Research Summary:Becky Pettit is an assistant professor of sociology. In November 2006 she received the James F. Short, Jr. Paper Award from the American Sociological Association’s Crime, Law, and Deviance section for her paper (with Bruce Western) "Black-White Wage Inequality, Employment Rates, and Incarceration."
Her research interests are rooted in concerns central to social demography, sociology of the family, and economic sociology. Her previous papers and publications have focused on the relationship between demographic processes, social structures, and inequality. One line of inquiry has examined how families and communities influence children's opportunities. Specifically, she has examined the role of residential
mobility (both during childhood and adulthood) as a mechanism of stratification. Another line of inquiry examines the extent to which the prison system has become an institutional feature of racial inequality in employment and earnings. A third line of research has examined the survey research on public opinion and the arts and the relationship between public opinion and legislative action. Her past work engages with methodological debates, particularly in relation to survey methodology and questions of identifying causality. Her current research and future research plans continue two of these lines of inquiry, but have also broadened to include research examining the role of institutional factors in explaining opportunities at the individual-level and patterns of inequality at the aggregate-level both within the US (race) and comparatively (gender).
Pettit's most recent research is a comparative project that integrates her research interests in family, labor markets, and public policy. A recent paper (Pettit & Hook 2005) examines how public policy affects the labor market opportunities of women, especially those with children, and related work considers how gender differences in employment may influence our understanding of patterns of gender inequalities in the labor force both over time and across countries. She aims to advance this research by directly incorporating microeconomic models of household decision making and dynamic simulation models into studies of gender inequality in the labor market. A mentored research scientist development award (pending) is designed to support further investigations into the relationship between demographic changes within the family, women's involvement in the paid labor force, and legal structures and social institutions governing employment relations and the care of children.
Recent Publications:- Pettit, B., (Forthcoming), Enumerating Inequality: The Constitution, The Census Bureau, and the Criminal Justice System, University of Connecticut Law Review.
- Pettit, B.; Ewert, S., (Forthcoming), Employment Gains and Wage Declines: The Erosion of Black Women's Relative Wages since 1980, Demography.
- Bushway, S.; Pettit, B.; Stoll, M. A.; Weiman, D. F.; Lyons, C., (2007), Status and the Stigma of Incarceration: The Labor Market Effects of Incarceration by Race, Class, and Criminal Involvement, Barriers to reentry? : the labor market for released prisoners in post-industrial America, Russell Sage Foundation, New York.
- Western, B.; Pettit, B., (2007), Mass Imprisonment, Punishment and inequality in America, Western, B., Russell Sage, New York.
- Pettit, B.; Hook, J., (2005), The Structure of Women’s Employment in Comparative Perspective, Social Forces, 84, 779-801.
- Western, B.; Pettit, B., (2005), Black-White Earnings Inequality, Employment Rates, and Incarceration, American Journal of Sociology, 111: 2, 553-78.
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Ph.D. 1999, Princeton University. Sociology of the family, social demography, inequality, and the sociology of art and culture.
