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Catherine Lee
Rutgers University
Visiting Scholar
2009 to 2010
Catherine Lee, assistant professor of sociology at Rutgers University, will write a book that examines how and why family and family reunification have been central to the regulation of immigration throughout U.S. history. Lee will trace the development of immigration policies from 1865 on, analyzing the ways in which constructs of the family and nation have shaped policymaking and continue to influence current efforts at reform.
Jennifer Lee
University of California, Irvine
Visiting Scholar
2011 to 2012
Lee will write a book comparing the different mobility pathways of the adult children of Mexican, Chinese, and Vietnamese immigrants in Los Angeles. Departing from earlier studies, she will rely on the subjects’ assessments of success rather than normative definitions. Lee will bridge the immigration and culture literatures to illustrate how ethnicity can operate as a resource for the children of immigrants, particularly for those whose parents arrive with few skills and little education.
Richard O. Lempert
University of Michigan
Visiting Scholar
1998 to 1999
Richard O. Lempert, professor of Law and chair of the department of sociology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, will complete a study of Honolulu's public housing eviction process between 1958 and 1987. The policies governing the Hawaii Housing Authority's eviction board have undergone numerous changes, and a once minimal eviction rate has grown to nearly 100% in non-payment of rent cases.
Judith Levine
Temple University
Visiting Researcher
Judith Levine will work on a book examining how college seniors transition to employment. Drawing on 280 interviews with over one hundred college seniors at an urban university in the Northeast, Levine will compare the experiences of first-generation and continuing-generation college students. She will also examine how the transition to employment varies for first-generation college students by race, ethnicity, and gender.
Zai Liang
State University of New York, Albany
Visiting Scholar
2014 to 2015
Liang will write a book on patterns of employment and settlement among recent low-skill Chinese immigrants in the U.S. The book will examine the role of employment agencies in the process of immigrant settlement in non-gateway destinations, as well as the challenges of securing jobs and operating businesses for immigrants in these locations.
Daniel T. Lichter
Ohio State University
Visiting Scholar
1999 to 2000
Daniel T. Lichter, professor of sociology at Ohio State University and associate of the Center for Human Resource Research, will examine the long-term consequences of increased childhood poverty and family instability in the 1980s and 1990s. Do "at risk" children necessarily become socially disadvantaged and disengaged adults? How great are the effects of poverty on children, and does any damage done persist into adulthood?
John R. Logan
State University of New York, Albany
Visiting Scholar
1996 to 1997
John R. Logan, professor of sociology and public administration and policy at the State University of New York, Albany, analyzed the historical origins of ethnic and racial segregation in New York City. He wrote two RSF Working papers, "White Ethnics in the New York Economy, 1920-1960" and "The Ethnic Neighborhood, 1920-1970," in which he concludes that disparities in assimilation of white ethnic groups early in the century were more pronounced than previously believed.
Vivian Louie
Harvard University
Visiting Scholar
2007 to 2008
Vivian Louie, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, will write a book on the transition from high school to college among second-generation Dominican and Colombian youth in New York City and Boston. She will analyze how the children of immigrants develop their own identities, how they see themselves as differing from their parents, and the extent to which they view the transition to higher education as becoming part of the American mainstream.
Yao Lu
Columbia University
Visiting Scholar
2012 to 2013
Lu and Neeraj Kaushal will complete a study comparing immigrant selection and assimilation in Canada and the U.S. Their research will systematically assess the relative selection of immigrants to these countries with respect to levels of education, host country language proficiency, and initial earnings. They will further examine the relative economic well-being of immigrants in these two countries after adjusting for different levels of immigrant selection. They will examine how these trends have shifted since 1990.
Amy Lutz
Syracuse University
Visiting Scholar
2012 to 2013
Lutz and Pamela R. Bennett will write a book that examines the different ways parents approach their children’s education. This working group will explore the sources of variation in parenting styles across class, race/ethnicity, and immigrant generations. They will draw on survey data, in-depth qualitative interviews, and academic data to analyze dynamics within families, schools, and neighborhoods and to better understand the roots of social behavior.
