Christin Munsch

Christin Munsch will spend the year working on a book project on gender in academic social science to shed light on two, seemingly unrelated, problems that plague the profession: the leaky pipeline and errors, inaccuracies, and ambiguities in the cannon. Drawing on a series of methodologically diverse studies, the project advances a theory of hybridly masculine occupations whereby professional defaults (e.g., rules, norms, expectations)—and the gendered assumptions on which they rest—shift across the prescribed career trajectory. At earlier stages, the trajectory selectively incorporates elements of femininity and non-hegemonic masculinities. At later stages, it increasingly reflects and rewards men’s bodies and lived experiences. This pattern attracts women and other minorities to the profession while inflicting physical, emotional, and economic violence on aspiring and actual members of the professoriate. Simultaneously, it diminishes the academic and societal benefits of their work, slowing the rate of scientific discovery.

Munsch earned a PhD in sociology from Cornell University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University. She is currently an associate professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut whose research focuses on the cultural, organizational, and psychological processes that create and sustain inequality. She has published numerous articles in leading general interest and specialty journals, attracting national and international media attention. She regularly contributes to public discourse by writing op-eds and translating social science research for a wider audience.

For more information about her work, visit https://sociology.uconn.edu/person/christin-munsch/.