competition, and Play (Summers 2025, 2024, and 2023)

2018-25 Graduate Teaching Assistant, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

SOC 149: Introduction to Urban Studies (Winter 2025)

SOC 149: The Urban Underclass (Spring 2024)

SOC 002: Self and Society (Spring 2023 and Fall 2022)

SOC 114: Economic Sociology (Falls 2021 and 2018)

SOC 202: Preparation for Senior Research (Winter 2019)

2015-17 High School Geometry Teacher, Sunset Park High School, Brooklyn, NY

Research

2018-21 Graduate Research Assistant, Stanford Project on the Evolution of the Nonprofit Sector & Civic Life of Cities Lab, Stanford

2012-15 Research Assistant in P-12 Policy, MDRC, New York, NY

Computing

R - reporting packages; tidyverse, ggplot2, knitr.

Python - numpy, pandas, BeautifulSoup.

Service

2024-2025 Chair of Writing and Perambulation, Association of Sociology Graduate Students, Stanford University

2017-21 Teacher and Treasurer, Stanford Prison Education Program, Stanford University

2018-20 Co-Chair, Association of Sociology Graduate Students, Stanford University

2017-18 Graduate Student Mentor, Stanford Undergraduate Research Association

2017-18 First-Year Representative, Association of Sociology Graduate Students, Stanford University

Honors and Awards

2021 Stanford Social Impact Labs: Summer Collaborative Research Fellowship, Stanford, CA

2015-17 New York City Teaching Fellow, New York, NY

2015-16 AmeriCorps Member, New York, NY

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