Jennifer W. Bouek (Brown University, 2019) 

Website: jenniferwbouek.com

Jennifer Bouek’s research unites the sociological study of poverty and inequality; organizational and economic sociology; and the sociology of families and gender.

Her dissertation, The Ecological Patterning and Effects of Child Care Markets, is a mixed methods exploration of the institution of child care, supported by the National Science Foundation and Brown University’s Program in Business, Entrepreneurship, and Organizations. Existing scholarship has demonstrated the robust relationship between child care availability and maternal employment. Yet this body of work does not adequately account for the role of politics and policies in structuring the child care market. Drawing on 89 in-depth interviews with mothers, child care providers, and policymakers, supplemented with spatial and archival analysis of administrative records, survey data, and non-participant observation at state meetings, she investigates three inquiries: 1) how and why child care organizational environments vary across socioeconomic bounds at the neighborhood and individual levels, 2) how the organization of the market shapes a mother’s access to care, and 3) the effects of inequitable access to child care on a mother’s employment trajectory, real and imagined. Through the course of three empirical chapters, Jennifer offer a revised account of the child care market to illustrate how institutional politics, policies, and practices, mothers’ access to care, and maternal employment trajectories are intricately intertwined. Continue reading “On The Market” →