LOL 8799 is the constant malignant presence on this forum that is tenured with way too much free time and a sense of superiority that is most distinctly clear when he is inevitably challenged on his stupidity, to which he - without fail - replies:
"you seem dumb."
You can’t just nominate people. MF reaches out to ppl they select with one of two types of requests: (a) suggest names or (b) evaluate names already suggested. MF also insists on anonymity. It’s not true that friends can band together and nominate someone.
My sense from having received such solicitations in the past is that MF has absolutely no taste in evaluating sociologists. I’ve never expressed any enthusiasm for the people they’ve asked me to assess. (Which may explain why they stopped asking me several years ago).
In short, it means absolutely nothing. They have some money to give out. They have a great PR machine. And away we go.
The funny thing with this thread is that you are obsessing over whether she had an edge in getting the MacArthur because she's part Native American (maybe?) or because she's lesbian (ha!), but, if anything, the key factor is that MacArthur is based in Chicago and usually has 1-2 genius grants go to folks in the Chicago area who wouldn't have gotten it if they were based anywhere else.
Also, while she's not a top-tier name in Law & Society, she's more prominent that you are giving her credit for.
Sandefur totally deserves this. This award isn’t for the most cited sociologist or the sociologist you all first think of when you are making a reading list for a class. She has done some incredibly impactful stuff for her field - stuff that affects the real world and has policy implications. It is a crazy idea - that we would do something that “real people” care about. I’m proud of her and so happy for what this means for our field. It only stands to bring awareness to sociology.