Jessica Calarco

Jessica Calarco is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research explores intersections of policy, privilege, and power, focusing on education, families, and health decision-making. She is the author of Holding it Together: How Women Became America’s Safety Net (2024), Negotiating Opportunities (2018), and A Field Guide to Grad School (2020), with co-authored works like Qualitative Literacy (2022).

• Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania (2012)

Her work employs ethnographic and interview methods to analyze socioeconomic, racial, and gender inequalities in educational settings, pandemic-era family dynamics, and healthcare decisions. Recent research highlights how women’s labor compensates for the lack of robust U.S. social safety nets.

Calarco’s articles focus on qualitative methodologies, educational disparities, gendered caregiving, and health policy controversies. She contributes to public discourse through media outlets like the New York Times, Washington Post, and The Atlantic, and her upcoming book events in 2024 emphasize systemic care economy failures.

No scientific awards are explicitly mentioned in the provided texts.

Jessica teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on qualitative research methods and children/youth studies. She is actively engaged in public sociology, advocating for policy reform to address inequalities in family and educational systems.