Joseph Workman

Joe received his PhD in Sociology from the University of Notre Dame in August 2014. He then worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at Nuffield College, University of Oxford until 2017. Joe collaborated with Bill Carbonaro investigating the influence of students’ social networks on adolescent academic outcomes during his time in CREO.

His research focuses on the ways schools reproduce inequality in larger society. He shows class-based and racial-ethnic inequalities in educational outcomes largely arise from processes that occur outside the classroom. His research investigates how disparities in family resources shape young children’s intellectual development and access to quality education. He highlights the intersection of two powerful social institutions, schools and families, and how they jointly shape inequality in educational opportunity. A second dimension of his research focuses on how peer relationships among adolescents shape social identity and educational decision-making.