Jeff Manza
Northwestern University
Visiting Scholar
2005 to 2006
Jeff Manza, Associate Professor of Sociology and Political Science at Northwestern University, will write a book and several journal articles on why industrial countries provide such widely varied levels of welfare benefits. Manza will examine how public opinion influences the size of a country’s welfare state, comparing public opinion and social spending data from 17 developed countries with varying degrees of social welfare provision.
Helen Marrow
Tufts University
Visiting Researcher
Helen Marrow is Associate Professor of Sociology at Tufts University. She will collaborate with incoming visiting scholars Dina Okamoto (Indiana University) and Linda Tropp (University of Massachusetts, Amherst) and RSF trustee Michael Jones-Correa (University of Pennsylvania) on a book examining immigrant-native relations.
Douglas S. Massey
Princeton University
Visiting Scholar
2009 to 2010
Douglas S. Massey, Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University, will advance two books on immigration in America. The first book will illuminate the beliefs and practices of recently arrived legal immigrants to the United States, examining how practices condition the process of assimilation in various domains of American life. The second will undertake a systematic analysis of how the patterns, processes, causes, and consequences of U.S. migration have changed in the last twenty-five years.
Doug McAdam
Stanford University
Visiting Scholar
2013 to 2014
McAdam will assess the extent to which different kinds of school contexts enhance the civic attitudes and behaviors of traditionally disadvantaged students. He will analyze the results of a three-year research project that assesses the “civic effects” of a lottery that transferred first graders from an impoverished district to wealthy, primarily white/Asian districts. He will also investigate the impact of “civic education” at three charter schools.
Leslie McCall
City University of New York
Visiting Scholar
2023 to 2024
McCall will study public opinion and media coverage on economic inequality and related policy preferences. Utilizing survey experiments, media content analysis, and new policy questions, she will investigate responses to class, racial, ethnic, and gender inequality.
Leslie McCall
Rutgers University, Newark
Visiting Scholar
2000 to 2001
Leslie McCall, assistant professor of sociology at Rutgers University, will study the regional diversity of U.S. labor markets, exploring why wage inequality is so much more acute in some regions of the United States than in others. While most nationwide studies of the causes of rising inequality focus upon technology, trade, or industrial structure, McCall's subnational, regional perspective reveals the importance of immigration, unemployment, and the retreat of labor market institutions.
Monica McDermott
Arizona State University
Visiting Scholar
2019 to 2020
McDermott and Eric Knowles (in collaboration with Jennifer Richeson) will study the attitudes and beliefs of white working-class individuals toward racial minorities and the changing demographics of the U.S. Through laboratory and survey experiments and interviews, they will analyze the conditions that generate both positive and negative perceptions of racial minorities by low-income whites.
Susan Turner Meiklejohn
Hunter College, City University of New York
Visiting Scholar
2007 to 2008
Susan Turner Meiklejohn, Associate Professor of Urban Planning at Hunter College, will write a book assessing the relationship between inter-ethnic friendships among young people in Sunnyside, Queens – one of the most ethnically diverse areas in the world – and their subsequent cultural and political development. Based on 120 face-to-face interviews with young adults and their parents, Meiklejohn’s book will explore issues of racial identity, segregation, and community participation.
Ruth Milkman
University of California, Los Angeles
Visiting Scholar
2004 to 2005
Ruth Milkman, Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles, will write a book about the labor market in Los Angeles, arguing that "low road" strategies by employers to reduce wages and undermine unions have been the driving force in restructuring labor markets. Further, she will argue that the trend towards shifting work to low-wage immigrants was a product and not a cause of that restructuring.
Ruth Milkman
City University of New York
Visiting Scholar
2025 to 2026
Milkman and Heidi Gottfried will examine the complexities of the fast-growing U.S. home care labor market. They will compare formal employment in the Medicaid-funded market segment, formal employment in the privately paid segment, and the 'gray market,' in which clients hire home care workers through informal networks and pay them directly. The project draws on original interviews and survey data collected by Milkman and Gottfried.