Rate My Professor David Arditi

David Arditi is a Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Texas at Arlington. He holds a BA and MA in Political Science from Virginia Tech and a PhD in Cultural Studies from George Mason University, completed in 2012 with a dissertation titled 'The State of Music: Cultural, Political and Economic Transformations in the Music Industry.' Arditi joined the University of Texas at Arlington as faculty and advanced to full professor. He serves as Director of the Center for Theory, Graduate Advisor in the Graduate School since June 2025, and Advisor for Multidisciplinary Studies. Additionally, he edits the open-access, peer-reviewed journal Fast Capitalism and the book series Critical Perspectives on Music & Society published by Lexington Books. His career includes contributions to preserving local music history through the MusicDetour project, which documents the Dallas-Fort Worth music scene.

Arditi's research focuses on cultural studies, cultural sociology, digital studies, popular culture, social theory, science technology and society, and power dynamics in the music industry. He has authored several books, including iTake-Over: The Recording Industry in the Digital Era (2015), Getting Signed: Record Contracts, Musicians and Power in Society (2020), Streaming Culture: Subscription Platforms and the Unending Consumption of Culture (2021), and Digital Feudalism (2023). He co-edited The Dialectic of Digital Culture (2019) and published Music Technology Panic Narratives: Beyond Piracy—From Taping to Napster to TikTok (2026). His articles appear in journals such as Critical Sociology, Popular Music & Society, Journal of Popular Music Studies, and Popular Communication. Arditi has received the College of Liberal Arts Outstanding Research Award and the UTA Libraries Open Award in 2024. His scholarship analyzes how digital technologies and streaming platforms reshape cultural consumption, musicians' livelihoods, and capitalist structures in media industries, influencing discussions on cultural production and economic power in contemporary society.