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In both the United States and France, each side of the legal battle over same-sex marriage and parenthood relied heavily on experts. Despite the similarity of issues, however, lawmakers in each country turned to different sets of authorities: from economists and psychoanalysts to priests and ordinary people. They even prized different types of expertise—empirical research in the United States versus abstract theory in France.

Exploring the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States and France, this book sheds new light on the power of experts to influence high-stakes democratic debates. Drawing on extensive interviews and ethnographic observation, Michael Stambolis-Ruhstorfer traces the divergences between the two countries, showing why some experts are ubiquitous in one but absent in the other. He argues that lawmakers, judges, lawyers, journalists, and activists covet something only experts can provide: the credibility and aura of authority, or “expert capital,” which they deploy to advance their agendas. Expert capital is not derived from scientific or technical merit alone but is produced through cultural norms, material resources, and social relationships, which vary greatly across national contexts.

Through the story of the fight over gay rights, By the Power Vested in Me reveals how and why certain experts—but not others—obtain the authority to shape public opinion and policy. At a time of soaring public distrust in experts, this book offers new ways to understand the contested political role of expertise and its consequences

By the Power Vested in Me:

How Experts Shape Same-Sex Marriage Debates

Columbia University Press,  2025

Available here or anywhere books are sold

Praise for By the Power Vested in Me

Understanding the social construction of expertise is vitally important for anyone who cares about ethical decision-making informed by empirical data. In a world where science is under attack, disinformation campaigns abound, and the term “alternative facts” is part of the vernacular, this book could not be more timely.
     - Mary Bernstein, editor of The Marrying Kind?: Debating Same-Sex Marriage Within the Lesbian and Gay Movement

Through an illuminating comparison, Stambolis-Ruhstorfer transforms our understanding of the emergence of legal protections for gay families by showing the power of experts to influence debates over equal rights. Revealing striking contrasts between the United States and France, this well-crafted account complicates any suggestion that science provides simple answers to political questions. 
     - Steven Epstein, author of The Quest for Sexual Health: How an Elusive Ideal Has Transformed Science, Politics, and Everyday Life

Both the United States and France have legalized gay marriage, but they did not arrive at this result in the same way. Michael Stambolis-Ruhstorfer's well-researched book is a subtle and timely comparison of the differing roles that experts and expertise played in the struggles over legalization in the two countries. 
     - Gil Eyal, author of The Crisis of Expertise

Just when expertise is under attack everywhere, By the Power Vested in Me will help us understand the crucial role played by expert capital in social change, and what enables it. Because this book is both timely and brilliant, it should be read widely across many fields. 
     - Michèle Lamont, author of Seeing Others: How Recognition Works—and How It Can Heal a Divided World

A keen comparative analysis, By the Power Vested in Me explores the cultural and institutional conditions that deliver and deny expertise. It is essential reading, as all our fates hinge on who is given the power to speak truth.
     -Lisa Wade, author of American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex on Campus