University of Southern California
USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
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About
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Elaine Bell KaplanAssociate Professor of SociologyContact Information E-mail: ekaplan@usc.edu Phone: (213) 740-8865 Office: KAP 360 LINKS Curriculum Vitae |
Biographical Sketch |
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| Elaine Bell Kaplan analyzes and researches structural conditions that restrict opportunities for racial/ethnic groups and children and youth. She has published various articles on adolescent issues using a gender, race, and class perspective. These articles have appeared in Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Social Problems, Urban Education, and other journals. Her book “Not Our Kind of Girl”: Unraveling the Myths of Black Teenage Motherhood (University of California Press, 1997) won the 2000 Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book Award from the Race, Gender and Class Section of the American Sociological Association. A recent study,”Boomers Keep a Tight Rein on Their Teens, was a featured story in several newspapers, including 2001/2002 by the USC Chronicle News. Her previous research and writing examined the issues and dilemmas facing parents who are raising adolescent children. Currently, she is focusing on low income first generation college students by exploring the ways in which their experiences in college are similar to or different from middle-income traditional students and if and how race and gender may influence those college experiences. The current research project explores inner-city life from the perspectives of 30 Black and Latino teenagers who live in inner-city Los Angeles. The objective of this research is to understand how inner-city teenagers make decisions to help them cope with family life, peer relations and academic achievement and handle the negative options that can poverty a life sentence; pregnancy, gang involvement and drug abuse. The ethnographic study of Los Angeles inner-city adolescents will deepen and enrich current theory by making explicit the complexities surrounding the lives of inner-city minority teenagers. | |
Education |
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 Ph.D. Sociology, University of California, Berkeley, 12/1988
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Academic Appointment, Affiliation, and Employment History |
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Associate Professor, University of Southern California, 01/01/1999-
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Associate Professor, University of Southern California, 2007-2008
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Assistant Professor, University of Southern California, 01/01/1992-01/01/1999
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Assistant Professor, San Jose State University, 01/01/1991-01/01/1992
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Assistant Professor, Temple University, 01/01/1989-01/01/1991
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Description of Research |
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Summary Statement of Research Interests |
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| Elaine Bell Kaplan analyzes and researches structural conditions that restrict opportunities for racial/ethnic groups and children and youth. She has published various articles on adolescent issues using a gender, race, and class perspective. Her current research explores the institutional and social factors that influence or hamper the social mobility by race, class and gender. Her forthcoming book to be published by Temple Press, “We Live in the Shadow” Inner-City Kids Tell Their Stories though Photographs, explores inner-city life from the perspectives of 54 Black and Latino teenagers who live in inner-city Los Angeles. The research findings will provide an in-depth study that deepens and enriches current theory by making explicit the complexities surrounding the lives of inner-city minority teenagers. Her next research project examines the lives of inner-city families. This qualitative study will be concerned with the ways in which inner-city families’ socioenomic status impact their environment and their institutional relationships. She will also consider the kinds of social support and policies needed to enhance the lives of these mothers and their families. These ethnographic studies of will deepen and enrich current theory by making explicit the complexities surrounding the lives of Inner-city women, men and their families. | |
Research Keywords |
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| race and ethnic relations, gender, social inequality, adolescents, qualitative methods, visual sociology | |
Research Specialties |
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| Race and ethnic relations; social inequality; sociology of childhood; gender, qualitative methodology, visual sociology | |
Conferences and Other Presentations |
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Conference Presentations |
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"In Pursuit of the American Dream: A Study of First Generation College Students", The Pacific Sociological Annual Meeting, Talk/Oral Presentation, San Francisco, CA., PSA, 2004-2005
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Other Presentations |
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"the Challenges and Passion of Doing Research on the Inner-City", Distinguished Speaker Series, Center for Black Cultural and Student Affairs, USC,
Fall
2010
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"Black Women's Socio-Economic Concerns", Guest Lectcurer, Gender Studies, USC,
Fall
2009
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Other Research |
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Elaine Bell Kaplan and Khadizhat Nurbagandova. "To America with Love," A Study of Racial Ethnic women Involved in the Mail Order Bride industry. This study, based on interviews with racial/ethnic mail order brides and with American men who participate in this industry. The research will contributes to the literature on racial/ethnic women and gender inequality in a global society. The purpose of this study is to explore why it is that Asian, African and Russian women and American white middle-class men use the Mail Order Brides websites to shop for a marriage partner. What are the forces that drive foreign women and American men to browse through web pages select and add potential spouses to their shopping carts like any on-line consumer? What happens to these couples after the wedding vows? This study will also examine the operation of the mail order bride industry, To be completed by Summer 2010 and will be submitted to the Journal of International Sociology.
, 2009-2010
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Ethnographic study draws on the literature of care and parents' perceptions of their teenagers' needs and their spouses' ability to perform the necessary caring tasks., 2009-2010
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Qualitative study focuses on unorthodox child-rearing strategies used by Black single mothers to cope with their at-risk teenagers in the absence of community. support, 2009-2010
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Publications |
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Book |
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Kaplan, E. B.
(1997).
Not Our Kind of Girl: Unravelling the Myths of Black Teenage Motherhood, 1997. Berkeley. California: University of California, Berkeley.
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Multimedia Scholarship and Creative Works |
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Distance Learning Lecture, Presented lecture on Social Inequality via Videotape and interview for college level Sociology telecourse produced by The LeCroy Center for Educational Telecommunications. National distribution. The course integrates video, textbooks, study guides, a web site and other material designed for adult distance learning students.
, 2000-2001
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New Courses Developed |
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Visual Sociology of the Urban City and its Residents, Sociology 365,
Visual Sociology blends a grassroots approach to photography and social action. It provides cameras not to health specialists, policy makers, or professionals, but to people with least access to those who make decisions affecting their lives. This course has three main goals: (1.) to enable people to record and reflect their community's strengths and concerns; (2) to promote critical dialogue and knowledge about personal and community issues through large and small group discussions of photographs; and (3)to reach policy makers,
Spring
2011
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Honors and Awards |
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Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book Award from the Race, Gender, and Class Section of the American Sociological Association, 2000
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Service to the Profession |
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Editorships and Editorial Boards |
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Guest Editor, Journal of African American Studies, 2007-2008
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Board of Editors, Women Studies and Black Families, 2007-2008
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Professional Memberships |
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American Sociological Association, 2011-2012
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The Pacific Sociological Association, 2011-2012
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Review Panels |
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Fulbright U.S. Scholars Program, Fulbrigth Specialist Program Peer Reviewer, 2011-2012
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