About
Pamela Smock is Professor of Sociology and Research Professor at the Population Studies Center. Her scholarly interests lie at the intersection of demography and various axes of inequality.
Her research focuses on changing family patterns in the U.S., family formation and dissolution, the economic consequences of divorce and marriage for women and men, cohabitation, nonresident fatherhood, single-mother families, the motherhood wage penalty, gender and work, and socioeconomic and racial-ethnic variation in family patterns.
Dr. Smock's work has been published in leading sociology and demography journals including American Sociological Review, Annual Review of Sociology, Demography, Journal of Marriage and Family and Social Forces. Currently, she is examining the intersection of relationship biographies, including older life-long single adults, and late-life economic well-being - and the role of the structure of Social Security benefits in maintaining economic disparities. Another recent project uses an intersectional lens to examine the economic fallout of family disruption for Hispanic, white, and Black men and women.
Dr. Smock was appointed Director of the Population Studies Center at the Institute for Social Research (2010-13), Editor-in-Chief of Demography (2014-16), Deputy Editor of Journal of Marriage and Family, and has served on the editorial boards of numerous journals (e.g., American Journal of Sociology, Demography, Journal of Marriage and Family, Social Science Research).
Dr. Smock was elected President of the Association of Population Centers, Board member of the Population Association of America, Chair of the Family Section of the American Sociological Association (ASA), council member of the ASA’s Population Section, and Board member of Council on Contemporary Families. In addition, she has been appointed to numerous review panels for the National Institutes of Health and is an elected member of the honorary society Sociological Research Association. Currently, she is serving a second 5-year term as Deputy Editor, Journal of Marriage and Family.
Smock has been quoted in numerous media outlets such as the New York Times, TIME Magazine, Washington Post, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times and has been a guest on radio and television segments including NPR and CNN.
She holds a PhD in sociology with a specialization in demography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a master’s degree in social sciences from the University of Chicago, and a BA in sociology from the University of Chicago.
