Jennifer Bouek

Jennifer Bouek is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology & Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware and a faculty affiliate at the Texas Policy Lab at Rice University. Her research focuses on the intersection of social inequality and welfare state policies, particularly examining how childcare systems contribute to economic and social disparities. Bouek holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Brown University, alongside an M.A. from the University of Florida, and M.S. and B.A. degrees from the University of Denver.

Her book manuscript, Everything is Broken: How the Childcare Market Creates Inequality (under contract with University of California Press), explores how America’s childcare system exacerbates inequality among households and mothers. Bouek’s work has been published in journals like the American Journal of Sociology, Social Problems, and RSF: The Russell Sage Journal for the Social Sciences, as well as in The Washington Post. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and American Sociological Association.

Bouek’s awards include the James Thompson Student Paper Award (ASA) and the Poverty, Class, and Inequality Division Student Paper Award (SSSP). She investigates topics such as subsidized childcare access, administrative burdens in social welfare systems, and nonprofit organizational dynamics.