Elena G. van Stee

Elena G. van Stee is a Research Fellow in Sociology at Harvard University and a PhD Candidate in Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. She holds affiliations as Blog Editor for Contexts (American Sociological Association) and has held roles including Predoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Education Sciences and Research Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Office of Institutional Research and Analysis.

Her research focuses on culture, inequality, and parent-child relationships in young adulthood, particularly examining how families navigate financial dependencies amid economic barriers. Key projects include a dissertation analyzing post-college financial dynamics and studies on pandemic-era parental roles. Her work has been supported by grants from the Russell Sage Foundation and Institute of Education Sciences.

Research interests span families, social stratification, higher education disparities, and intersections of religion with wealth inequality. She has published collaborative work on racial essentialism, vaccine hesitancy, and chaplaincy’s role in campus life.

Notable awards include the 2024 Coser Dissertation Proposal Award. Her teaching experience includes courses on sociological research methods and introductory sociology.