Jessica Calarco, Ph.D.

A sociologist and associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Jessica Calarco, Ph.D. is an award-winning teacher, a leading expert on inequalities in family life and education, and the author of the 2024 book Holding it Together: How Women Became America’s Social Safety Net.

Calarco’s research focuses on education, families, and health decision-making. She is interested in the structures of power and privilege that maintain socioeconomic, racial, and gender inequalities in these settings, as well as the role that qualitative methods can play in uncovering these mechanisms.

Much of her early work uses ethnographic observations and in-depth interviews to reveal the origins and consequences of social class differences in interactions between students, teachers, and parents.

Calarco’s books include Qualitative Literacy: A Guide to Evaluating Ethnographic and Interview Research (with Mario Small, Ph.D.); Negotiating Opportunities: How the Middle Class Secures Advantages in School; and A Field Guide to Grad School: Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum.

Calaraco has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Atlantic, and CNN. She also blogs at ParenthoodPhD. She received her BA in sociology and education studies from Brown University and both her MA and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania.