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
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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.
sociologylauren.bsky.social
More of our recent research, this time featured on The Society Pages!
thesocietypages.bsky.social
How do Americans define discrimination?

Research by ‪‪@evangelinewarren.com‬ & @sociologylauren.bsky.social‬ in the American Journal of Sociology shows that views on racism, sexism, & classism are complicated and filled with nuance.

Read @Jordyyyn117031's latest on TSP here:
🔗 bit.ly/3HCRC8G 🔗
Reposted by Lauren Valentino
contexts.org
Sociology quick-take! "Defining Discrimination Changes Policy Preferences" covers new @amjsoc.bsky.social research by @sociologylauren.bsky.social & @evangelinewarren.com on Americans' racism, sexism, & classism evaluation criteria & how they change opinions on redress contexts.org/articles/def...
A screenshot of the social science website contexts.org shows a photo  of a person highlighting the word "racism" in pink in a dictionary and includes the title of the article, "Defining Discrimination Changes Policy Preferences." The byline reads, "By Parker Muzzerall."
Reposted by Lauren Valentino
Reposted by Lauren Valentino
jeradwalker.bsky.social
Due to the rescission of federal funding, North Carolina Public Radio is facing a major budget shortfall (roughly $800k). @wunc.org is the largest nonprofit newsroom in the state but also home to national programming. If you care about quality journalism, please give what you can www.wunc.org/donate
WUNC Recurring Gift - North Carolina Public Radio - WUNC
www.wunc.org
sociologylauren.bsky.social
Looks great Tony! Your thinking on how the state engages in denials has some nice connections to Amanda Cheong's work about the ways the administrative state produces bureaucratic omissions.
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.
sociologylauren.bsky.social
The program is free and open to all. We've heard from parents who say it's made a real difference for their kid. We'd been planning to apply for NSF funding to track the long-term effects on our program participants and... well... if anyone has suggestions for alternate funding sources, let me know!
sociologylauren.bsky.social
For the GEM program, we invite local middle schoolers to campus over the summer, leading them in challenging math puzzles, and introducing them to women in STEM who are scientists, engineers, and clinicians. Our goal is to broaden the students' career horizons and boost their math confidence.
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.
Reposted by Lauren Valentino
evangelinewarren.com
🚨New Pub Alert🚨

@sociologylauren.bsky.social and I have a new paper out in SRE today!

In "Zero-sum or Coalition? A Dyadic Approach for Testing Discrimination’s Impact on Perceptions of Ethnoracial Outgroups" we use perceptions of discrimination to examine racial group relations. Here's a 🧵!
Zero-sum or Coalition? A Dyadic Approach for Testing Discrimination’s Impact on Perceptions of Ethnoracial Outgroups - Evangeline Warren, Lauren Valentino, 2025
Intergroup relations research suggests that individuals perceive racial politics through a zero-sum framework, whereas scholarship on mobilization and social mo...
doi.org
sociologylauren.bsky.social
Lignier, Wilfried. 2021. “Symbolic Power for Beginners: The Very First Social Efforts to Control Others’ Actions and Perceptions.” Sociological Theory 39(4):201-224. doi: 10.1177/07352751211050660.

I'm obsessed with this paper.
Reposted by Lauren Valentino
evangelinewarren.com
Celebrating my first post-grad day with a paper with collaborator extraordinaire @sociologylauren.bsky.social accepted for publication in Sociology of Race & Ethnicity!
sociologylauren.bsky.social
So excited to see this in print! ✨
Reposted by Lauren Valentino
nyadon.bsky.social
Excited to share that my new book is now available for pre-order! This book has been a labor of love for the past decade & I am grateful to a whole community of people who supported this project.

Get 30% off your purchase using code UCPNEW at UChicago Press! Link: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
The Politics of Skin Tone
A nuanced examination of the salience of skin tone within African American politics. Research shows that skin tone is associated with significant differences in life experiences. On average, African A...
press.uchicago.edu
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
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
sociologylauren.bsky.social
No such thing as too many cats!!!
sociologylauren.bsky.social
This was such a fun and unexpected collaboration with other folks doing really cool and interesting work on this topic! Jaclyn Wong @JaclynSWong.sciences.social.ap.brid.gy Christina Pao Katie Donnelly Moran D'Lane Compton @drcompton.bsky.social and Gayle Kaufman @gaylekaufman.bsky.social