Event

Aliya Saperstein

The Past and Present Significance of Racial Mobility

In this talk, Professor Saperstein will outline the need for a “racial mobility” perspective, analogous to classic sociological studies of status attainment and class mobility. Evidence for a more dynamic understanding of race and inequality in the United States comes from different historical periods, and is consistent across outcomes and datasets, as well as with the results of controlled experiments. Further progress on the subject requires changes in data collection and research practice, including how we conceptualize reliability and validity in the measurement of race.

Aliya Saperstein is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Stanford University. Professor Saperstein's work focuses on the social processes through which people come to perceive, name and deploy “racial” differences—in public discourse, academic research and their everyday lives—and their consequences for explaining, and reinforcing, social inequality.  Her current research projects explore: (1) the relationship between individual-level racial fluidity and the maintenance of group boundaries, racial stereotypes and hierarchies, (2) the implications of methodological decisions, especially the measurement of race and ethnicity in surveys, for studies of stratification and health disparities.

**This event is cosponsored with the Penn Sociology Department**