Aliza Luft

Dr. Aliza Luft is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research explores the interplay between social identity, ideology, and socio-political action in contexts of war and violence. She investigates how people classify themselves and others, how these classifications evolve during conflict, and their impact on decision-making and behavior. She uses qualitative, historical, and experimental methods to bridge culture, politics, morality, and conflict studies. Dr. Luft’s forthcoming book, Sacred Treason: Race, Religion, and The Holocaust in France, is under contract with Harvard University Press. She is the co-author of The Handbook of the Sociology of Morality II (Springer, 2023). Her research appears in leading journals such as Sociological Theory, Socius, Qualitative Sociology, and European Journal of Sociology, and as op-eds in outlets like The Washington Post and The New Yorker. She has also worked with USAID, the UN, and Facing History & Ourselves.