Lauren Valentino
LightNews LightNews
banner
sociologylauren.bsky.social
Lauren Valentino
@sociologylauren.bsky.social
2.6K followers 460 following 48 posts
Assistant Professor of Sociology at UNC-Chapel Hill. I study culture & cognition + inequality & stratification using a mix of methods. www.laurenvalentino.org
Posts Replies Media Videos
sociologylauren.bsky.social
I'm giving a talk today to social psychologists! +1 for interdisciplinarity
UNC Psychology and Neuroscience SOCIAL ORG TALK September 29, 2025 12 pm Howell 205. "How Americans Define Racism, Sexism, and Classism." Lauren Valentino, PhD. Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, UNC - Chapel Hill.
September 29, 2025 at 1:36 PM
sociologylauren.bsky.social
Nice to see our recent AJS article featured in Contexts! @evangelinewarren.com
"Defining Discrimination Changes Policy Preferences" by Parker Muzzerrall. There’s widespread consensus that racism, sexism, and classism are pervasive social problems requiring consensus and coordination to address. However, a recent study in the American Journal of Sociology suggests that Americans understand these problems in very different terms. Using a mixed-methods approach combining interviews with a nationally representative survey, sociologists Lauren Valentino and Evangeline Warren discover that Americans define instances of race-, sex-, and class-based discrimination using three interpretive criteria: the intentionality of the act, whether the act led to equal or unequal outcomes, and the balance of power between the perpetrator and victim. Importantly, though, Americans do not weigh these criteria equally. Conservatives and men tend to emphasize intentionality and individual acts while liberals, women, and racial minorities are more likely to define discrimination based on unequal outcomes and systemic power imbalances. Most striking, this variation in definitional criteria strongly predicts policy attitudes, much more so than socio-demographic attributes alone. Those who emphasize outcomes and power structures in their definitions are much more likely to support policies of redress, like affirmative action and anti-discrimination laws. By shedding light on the deep cultural and cognitive divides in how Americans interpret social problems, this research offers a crucial insight: meaningful progress in addressing racism, sexism, and classism may require bridging not just political divides, but also fundamental differences in how we perceive and define discrimination.
July 16, 2025 at 3:26 PM
sociologylauren.bsky.social
GEM 2025 was a huge success! My two faculty colleagues in Engineering and Mathematics and I started a Duke-UNC collaboration seven years ago to promote diversity in STEM. This has been one of my favorite ways of putting my scholarly research into practice for the benefit of the local community.
A group of middle schoolers watch a demonstration of electromagnetism. A large and diverse group of middle schoolers, college students, and faculty are seated on the steps of a university campus in the summertime. A group of middle schoolers look on as a cardiologist explains how physicians can image the heart using technology inspired by animals like bats and dolphins. A group of middle schoolers jump for joy in front of the Duke University chapel.
July 1, 2025 at 5:56 PM
sociologylauren.bsky.social
What a spectacular panel at #SSS2025 🔥🔥🔥 "Perceptions and Experiences of Discrimination and Microaggression" with @malissa-a.bsky.social @amiebostic.bsky.social @jessistreib.bsky.social @tianhao.bsky.social
Five photos of the four panelists from the session giving their presentations and answering questions during the Q&A
April 11, 2025 at 9:25 PM
sociologylauren.bsky.social
Along with @mlamont.bsky.social @pjoosse.bsky.social, I am on the Distinguished Career Award committee for the ASA Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity section. Please send nominations our way! Due March 5. More information here: www.asanet.org/communities-...
Distinguished Career Award Deadline: March 5, 2025 Contact: Michèle Lamont, Chair The Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity Section of the ASA is seeking nominations for the 2025 Distinguished Career Award. This award is given annually to a researcher who has made a number of significant contributions to the study of altruism, morality, and/or social solidarity over an extended period of time. It is intended to recognize a senior scholar’s cumulative achievements. Nominations should include a brief description of the career contributions that make the candidate deserving of the award. Self-nominations are welcome. Please also see previous winners of the award for reference here. Please send nominations, with the subject line AMSS 2025 Distinguished Career Award Nomination, by March 5, 2025 to the Committee Members: Michèle Lamont: mlamont@wjh.harvard.edu Lauren Valentino: lauren.valentino@unc.edu Paul Joosse: pjoosse@hku.hk
February 24, 2025 at 9:56 PM
sociologylauren.bsky.social
In this open-access (!) article, we:
✅ Review the literature on collecting and analyzing demographic categories that use "other, describe" options
✅ Provide practical suggestions for how social scientists should handle "other, describe" data
✅ Walk the reader through 2 examples (both quant & qual)
Decision Roadmap for “Other, Describe” Decision Making. Note: Researchers analyzing secondary data should still develop an awareness of decisions 1 to 6 by reading the codebook or other data source materials, as these decisions affect others downstream.
January 2, 2025 at 8:32 PM
sociologylauren.bsky.social
My engineering colleague, Sophia Santillan, and I were recently given the opportunity to share our work on causes and interventions addressing the gender gap in STEM to an incredible group of women from around the world who are part of the US State Dept's International Visitor Leadership Program.
November 7, 2024 at 8:18 PM
sociologylauren.bsky.social
If you're in the Chicago area, can you please help spread awareness about my cousin Adam who's missing? Thank you <3
October 2, 2024 at 2:11 PM
sociologylauren.bsky.social
Excited to share that @ewarren.bsky.social
and I have a paper just out in American Journal of Sociology! doi.org/10.1086/733194
Cultural Heterogeneity in Americans’ Definitions of Racism, Sexism, and Classism: Results from a Mixed-Methods Study Lauren Valentino University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Evangeline Warren Ohio State University This sequential mixed-methods study examines how Americans ascribe meanings to the concepts racism, sexism, and classism. We first conduct interviews (N = 40) using a symbolic boundaries elicitation approach, gathering examples of scenarios that do and do not “count” as racism, sexism, and classism. We then use these examples as vignettes in a nationally representative survey-experiment (N = 2,000). Results reveal striking evidence for cultural heterogeneity in how Americans understand and define racism, sexism, and classism. We find that a person’s definition of these concepts depends on their emphasis on intentionality, unequal treatment/outcomes, and power (a)symmetry. We also find that political partisanship, gender, age, and income shape the importance of these.
September 19, 2024 at 3:32 PM
sociologylauren.bsky.social
New paper out at Social Problems with @ewarren.bsky.social! New developments in the sociology of racism have theorized the importance of inaction as a form of racism, but do everyday Americans see it that way? Using data from interviews and a survey-experiment, we find that some do!
December 14, 2023 at 8:38 PM