Overview
I study inequality in advanced industrial societies and how it is changing over time. Current projects examine social mobility and persistence across generations, cohort and life cycle change in occupational sex segregation, the social structure of course enrollments in college, the relationship between family wage gaps and gender wage gaps, and young adults' occupational plans and educational decisions.
I am also interested in open science and (non-profit) open access publishing. I am a co-founder and former Deputy Editor of Sociological Science, and I serve on the Board of the Society for Sociological Science. I also chair the Scientific Advisory Board of the General Social Survey, which for more than half a century has provided social scientists, journalists, policy makers, and government officials with high-quality data about American life.
Recent Courses
SOC 2208 Social Inequality (cross-listed PUBPOL 2208, AMST 2208)
SOC 5180 Social Inequality: Contemporary Theories, Debates & Models
SOC 5190 Workshop on Social Inequality
Research Focus
- Social Inequality
- Intergenerational Mobility
- Gender Inequality in Labor Markets
- Higher Education
- Occupations and Class Analysis
- Inequality Measurement
- Social Change
In the news
- Student spotlight: Haowen Zheng
- Integrating STEM majors won’t end gender segregation at work
- Grants advance social sciences research, collaboration
- Pandemic reshaped ‘small world’ campus networks
- White House order to loosen occupational licensing burdens
- Gender gaps in STEM college majors emerge in high school
- Social sciences center awards COVID-19 grants
- NYC panel discusses changing expectations for success
- New minor track focuses on inequities in health
- Tech companies favor CU social science grads
- Sociology department launches Active Learning Initiative project
- Engaged Cornell grants fund undergrad and faculty research
- Analysis finds strong consensus on gender transition treatment effectiveness
- CSI announces new partnership to improve public discourse on inequality
- Sociologist to speak on inequality and stigmatization
- Conference examines criminalization of immigrants
- Conference explores impacts of the criminalization of immigration
- Work: Aspirations, inequalities, markets
- Measure of America summer research interns explore human well-being
- A&S holds student forum on new curriculum proposal
- Conference explores social mobility and inequality, April 20-22
- Gender gap found in Ph.D. fields and in program prestige
- $2.7 million grant expands Arts & Sciences Active Learning Initiative
- Faculty discuss curriculum changes in Arts & Sciences
- Major grant expands Center for the Study of Inequality
- Student explores how socioeconomic status affects choice of college major
Courses - Fall 2025
- SOC 4910 : Independent Study
- SOC 5180 : Social Inequality: Contemporary Theories, Debates, and Models
- SOC 5190 : Workshop on Social Inequality